Here’s a pic of the new studio’s mascot.

What we do is valuable?

I think the problem with most designers is that we love to solve problems and happily give away ideas to clients to help them make the most of their brand. I realised this whilst on the phone to a client one day. The conversation was around how they could get a certain section of their demographic to sit up and pay attention: ideas were exchanged the client implemented them and the result was a success. But I hadn’t valued this enough to put a price on it.

I think it comes down to a question of value. In this case, I was giving the milk away for free. The reality is no one really values things they get for free. Somehow we need to change the mindset of designers to value their ideas and command the respect of our client’s to do the same. We’re not in the service industry, we’re in the intellectual property industry and should act accordingly.

Where’s our industry heading?

Being involved in the Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA) and sitting as a director on the newly formed Australian Design Alliance (AdA), I’ve had the privileged position of seeing some great changes in the design industry as a whole. For the first time, leading design bodies have come together as the AdA to speak as one voice to business and government about the value of good design and its links to innovation and the positive impact it has socially, culturally and economically.

For the graphic design industry, I think we’re finally realising the value of what we do and learning to say no to requests to make the logo bigger. Part of this though is educating our clients about what we actually do. That our creative design process can contribute to better visual communication outcomes and bring value to their business.

So although the paste up artist in the corner of the studio is a thing of the past, a new breed of designer who contributes more than just an aesthetic value to a project is replacing them. They bring a highly developed set of skills to a project in both the thinking and creative spaces.

I do miss the smell of rubber cement though.

Paul is the National Vice President of the Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA) and a director of the Australian Design Alliance (AdA) as well as our most creative director at Brave Creative. Find our more (and see some pretty pictures) at www.bravecreative.com.au

Am I a commodity provider or an expert?

We have all heard it… those four words uttered by the client… ‘Make the logo bigger…’ Is it designers fault that this phrase exists? Is it because we don’t believe enough in our own ability to be able to say no? Why aren’t clients respecting out position as the experts?

I am sure a doctor has never heard: So Doc… thanks for your advice but I think a good dose of penicillin would work better!

I recently attended a presentation by business mentor to design studios and advertising agencies and author of ‘Win Without Pitching’, Blair Enns. He commented on where he thought most design studios sat on the scale of ‘Expert’ or ‘Commodity’ provider.

He defined the ultimate in commodity providers as websites such as 99 Designs selling logos and designs for next to nothing and the expert specialsing in a particular area of design, making them the sort after practitioner in their field.

Alarmingly, he suggested most design studios sat smack in the middle with little or no differentiation between them. The conclusion? Without becoming an expert in your field; sooner or later you’ll slide across into the commodity provider end of the scale.

But is there enough room out there for everyone to be an expert? At Brave Creative we position ourselves as a branding studio, but so do so many others. Being confronted by the idea of sliding down to the commodity end of the scale is a scary prospect.

So what’s my point of difference? Can I ever be an expert? The truth is, I’m already an expert.

My specialty is branding, but not just the delivery of a great logo. My specific process is to look at a business and extract the finest detail to understand its personality and then bring it to life through a brand, not only visually but also through the culture of the business and its people.

The problem is I haven’t told anyone I’m an expert. I’m sure I’m not the only designer who has kept a similar little secret.

End part 3.

We are looking forward to Friday when Paul will share with us his final words over a stiff vodka.

Find our more about Paul van Barneveld at www.bravecreative.com.au

Who is a designer?

Some people would have you believe that everyone is a designer and perhaps that’s true…  to an extent. In a recently published article on Design Observer by Laura Weiss (2011) ‘Why we’re all designers’, she suggests that everyone is a de facto designer because at some point in our lives we will be design buyers. To me this highlights the need for education about design so that those buying design understand the value of the process.

I think it is important however to draw a distinction between the role of the designer as the ‘thinker’ and as the ‘creator’.

The term ‘design thinking’ was introduced to the business world more than a decade ago and was an opportunity for designers to demonstrate how their processes could be applied to business for more efficient and productive outcomes (Weiss 2011). Through programs like New Zealand’s ‘Better by Design’ and the Queensland Government’s ‘Ulysses’ initiative, the concept of ‘design thinking’ has made its way into the board rooms of large corporations and has translated into some significant commercial success stories. So in this sense, everyone can be a designer by applying the design process for better business outcomes.

The other side of the design table is the ‘creator’. By this I mean the skill and the craft of the graphic designer: the knowledge of how to use colour, form, layout and type to effectively communicate a message. These things can of course be taught, however all too often, the basics are overlooked, replaced by a foolish belief that knowing how to use Adobe’s Creative Suite suddenly gives you all the tools you need to become a graphic designer.

But that’s for another day…

Personally I think good graphic designers sit in both chairs: thinker and creator. It is what we do, whether half of us out there realise it or not. It is ingrained in our nature to solve design problems and then turn them into visual solutions.

End part 2.

Part 3: Am I a commodity provider or an expert? still to come.

Paul is the National Vice President of the Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA) and a director of the Australian Design Alliance (AdA) as well as our most creative director at Brave Creative. Find our more (and see some pretty pictures) at www.bravecreative.com.au

I was reminded recently, whilst answering one of those inane questions in a government tender, just how long I’ve been working in the visual communication industry: a very short 23 years. But it also reminded me how much the industry has changed over that time and how much the way we do things has changed. When I began my career as a fledging designer, it was messy; I had a manageable addiction to the smell of rubber cement; and if there wasn’t at least one injury involving a scalpel blade during the week I wasn’t working hard enough.

These days, you’d be hard pressed to find that messy corner of the studio where the paste up artist sat with bits of bromide type, glue and tech pens all over the place. I honestly think there’s a competition among some studios to see who’s can be the starkest, which is only broken up by who’s got the biggest collection of reference books that no one looks at anymore.

Where’s the heart gone?

For the purpose of this exercise, I will restrict my comments to graphic design or as we like to call it these days
‘visual communication’.

And so the manifesto begins…

What does design mean to me?

I think the meaning of the term graphic design has evolved for me over the course of my career. That, or my understanding of what it is exactly I do as a designer has become clearer to me.

In my early career it was all about making things look good. I went to a private design college based here in Brisbane and although they gave me some great skills, the course was short on the theory of design. As I started out at the bottom of the ladder, remembering the only computer we had in the office at that time was connected to a dot matrix printer, most things were done by hand, this didn’t really call for the need to have a deep theoretical background; besides, the art director did all the thinking.

There was however a point in my career when I started asking why. There had to be more to it than this. How did one piece of design make so much more of an impact than the next?

It was then that I realised that what I was doing was so much more than making things look good. I was confronted by the need to understand my audience, their culture and to empathise with them. To be a good designer I needed to give my work meaning and purpose.

Today the term design means beginning the process with the question ‘why?’ Because from there you can start to understand any design problem set before you.

End part 1.

Part 2: Who is a designer, coming next week.

You can find our more about Paul van Barneveld at www.bravecreative.com.au

We all get attachments for different reasons: sometimes the effort (sometimes the ease) at which the brand mark was born, knowing how far it came from original concept or just plain lovin the colours…

Personally I love the Poultry CRC chooks feet (childhood memories), it was the main reason I asked to be part of the BC family (lucky they said yes!).

You can check out more of our favs at www.bravecreative.com.au

Just like you, your business has a personality… and you express that personality through your business’ brand.

Flyers fresh off the press (oh how they smell) – just in time for The Small Business Mastermind Summit with Selina Scoble which we were major sponsors of and attended in the early hours of this morning.

Photos by Paul van Barneveld, Paris 2010

We are pleased as punch to see the Brave Creative brand take further flight with the launch of www.bravecreative.com.au

We invite you to have a look at our work (and beautiful portraits thanks to Les Dixon) and find out a little bit more about your Brave family.

(A huge star goes to Luke for his mammoth effort and perseverance.)

Comic Sans is not only the butt of many jokes (Comic Sans walks into a bar, bartender says,
‘We don’t serve your type’) but also the centre of a huge debate.

Comic Sans is a little like Amy Winehouse: once upon a time did something good – but now over used, over abused,
all class lost and now has to live with the shame.

However she made her bed… Comic Sans doesn’t really have itself to blame, does it?

Maybe we are feeling a little sensitive today, maybe its true – but we say: Don’t blame the font.

NB: This does not mean you will be seeing any of our work featuring Comic Sans in the near future.