In general, being a freelance designer is the best career I could have ever thought of for myself. I easily get bored with a steady workplace, coworkers and especially boss. So what’s better than planning your own time and doing what you love to do?

For the most part, that’s definitely right. But the most important factor in freelancing is also one of the biggest annoyances, and sometimes even one of the main reasons NOT to be freelancing. That factor is CLIENTS. Now I know that writing a rant on the more often than not unprofessional approach of clients might not be the most professional thing to do, but I feel too many of us don’t openly voice their opinions on this phenomenon.

Let me start by saying that I have worked with and am currently working with a lot of GREAT clients. People who respect my vision and opinion, people who pay on time (I’m not going to act like this isn’t an important thing) but most importantly people who know their place and also know mines. As a graphic designer my job is to communicate a client’s product to the (target) audience. Whether this is a party, music, clothing or a website… the essence of the job remains the same. The client’s side in this exchange is providing all the information and material I need to do my job the best way I can.

So what are my annoyances? Clients who don’t understand their position. It absolutely makes no sense to me how often you get flat out disrespected in this industry. Years of formal training and experience often seem to mean nothing to people. The best way to describe my annoyances is really with the above pictured poster done by Piet Parra, featuring a quote that really says it all.

Sometimes being a designer you find yourself in the position wondering why you were asked to do a certain assignment. Has this client truly taken a look at your portfolio? Does this client understand what kind of work you do? Or did this client think that they could really do it themselves but just didn’t have the means (read understanding of applications such as Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop) to?

Actually let me rephrase that. Why would you hire a designer to do a job for you, if you really think you can it yourself. Sorry but as a formally trained designer I have trouble taking your not formally trained opinion serious. I don’t argue with my accountant over the way she chooses to work, I trust in her being capable of doing her job right. If she proves me wrong, than that will be the moment to complain. Or perhaps I need to make an easier comparison. You don’t go to a Chinese restaurant expecting or demanding Italian food. You don’t go to the bakery and tell them to bake the bread differently etc. In the couple of years that I have been doing this job, I’ve come across experiences so demotivating that I often wonder how I went on with it.

In one instance I had made a poster which had various ‘blocks’ of text. The client demanded that I’d get rid of these blocks and simply type all the text in one long row and align it to the left. Another time I was told that ‘the design is great but could you change the font and make it all the same color’. I often wonder what this client’s interpretation of ‘the design’ was.

Other experiences include but are not limited to: the font is not ‘hiphop’ enough, please make everything roman instead of bold and roman, receiving low resolution logos (JPG or GIF even) and/or pictures, being told that other designers charge less, could you make it more like .

I could go on and on about this, bottomline is why hire a professional designer when you
- don’t want to trust on a professional designer’s vision
- don’t want to pay what a professional charges
- can’t provide what this designer needs to make the best out of the assignment

If you’re reading this and you think you need to hire a designer for something then please respect this person’s craft. Respect this person’s experience and training. You’re not this person’s only and first client, they know what they’re doing. Don’t expect things from a designer that you wouldn’t expect from any other person providing you with a service.

It’s cool enough to run into people every now and then who tell me they check my blog on the regular, especially when they show they actually know what’s on here by referring to older posts and pictures. But I must say it’s even cooler to get recognition in the form of a feature in a magazine. WEJETSET Magazine has featured me and my photography (blog) as their travel inspiration!

A little bit about WEJETSET in their own words:

Established in 2007, WEJETSET brings together the products and information that every smart traveler needs. WEJETSET’s store is committed to carrying the highest quality products, while its publications keep travelers inspired and informed. In the spirit of this duality, WEJETSET is a full service lifestyle brand dedicated to serving the modern traveler with store, blog and magazine.

WEJETSET is for the modern traveler who understands that every trip is a journey, whether it is around the world or around the corner.

Evne if I weren’t featured on there I’d urge you to check it out, it’s a very inspiring site with lots of nice things on it. Like this, this or these (I’ve been wanting one for SO long now). Respect to Taj Reid, who you might actually know from Dork Magazine. Check out the feature here!