Designers Speak

• How did you get started as a designer?

I was very much fascinated by abstract shapes, colors, artistic creations etc. Since my childhood and started Pencil Sketching at around age of 7 years. I wanted a career in fine arts however unfortunately could not get any professional training in the domain. But thank God destiny had the right script for me and I became artist/designer of digital medium:). It started after I learnt CorelDraw for fun 9 years back. There after started a part-time job as a graphic designer and reached my current position…

• Who is a good designer according to you?

A good designer in my view is who can translate the preferences/requirements of client without compromising quality, aesthetics, latest trends, x-factor and most important thing self satisfaction.

• How do you stay current in your professional field?

I keep myself updated with latest trends in the design industry. Self motivation and initiative to try-out new things help me stay in the field.

• What do you think is the biggest challenge faced by Designers/developers and what is the solution?

The biggest challenge I think is conservative nature of many clients. Most clients treat designers as computer operators and reject their ideas without even understanding the concept behind their artwork. That is why most of the designs created are crap and only few stands out.

• What advice would you give to anyone starting off in this field?

Keep updated with latest trends. Follow best designer/designs for inspiration but create your own artwork do not copy. Else you will become a copy cat in the long run. It can be a bit difficult to create absolutely new ideas in the beginning but not impossible. Your hard work will be fruitful

• Where do you get your inspiration from?

Internet is full of inspirations.

• Who has been your inspiration in this field?

At different stages of my life I got inspiration from many people around me.

• All artists have a muse who gets them through those ‘blank page days’, what’s your muse?

I always ponder about being an automotive design engineer Or a professional photographer. So I keep reading about these…

• What else keeps you busy besides designing?

I love photography and listening to Gurbani (Hymns from Adi Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji)

Every designer has his own style, pace, uniqueness and comfort zones. If you are ever in need of hiring another designer to share your work load or for additional expertise then it is important to keep a few things in mind. More often than naught, collaborating designers tend to spend more times arguing than doing actual design because of difference in points of view, methods of execution and personalities.

There are few basic ground rules you can follow to ensure an efficient and effective partnership with designs

1. Make the right choice

It is always a good idea to select a designer to partner with after viewing his previous work and his credentials. Trying to replace a designer mid-way through a project will only add to cost and time delays. Be smart about who you want to work with and inquire ahead from references about the designer, his work and working style, if possible.

2. Design is King

Remember that creating the best design is the ultimate goal of the collaboration and if this is kept as the top agenda then egos, arguments and other disagreements will automatically take a back seat.

3. Create a workable structure

When working with another person try and lay some ground rules for work which includes timelines and deadlines to monitor the progress of the project. This will also help in addressing any design issues ahead of time avoiding any unnecessary time delays.

4. Communicate

Set up a communication channel with the designer. Create an environment where the designer feels comfortable to voice his opinion. Discuss the project thoroughly before embarking on the design and also review periodically so that there are not last minute surprises that you have to deal with.

5. Give each other space

Every designer needs his space to work; you cannot breathe down his neck and expect him to produce exceptional results. Periodic reviews don’t mean that you spend every day criticizing his work. Once you have discussed the design give him room to create the design in his own comfort zone, you are likely to get quicker and more accurate results this way.

6. Simplify

The keep it simple rule applies for every design. If you dealing with a complex project then break it down into simple blocks that are achievable. Don’t panic and rush into things because you will end up with a mess that will take too much time to unravel.

7. Learn to respect each other

You hired the designer for his ability and knowledge. Keeping this is mind; remember to treat the designer with respect because his abilities are an advantage and strength for completing your project.

All collaborations are challenging but it is important to remember that at the end of the day, the final design will speak volumes about how well you worked together.

• How did you get started as a designer/developer?

We started back in 2009; the idea is to deliver the real WWW to upcoming digital industry. We are group of 4 people, carrying different level of expertise across Digital Media, Product development, Sales & Project Management coming from different cities and bunched up in New Delhi.  We love designing & developing websites/Software’s and we started AKS WebSoft Consulting and started providing end to end solutions to the industries like Education, Pharmaceuticals, Manufacturing, and Healthcare etc…

We have designed 1500+ websites/portals for customers round the globe. Delivered Software services to customers like Hewlett Packard, UAS Pharma, MTNL & some manufacturers.  Partnered with E-commerce companies for Software development & designing like citykirana.com, thecityelectronics.com, eximdeals.com.

• Who is a good designer/developer according to you?

Every designer or developers are good and bad both; it depends on many factors:

For designers: Creative thinking is something which they need to carry every time they start with blank paper. Designers who can understand the client requirements from plain documents and convert them into graphical layouts with lots of creativity and unique features are good designers according to me.

• How do you stay current in your professional field?

In Today’s market one should stay up to date with all the skills whether it is technical, business, sales, marketing or managing. I personally love to read and know about trending technology, businesses, start-ups, Marketing, tools and best practices. I generally follow blogs read articles join webinars, meet-ups and active members of few technology groups. All these things helps me lot to stay up to date and to deliver more values to our clients.

• What do you think is the biggest challenge faced by Designers/developers and what is the solution?

Website accessibility is the biggest challenge for designers and developers but more for designers (UI/UX). Now the web world has emerged a lot and Smart phones has got huge attention of designer and developers. We have to design and develop the website in such a way that all users have an equal access to the information, functionality and feature of the site no matter whether accessing from Phone, Tablet or laptop. CSS3 and HTML5 has given us lots of new features for playing with designing techniques, website optimization, animation and buzzwords playing Audio/Video files right inside the browser.

• What advice would you give to anyone starting off in this field?

My advice to upcoming designers is to learn the basics and standards of web designing and techniques before initiating and parallel sharpen and excel your skills. Apart from the designing skills creative thinking is also very strong thing which helps you to survive in the ocean. If you cannot think beyond the line or cannot imagine the outcome then might be you’ve chosen something wrong.

• Where do you get your inspiration from?

• Who has been your inspiration in this field?

We all get inspired and motivated from people around us or in our network. Reading about the person and his achievement also very inspiring us but most cases we follow one whom we have met couple of times or worked together.  These are the people we get motivated to and ready to walk extra miles for the excellence. I have long list of people from whom I’ve learnt a lot. I always try to learn from people I’m interacting with they can be my customers, colleagues, vendors, seniors, friends, family anyone.

• All artists have a muse who gets them through those ‘blank page days’, what’s your muse?

• What else keeps you busy besides designing?

Beside the official work we love to go out for movies and spent our time with our families.

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Designs are a work of art and several times are considered priceless for their ingenuity but for mere mortals who would like to create designs as a career option, the one aspect that confuses all is how to arrive at the right price.

Before you price for any design there are some basic questions that you need to ask yourself:

• How much money do I want to make?
• How good am I at my work?
• What would the market price be for this kind of work?
• Should I charge by the hour or project?
• Can my client afford it?

These are just a few basic questions to get your started on the quest to arrive at the right price. But sometimes pricing can be far more complicated. If you are breaking into a new client, then you might consider competitive pricing in order to get the project but if you feel that irrespective of the client you pricing would remain stable then the route to take I completely different. It’s not enough to calculate how much you’d like to earn per hour: You also need to determine whether this figure is realistic. If you outsource part of the project the consideration of profitability also comes into play. If you are a freelancer then their might even be a pre-existing market expectation that you would be more cost effective than the established design houses. But in some cases that might not be true. In certain situations, such as a price war, market decline or market saturation; you must temporarily set a price that will cover costs and allow you to continue operations.

A few pricing terms to remember while finalizing with a client are hourly rate/project rate, overheads, billable hours, outsource cost, profit margin and taxes. Certain clients might add a legal clause to the pricing; ensure that you have properly read these terms before signing off on the contract. Ensure that you have considered all these items before finalizing the price else you might realize at the very end that you have been short-changed. Once you decide what you will charge, make sure you enter into a written fee agreement with every client.

While there is not exact formula to ascertaining a price for your design, one must keep in mind that that every pricing strategy comes with its own set of pros and cons. Remember that the price your charge will affect the future outlook for your services and also be a part of clients opinion to use or recommend your services in the future.

• How did you get started as a designer/developer?

I had an inclination towards drawing since I was a kid. Be it, making time-table charts for my classroom or completing the ‘complex’ science diagrams for my friends’ assignments, I was their ‘local hero’. Even though I took Non-Medical for ‘still-unidentified’ reasons, I was supposed to be an engineering student. But after my class XII pre-boards, I had a sudden and also a bit-late epiphany that I could only see myself as a designer and nothing else. So, keeping those thoughts a secret, I still appeared for my engineering entrance exams, just for the heck of it and unfortunately I made it through and got myself qualified for a whole list of colleges. A hectic week of total family-drama, rigorous self-analysis, researches and collecting all my thoughts, I took admission in a designing institute and made Peace.

• Who is a good designer according to you?

To be honest, I believe that I’ve just started in this field professionally and have a lot to learn, so it might not be righteous to come-up with any sort of specifications/traits of a good designer. But I’ll say that every designer might be good or even great in his/her own thing but it’s all about, up-to what extent you could stay original and ofcourse who’s got a bigger and a better audience!! After all, we do it for them.

• How do you stay current in your professional field?

Firstly, I try reading as many design books as possible in order to get familiar with the past (Although it’s a bit harder than usual since I’m a lazy-reader). Then for the present, I’ll search and read various blogs and even do tutorials in order to keep up and stay current. And for future, maybe my own tutorials, ha-ha.

• What do you think is the biggest challenge faced by Designers/developers and what is the solution?

Apart from the occasional turn-offs by the clients, the low-pays, long & unpredictable working hours, fluctuating social life, losing your patience and will-power from time-to-time, the constant advices from your parents, friends or peers to change your career path, I think the biggest challenge, as I mentioned before, is to stay ‘Original’ or avoiding Plagiarism.

• What advice would you give to anyone starting off in this field?

I’m quite improvisational and I mostly abide by the various moral or intellectual philosophies/teachings at my own convenience, but by making sure that I’m not degrading myself. It’s quite hard to do at first, but it’s not impossible and a bit easier if you have a ‘knack’ for it. So, my advice to anyone starting off in any field would be – Work hard, vary your expectations appropriately, stay patient, stay calm and always be humble. As Mr. Navjot Singh Sidhhu once said during his commentary in a cricket match – “Ek pedh (tree) me jitne zyada fal (fruits) honge woh utna zyada hi jhukha rahega”.

• Where do you get your inspiration from?

Countless people, countless things! As I said I pick up on things that teach me something. But without sounding so much complicated, I’ll say the things that happen all around. Be it a usual habit or sayings that people do but then goes unnoticed, or any general appliance/object which you look and say, what if it was designed like this or I wonder if it could work as this too. So, majorly not confining myself of just being a graphic designer but a designer per se and my favourite question of all – “What If?”.

• Who has been your inspiration in this field?

People like –Sir Paul Rand, Chris Spooner, Mr. David Ogilvy, Mr. Piyush Pandey, Raja Sandhu and Kriti from Turmeric Designs (She’s amazing!) and apart from the designing field, a couple of billionaires ofcourse.

• All artists have a muse who gets them through those ‘blank page days’, what’s your muse?

I’m quite social too although a very specific kind. So, obviously I’ll say people or situations happening around. And DOODLING! (Read somewhere that doodling is a great way of generating ideas and it works, atleast for me.)

• What else keeps you busy besides designing?

I’m mostly bemused all the time, so I keep on exploring my options. I’m a keen music enthusiast and I play guitar too. I’ve been lucky enough to have collaborated or jammed with different bands and I’ve done a few concerts/shows. My dog keeps me busy all the time since I’m his ‘designated’ caretaker. Not a big of fan of reality or Indian television, so I’ve grew fond of US television SITCOMS. I have an obstinate illusion that I can tickle people’s funny bones despite of some unsuccessful attempts, so I would like to try my hands or luck or whatever, on Stand-Up or Improvisational Comedy, in the future ahead. Or even a business or something that will make me good money.