On tuesday evening Andrea Rosenfeld and I had our second Broadcast Louder class with our guest, Mark T. Smith. The topic of discussion was “one of a kind vs limited edition products.”
As we talked about fine artists and other creatives at different stages in their careers and the types of work they want to do, I realized that much of the work I create is one of a kind too. When I develop the branding, graphics and website design for a new start-up or entrepreneur, it’s original and created for them alone. I do not believe in reproducing templates. I consider my work art the same way another artist would.
Now there may be many business people or Solopreneurs out there who think, graphic or website design is just moving things around on a page, or anyone with the Adobe Suite of products can create the branding, a brochure or logo. That anyone who installs WordPress or has Dreamweaver can design web pages.
Well they might be able to create them, it doesn’t make it art.
First, they haven’t been properly trained on all aspects of art, from art history, to drawing, painting, to techniques, color palettes, typefaces and more. Creating art isn’t something out of a box or software program, it begins in the mind of the artist. We visualize in our minds what we want to do and then the computer is just a tool to help us.
I have had my business for almost 18 years now and before that I was an art director / designer in the book publishing industry. I have always considered myself a craftsperson. I am also a bit of a perfectionist working on things until they are just so, or the client doesn’t see them. Also, I’m confident enough in my own experience and craft that when a client asks to see something, if I feel it won’t work, I won’t do it. They should trust me and my expertise, isn’t that why they came to me in the first place?
Because the web is changing constantly, I have to check the links on my portfolio page often and sometimes I see a website I didn’t design. The link is removed immediately from my site. It used to bother me, the realization that that site is gone, the creation lost, but I know that the web is a living thing as it should be, changing and evolving as each company grows and changes.
After all, many of my clients come to me to change their sites, so it’s happening to another artist.
