Why does cheap design = bad design?
I often fill down time searching the web for shops in NWI that offer some type of design related service. And more times than not the correlation between low cost design (cheap $) and bad design (not Michael Jackson, Bad) goes hand and hand.
Which brings up the question…
Why?
Why are there so many shops in NWI, that have fairly decent client list, pushing out crap work? Is it the lack of knowledge from clients, not knowing what good visual communication is? Or is it great sales people that can sell ice to Eskimos? Is it the lack of talent in the Region’s design students and professionals?
Where is this gap being created and how can we fill it?
Is it possible that good design can equal cheap? I think of companies like Target and Ikea – low cost + great design. Ooohhh but those are products right? Isn’t a website a product? Ooohhh, “but you can’t hold a website”, you can’t through it away and buy another (yes you can). But what about a brochure, a business card, mailer…the fact of the matter is – these are all tangible goods, products that we as designers create, produce/publish and distribute.
I’ll ask the question again, why can’t we offer great design at a cheap price? There has to be a business model out there that supports this case? OR should good design never equal low cost (cheap)?
Pick a question, What are your thoughts?
Drop cap by Jessica Hishe (www.dailydropcap.com)
Author Info: Joseph Gonzalez
I'm also a full-time graphic & web designer for the Community Foundation of Northwest Indiana, Inc. A Freelance designer under the alias Miracletwentyone.org, An adjunct professor at Valparaiso University and founder of the INsight Design Conference.
I am passionate about our craft, industry and community. I enjoy the challenges of life and the process of design.
This is an interesting thought, and one I’ve thought about often. I remember that Seth Godin’s Purple Cow sums up that “cheap” is great, but hard to keep up.
I think that it would be an interesting thing to try, but your second point is what I’m seeing as the difficulty. It’s something that is difficult in a number of industries. How does one show quality when the potential customer has no way to properly judge it?
It’s kind of like cameras. How many consumers really know about photography enough to make an informed decision? That’s why camera makers pushed the idea of megapixels. More megapixels means better quality! Granted those who do photography know better and take size, formats, CMOS sensor, &c. into account as well.
And the same for TV’s (as a more common purchase). Used to be the only thing I heard about TV’s was screen size. Wooo! Bigger Screen! Now big screens are more common, so they needed a new metric to measure. Which is when they turned to resolution and, moreso, contrast.
Maybe instead of focusing on what to charge, we create easy-to-understand metrics or instructing clients on metrics we are already aware of having. We need a way to measure the quality of design work to accurately justify design.
I personally have never purchased anything that was “cheap” that had any type of quality to it. In that sense, I feel the same way about design.
In my personal experience, anything that was a portfolio piece was something that I spent countless hours creating. In some instances, even losing money on the project just to make sure it was as good as it could be. In this case and many others for me, the work ended up being, well, “not cheap”.
I think that it’s possible for good design to be cheap, but then, is it really even profitable? I mean, what’s the point of doing what you love, trying to pay the rent, feed your kids, pay your employees, etc – if you’re not making any money doing it?? Of course that’s not what life or love is about, but we all know that many things in our lives come down to money…
I believe the reason why “cheap” design is “crap” is because the artists or designers creating the work simply don’t put time and energy into something they are not being paid to put that time and energy into. So, they crank out the work, and keep doing it over and over.
To end my comment here, No, I don’t feel that “good” design should be pushed out at a cheap price. Our industry, pricing, crowd sourcing and business models are already suffering, the idea of this bothers me to my core.
To me the real question is: “What is good design?”
Sure, good design can be cheap. As surely as clients will continue to pay top dollar for crap design.
For my money, good design = bad design. Good or bad, it’s all just design. And “design” is cheap.
Ideas are not.
- Why are there so many shops in NWI, that have fairly decent client list, pushing out crap work? –
I’ve invested some time hanging around as an undercover in this idea. I spent sometime working with and learning the in’s and out’s of this local business to discover that sometimes they feel the product is what gives them great business. The design is just something that comes with having a company. If the product is good, it doesn’t matter how its presented people will keep begging for more.
Unfortunately these people don’t see the world the way designers/artists do.
To me I will gladly pay more to explore culture…indulging in some Japanese fusion or maybe some Middle Eastern cuisine. To me the experience is half the fun. However the mindset I see a lot of people stuck in is that why pay $14 for a sushi roll, when I can get my meat and potatoes for half the price. My dish is filling me up for half the price, so why pay more?
I talked to the MAIN MAN of this local phenomena and seems he ran out and bought himself a copy of CS4. He has himself a digital camera with a whopping 4mp, and still found himself loving his “Publisher Program”. After explaining some of the benefits of outsourcing his design to a company, or even hiring someone to cover all this “Bad” work he’s been producing. He simply said, it’s not worth the expense or hassle.
Seems this penny pincher isn’t getting the idea of attracting NEW, More, and possible LOST business because he feels he may DO BETTER then they already are…(I think he’s nuts)
…..i don’t know just my observation
I think it boils down to one phrase/motive … “Whatever nets the most profit”.
I believe most clients don’t understand the importance of good design and the message it could convey. Most companies don’t feel it necessary to insist/educate on particular goals in design because of the ‘customer is always right’ mantra. It’s also easier to sell a customer on a project when you do everything they want you to do and not do what you are suppose to be doing, consulting on best practice.
All in all, I believe, it really boils down to the company’s greed and laziness in achieving maximum profit. Good, Fast, and Cheap … clients rarely/never pick cheap.
To add another opinion to this conversation:
Target and Ikea sell nice-looking furniture that I personally have a few pieces of myself, but do those products really hold up for more than a year or two of use and abuse (being that the integrity of furniture is not just in how looks, but how it weathers across time)?
Not really.
On the other hand, I also have a few pieces of custom furniture built by the craftsman in a small cabinet shop that will most likely last my family their entire lives and then on down the line to the next generation. This furniture also looks amazing.
So, my question to you all is, is it more profitable (or worth it) to spend a little more up front in quality to not have to repeatedly spend possibly more money and headache on down the road?
I love your furthering of the furniture analogy, and I agree fully.
In this area though, no matter how you explain I only see the business owners only hearing a dial-tone in there head. The best reasoning will slide off of them, and they’ll simply push the price issue.
I think the best way to convince, is to somehow have some kind of measurable rating to display with good solid numbers that design is worth the cost.
From my experience, the only way to have measurable results for a customer, is through added business. Either traffic on their website, new customers via ads or mailings etc. Truth is, sometimes no matter how good the design, the product does not sell because it is not a good product. And if that is true, it begs the question, should we only work with companies and products we believe in?
I realize that my last comment was an obvious generalization; that $$ = quality, but you do generally get what you pay for. There is the occasional jackass, however, that will charge you an arm and a leg for fake, chintzy or broken goods.
I believe that we are all missing the one important part of the equation here. There is no accounting for taste. No matter what quality, budget, education, social stature, etc. the client may have, sometimes the client is responsible for the crap design. I agree it is our responsibility to educate our clients. However, I can personally say that I have produced crap design because that is what the customer wanted. I worked for a company that produced nothing but crap design. Not because the talent they had, but because the dictation of the client (boss). So, in this case, what are we to do? Cut all ties mid project because we don’t like the direction the client is sending us?
To me, a lot of NWI companies want to think they know what good design is, but the truth is, their minds are still stuck on starbursts and neon. It was hard to get a customer to understand and go with what we know is best. It is like me going to a Oncologist and saying, “yeah I know I have cancer, but I think taking advil everyday will cure it. I don’t need chemo.”
Excellent feedback on this article – it touches on all the issues surrounding this topic.
Personally, I think a lot of it has to do with the clients themselves. They just simply do not understand the power of branding and the image they project via marketing materials. They want a web site up and running because they “have to.” They don’t put much as much stock into the value of the site and the design – they put much more thought into how much money is coming out of their bank account. They don’t understand the value of the web and refuse to pour a lot of money into it.
It’s a much wider problem with this area — the reluctance to change mindsets and keep up with quickly changing face of business.