Say NO to FREE work

#nofreework #nomorefreeproject #nofreedesign #saynotofreework

The design is designer’s creative work, where he/she sacrificed a lot of time and energy. It’s not an instant output. It needs a lot of patience and devotion towards the work.

Some people or client think that Design is just like Drawing or can be easy (need you to place an image or a text on an A4 sheet). In many situations, it always better to say “NO’, to such people or client, to avoid, any type of regret, in future.

1. “As you a newcomer, first complete the work, if we find it good, we will pay you ”— client (probably the first client.).

Believe me, its never going to happen. Communicate with the client, politely and convince them - that though a newcomer, I am going to invest my time, creativity and energy, which definitely has a value, more than just a zero.

2. Many times clients come to you, through your friend, relative. As your friend itself is a guarantee and you are very much excited to work, you started doing work, which is completely based on oral specifications and commitments. (?) How these commitments are going to work?

You should make a habit of proper work contract (Agreement, NDA, MOU), before starting the work, irrespective of the size of work/project. If the client hesitates to do so, you have the right to say "NO" to the client.

3. For a newcomer or even for an experienced designer, it may not easy to ask the payment/money, before starting the work. There is nothing wrong with asking for advance payment/prepayment / Down payment. Make sure, the payment term, the mentioned in the contract.

Start your work, only after when you received the advance payment.

4. The cost of work/payment to be given to the designer must be decided by the designer, and not by the client.

Most of the times, they may ask to work in a particular amount, which is very less. Dare to say ‘NO’ in such situations.

5. If you are busy with too much of current workload and one of your old client, ask for some the urgent work, which was done by me, in past. Keeping the client or healthy relationship with the client is very much important, but you are not able to deliver, in the said time frame, and you said YES, spoils the well maintained healthy relations. So, it's better to say “NO” or you can refer the other one, who is capable to do the quality work.

6. Some corporate clients ask you to submit your work and will be paid after a period of three months (as per the company policy/payment terms). When you are trying to call the concerned person, after 4-5 months (as per the payment terms), as you haven’t received any payment, you come to know that you design was rejected, before 3 months.

And, at the end of 6th month, you find your design on billboards and company magazine. (??) Again you try to connect with the client, they will say its done by their internal team.

You are unable to prove, it's your idea or your design.. due to the lack of official documentation.

Keep a track of all the official communication, all types of contracts, when you are dealing with the corporate world. Also, make sure, the final output will be delivered, only after the payment.

Precaution is always better than cure.

7. Asking you to do the work, which is outside, but related to your area. Sometimes, you accept the work in order to keep the client. But, it results in disappointment.

8. The client asks you to work on the project, which was 50 % or more completed. Though, in this case, you need to work from the very primitive stage, client demands you to work in the minimal amount (50 % or lower). Explain the client the time, tasks involved, if not agree, simply say “NO”.
We are the only ones, who should say "NO", to such unprofessional deals, which is and will be going to spoil, not only the creator behind any design, also changes the norms and will set very different set of rules, which will kill the designers.

Remember

Nothing is free in life!
Hereafter... no more free projects...

Don’t ask us for any FREE work...

So, what's your story about "free work"?

What is DESIGN ?

#design  #kpcreatives #newblogpost #kuchh2creative

When we think of “Design”, what comes into our mind? It might be  A picture, A logo, A car, A Designer Dress, An Engineering drawing, and many more  Quite a large term with so many dimensions.Though the term “design”, is widely associated and appreciated in the creative world, it is equally used in the engineering word.

What is design?

Let us go through some of the most common examples.

For a housewife, a Rangoli, which she draws in front of the main door, on each day morning, is nothing but the creative design (Art). Same is applicable, for the creativity, she is applying to decorate her home, with the available material (a form of Interior Designing).

When your little” one” draws a drawing, in his/ her new drawing books, with more colors on the dress than on the paper... it’s nothing but the design, in his or her own way.

In today’s digital era, Web designing is one of the crucial words. The website is an online presentation of your organization; it should be designed in a way that your targeted customer should hit your webpage. Your design should be attractive and user-friendly.

So, in short, the design is EVERYWHERE...   

And in every sector, every phase of life. Without design, life will be boring. 

Total mess.

One thing should keep in mind, Design is not only about how it looks. Most important is how it works. To create “workable designs”, one should consider its dimensions, like

•       Purpose (Is it solving the purpose (e.g. Awareness, Delivering the message, etc)?),
•       Target Audience (Am I clear in addressing my target audience?)
•       Aesthetics (The way it looks?),
•       Functionality (is it functional? Is it solving the purpose?),
•       Economical (Is it too cheap or too costly),
•       Sociopolitical (Is it against any social norms? Aspiring any types of political chaos)

While designing a product or process or service, one must consider all above dimensions. Apart from the clear specifications received from the client, Pre-design Research, Designer’s ability to understand the specified requirement, constant and healthy communication with the client, organized plan or process to design, are equally important to deliver a perfect design.

Perfect design is the one which fulfills the specific requirement, addresses the targeted audience, generating the feedback for the client, in the given timeframe and at an economical cost.

So, basically, design can be defined as a generated creative process, which involves systematic planning, considering the purpose, functionality, economics, aesthetics, etc dimensions, in order to deliver a process or product or a service.

So what is the concept of design from your point of view?