At the risk of answering too obtusely...

"I create solutions that nobody wants to problems that don't exist" - Alvin Lustig.

Design lays solidly in the blue collar world. I believe. The main issue i have with design speak is our (by our I mean the industry) tendancy to use heady terms when we need to sell a heady concept, and on the other hand our willingness toss all those terms out the window to sell an 'eyecandy' concept. Until we stop wanting our cake and eat it too, the other sectors (consumers, clients, etc...) will be confused.

'Design speak' often sounds goofy... I mean c'mon...strategist? solutionist?

nice one.

funnily enough most of the time i don't know what these terms mean-literally-this is not meant harshly but with the last topic it took me a while to understand what this very official sounding thing called a 'critique' was, where and when they were held and who was organising them, but then i realised ooooooh it's like when i show someone my work and say 'what do you reckon?'.

design speak tends to pomposity and by this designers can often find themselves standing in a 6ft deep hole holding a shovel.

problems and solutions. problem-maybe, sometimes, possibly, if there really is a problem (someone getting hurt or something)-solutions, never. until a brief is set and two designers on opposite sides of the world come up with precisely to the very detail exactly the same piece of work.

this could be fun . . . :)

I hate the term "creative" when it's used as a noun to describe the role of a graphic designer.

I mean, scientists don't go around calling themselves "smarts" and mechanics don't label themselves as "handies," right?

It makes so little sense to me.

Let's face it. We're all a bunch of bullshit artists when it comes to selling a concept to people who don't understand half of what they are looking at. Because marketing is such a lower function of companies now, the people in those positions often don't have the imagination and foresight to see a design and intuitively 'get it'. So, we throw off words like "integrated solution" and "brand vision" because it sounds like something they would say and it is something they can repeat verbatim to their bosses when they have to sell it higher in the organization.

So would I rather never use the word "brand" again in a presentation? Absolutely. But it's been drummed into my head for so long, I can't stop it from ringing!

without those words, i do not exist.

design speak tends to pomposity

I agree. Didn't all of this so called "design speak" come out of the internet, advertising, and branding industries over the past few years? Did the design greats like Glaser or Rand ever use prases like "productize synergistic technologies," and "enhance front-end paradigms?" I don't think so.

The above pomposity is taken from a site I'm sure you've all seen already. It's classic.

Are we assuming graphic designer speak = buzz word laden sales pitch?

If so, then I guess it depends. I imagine sometimes it's more than appropriate, at other times, it isn't. It's really up to the sales person to make that decision.

(I don't think most graphic designers should be the ones selling the solution to the client).

LOKi design labs delivers targetted inovative cutting-edge digital brand building outside of the box thinking creating B2B .com networked solutions systems using the latest and newest in high-end multimedia lifestyle enhancing content -rich experience technology to bring added value to your integrated target market increasing our clients mindshare purchase performance ratio to make you rich and happy and famous and feel thinner today.

Check out the web Bullshit generator...

oops, Kiran beat me to it.

solutionist

This was a stupid dot-com invention and anyone using it or other terms like Chief Thought Engineer and Master of Creative Domain should be shot.

Ok, actually, I like Master of Creative Domain, but not the others.

D'oh! Sorry Kevin. ;)

Reading Darrel's post on the Idanda thread I saw he mentioned that a marketing director used the word pizazz... exactly. What are the silliest, dumbest, funniest, weirdest terms you have heard from other designers, marketing folk and clients?

What are the silliest, dumbest, funniest, weirdest terms you have heard from other designers, marketing folk and clients?

Popage. A client wanted the design to have more 'popage'... nuff said.

I knew a guy who used the word "transmogrify" a lot when describing his designs. It always made me miss Calvin and Hobbes.

This discussion made me remember this quote: "I spent my life looking, using my imagination and trying to solve problems... now, they call it communicating" from a recent book on Gonzalo Tassier a great graphic designer here in Mexico.

I've heard "It's got to pop more." too, I think that's a very popular one. "I like it." and "That's very clean." are also frequent comments.

I guess if us designers can use lame words so can the client, no?

I have client who's telling me to put "more of your weird little fetishy things" into a book design. I think he means it as a compliment, but it's a children's book and somehow "fetish" and "children" creeps me out.

I hate it when they say, "Make it fun." It's about as much direction as "Make something I'll like."

This is a baited topic -- aside from griff, who I think is being sarcastic, who's going to admit that they speak like this on purpose? Not me certainly. I never talk like this. Nope. Never. Uh-huh.

But let's back up a bit here. I think there's more than a grain of validity to this new vernacular (the idiom of a particular trade or profession) of design-speak.

Within the past few decades, our economies have definitely become less manufacturing-based and more service-based. And like it or not, marketing has become a force to be reckon with. Yes, some of these marketing services are nothing new, including design. But I think there are new categories within these traditional services that are new and unique.

Branding is a good example. Is it just logo design and application? Sure, in most cases, it is. But to firms like the Sterling group (correct me here Debbie) and Landor, it has become a consumer science. Consumers today are not the consumers of 30 years ago -- they are more savvy, diverse, demanding, and impatient. Consumer marketing has become more complicated and encumbered as a result.

So out of all this comes new sub-services, new specializations, new technologies -- and inevitably, attempt at a new vernacular to describe it all. The closest analogy I can think of is "Solid-State". In the 60's, this term was used to describe devices that used transistors instead of vacuum tubes. "Open-source" is our modern solid-state, is it not?

Does most of it sound like bullshit? Yes. But inevitably, some of it is going to stick.

I, for one, have used "brand extensions" and "mega-this and that" enough to go to design hell when I die. I'm sure I'll see many of you there.

I'll save you a seat, Tan.

I'll reserve front row seats for all of you.

One man's heaven is another man's hell.

"tweak it a little bit more"

...ugh, that phrase sends me instantly into a walking coma — mostly because i hear it from those which i'd rather not recieve creative direction.

What about the coma we can lull our clients into by saying things like "Here I've used a san serif typeface to imply a clean modern yet anonymous blah blah blah and notice the hierarchy of elements that help achieve a unified whole." It's easy to slip into talking about our work the same way to designers and non-designers.

In Paula Scher's book, there was an interesting story that went something like this:

When she first got to Pentagram she saw someone preparing a client presentation. On one board they had mounted a specimine of Times Roman. Underneath, it said, "This is Times Roman. It has little feet." She wrote, "All the sudden I realized that I had been doing it wrong for years."

What are the silliest, dumbest, funniest, weirdest terms you have heard from other designers, marketing folk and clients?

The most colorful seem to come from the marketing folks. Some of my favorites come from the Brand Manager at an old client:

"Our copy needs a little sprinkling of the brand salt."

"Let's apply our brand veneer to the design." (wood paneling anyone?)

What are the silliest, dumbest, funniest, weirdest terms you have heard from other designers, marketing folk and clients?

Designing album & book covers you always hear "can we just make it 'pop' a bit more." I love it when you ask them "exactly what are you looking for?" Their answer is "I don't know, we just want it to 'pop' off the shelves." I know I throw around that term - but I know what I'm trying to achieve.

Another of my favorites "collage-y-kind-of-feel-to-it"

my favorite comments ever:

"this should be a modern reflection of traditional values"

"I'll know it when I love it"

BUT...

I am going to play devil's advocate here. I am not saying that I buy into this (do I hear a big-time rationalization coming or what?) but I think that clients love design speak.

I know I know I know...I hear the groans and curses...especially Grahams...and I know why and I feel the pain. BUT...I think it is true. I think they love it when they think we know more than they do about why design works and the words validate their perception of this being "a science" or a "discipline" or...something they can believe in that has some sort of credibility behind it and I think they believe the words give them that. Whew.

It is actually a terribly sad statement about how our work is perceived, but (in my mind) true, nevertheless. Which doesn't necessarily mean I think it is a good practice. I have just seen how clients become mesmerized (and more secure, read: convinced) when they hear those words.

Ouch.

I really think that if one of my clients said to me "Tweak it a little bit more" and I don�t understand or even suspect what he wants or tries to say, I'm in big trouble, my understanding of my client and his needs has to be enough in order to read between the "tweaking" lines.

>but I think that clients love design speak.

I agree with you Debbie, and in all sincerity I don't think it's that wrong to do it or be ashamed of doing it. Doctors do it all the time, shit, even mechanics try to impress you with car speak. And it works, if this guy knows what a "transmissional axis handler" is, he must be worth th $500 I'm about to shell.

And now that anybody can be a designer thanks to software, it is quite valid that we use design speak to sort of establish our expertise in the field. A bit sad, but a whole lotta truth.

> Make it pop.

I'm gonna show them pop one of these days.

Another one of my favorites is Typefont, neither a typeface nor a font, discuss...

"I like it, it works."

What works? I hate that term. I heard it all the time in school.

but I think that clients love design speak.

Right. Some clients need it, others abhor it. A good sales person will know when to use it and when not to.

Of course, I'm not exactly sure what we're saying when we say 'design speak'. There's the fluffy BS/Buzzword design speak, and then there's just industry-laden talk.

Typefont...bad juju.

How about: "Did you do that in Adobe?"

...one of my favorites.

>Of course, I'm not exactly sure what we're saying when we say 'design speak'. There's the fluffy BS/Buzzword design speak, and then there's just industry-laden talk

I think we are talking about a balanced combination of both.

>>I don't think most graphic designers should be the ones selling the solution to the client

>A good sales person will know when to use it and when not to.

What if you are a freelancer?

"I think they love it when they think we know more than they do about why design works and the words validate their perception of this"

I think I would love it if our agency had more clients like yours..! Ours tend to believe that they can art direct better than I can, and are quite happy to go ahead and do so.

My favorite for identity " Can you you put a pinline around it"

-What is a pinline?

There is Marketing guy here that always says "just make it sexy" So I sprayed perfume on a packaging comp!!!!

Here's some software that might help things, perhaps there's a version coming out for designers on OS X?

http://www.dc.com/bullfighter/

>I think I would love it if our agency had more clients like yours..! Ours tend to believe that they can art direct better than I can, and are quite happy to go ahead and do so.

Wick--it is not that the clients are that enlightened or progressive, it is that the 'design speak' somehow gives them confidence that they don't intrinsically have. Kind of like Armin's mechanic example. The clients are actually rather insecure and are looking for the design speak as validation of a smart choice.

So saying something like: "this is a dimensionalization of the brand's essence" gives the client more faith than saying something like "it's cool how this swoosh is, like, about movement, you know?"

(gross generalization)

Sometime in the near future: "If I make your logo bigger a 25% we affect the Dot gain values on the PMS plate for the web offset process of lithography and in order to avoid that we need to color correct the FPO images already done so the the white balance and the UCR doesn't affect the overall feeling of the piece and your brand peception gets diminished in the process" ;) or use this in case of emergency

http://www.dc.com/bullfighter/

That can't be real. Business sucks.

http://www.dc.com/bullfighter/

AH! I finally figured out how one of the editors here writes her column.

Brent, can you elaborate, please?

Sorry, any reference I could provide would require lengthy registration to an awful web site.

We have a freelancer here who consistently irritates proofreaders with her nonsense buzzwords and bs. (much like that site)

I apologize for my obscurity :)

Uh oh.

darn, sounded juicy.

; )

If you mean a frustration so great that you feel like bashing your head into the wall until it's juicy, then yeah.

Hint: I work for a trade hair magazine and she writes the articles on the business of hairdressing, and not well.

so sorry, Brent. sounds awful.

why don't you hit her back with something like, "Don't you think that the color of a woman's hair is a true dimensionalization of her inner essence, yet the dichotomy of that expression often reveals that the true color palette is usually a somewhat revolutionary departure from the original?"

Sorry, I am punchy today.

Fortunately, as the art director i don't ever have to truly read those articles. (art=candids + stock)

I am, however, privy to other's malaise.

why don't you hit her back with something like, "Don't you think that the color of a woman's hair is a true dimensionalization of her inner essence, yet the dichotomy of that expression often reveals that the true color palette is usually a somewhat revolutionary departure from the original?"

It's scary how easily that rolls off of your tongue Debbie.

I use 'repurposing digital assets' where ever I can, and play a sort of lingo-bingo if I can get the entire conversation to be meaningless and in 'biz speak'. It often brings a small amount of happiness in an otherwise dull situation.

"The clients are actually rather insecure and are looking for the design speak as validation of a smart choice.

Okay. Fair point.

>"This white space is necessary because it leaves your customers' eyes vulnerable to your next message."

Bloody brilliant. Amazing. I am in awe.

Maybe our profession would have more credibility if designers didn't throw around so much bullshit. I only go to mechanics who talk to me plain-like; in my experience, the other ones are lying. Plus, my non-designer colleagues would club me to death if I talked to them that way.

Rebecca, for the most part I think you are right.

But as Tan mentioned before:

So out of all this comes new sub-services, new specializations, new technologies -- and inevitably, attempt at a new vernacular to describe it all. The closest analogy I can think of is "Solid-State". In the 60's, this term was used to describe devices that used transistors instead of vacuum tubes. "Open-source" is our modern solid-state, is it not?

I think that there are some good, descriptive words out there that aptly convey a mood, a stance, a belief, whatever. It is when these words are used as filler for people that are trying to manipulate an audience into believing that they are smarter than they really are that the damage (and the parodying) begins. The words end up conveying more about the pretentiousness of the person and their base lack of imagination than "adding value" to the actual message they are trying to communicate.

This ends up tainting the words that could've actually once meant something when used appropriately, but have been mis-used and mis-handled by people that just didn't know better--or didn't care.

A classic poseur-type situation. Unfortunately, I think this happens way beyond 'design-speak.' It happens in any type of artistic or intellectual endeavor.

Einstein's brilliance was his ability to distill supercomplicated information into scenarios that normal people would understand. It wasn't condescending -- it was simplification.

He'd say something like "Two motorcycles representing electrons are traveling towards each other at the speed of light. They see each other in a red glow, and as they pass each other -- in their rearview mirror, they become blue." This statement elegantly explains light wavelengths and theoretical physics so that anyone can understand.

Good design speak, like good design, should simplify things, not encumber their meaning and relevance. I'm always striving to find simpler ways to explain why something works.

I'm a little shocked at how comfortable some of you are at corporate-speak. It's impressive -- but in a sad, pathetic way.

But as I said, I do it too.

A classic poseur-type situation. Unfortunately, I think this happens way beyond 'design-speak.' It happens in any type of artistic or intellectual endeavor.

the subtext here, Debbie, being that the artistic is not intellectual? ;)

I'm pretty fascinated that for a profession who's main goal is "communication" that there's so much hostility to varied forms of language from casual to rigid.

stiff and intellectualized language has its place. Probably not with clients and friends -- depending on how heavily the audience needs that kind of assurance or exercise. (It seems that Sam and I and a few others took issue with the placement of that voice in the Rant book debate. And for my part, my feedback became much more formal the further into I got -- defensively, in a way to mean what i was saying.)

It's interesting how the themes this last week have been about Criticism / Lingo / Author's voice.

I have to run, but I wanted to post this. Tan: I think your Einstein example is beautiful. I also think it is sad that corporate speak has become so easy for so many of us. But when you analyze why we do it, I think it is possible to be empathetic as to the reasons.

Most people want to be accepted and appreciated and respected. When you're Einstein it is a bit easier to have confidence that what you are saying is going to have credibility with people. I think the main reason that people plump up what they say with bull is to try and convince themselves and others that what they are saying has credibility, relevance and is just plain right. It is sad that in our society this is the great lengths we need to go to in order for people to feel secure about what it is they are saying.

One of my favorite lines from a movie was in "Philadelphia" when Denzel Washington asks a defendent to "explain something to him like a four-year old would."

>Denzel Washington asks a defendent to "explain something to him like a four-year old would."

That's much better than what my dad used to tell me when he sent me to ask for directions, he would say "Go in, son, and tell them you are stupid of the head and that they need to explain it to you really simple." Not sure if it has scarred me or bettered me as a person.

> When you're Einstein it is a bit easier to have confidence that what you are saying is going to have credibility with people.

Good point Debbie...and so true...

great topic.

and one thats always spiked a nerve.

as with all things, only time will heal the wound and return us to "logos and identities" rather than "holistic brand stewardship".

this brand backlash is a way for us to feel normal again, right? question is what will the new hot sell "word(s)" be and how will they reflect the state we're in?

Branding? No, sir. I do Realitations. (copyright)

They make people feel, well, real. (copyright)

So what about the language of design "problems" and design "solutions"? I remember very clearly the recent AIGA mailings with the crowded street scene with the viewfinder: "solve this."

It always struck me that there is no solution to that. It's beautiful just the way it is.

When we talk about solving problems, we basically make ourselves out to be doing something more important than what we're actually doing - just like with the corporate lingo. We're really just in the business of making things that people will notice - conciously or subconciously.

In any case, why is it, then, that we are always trying to make themselves out to be more important than we are?

Is it just that the profession attracts people with no self confidence? I'm certainly an example of that.

I think there's something else underneath all of this "language clothing" to steal a line from Wittgenstein.

When we talk about solving problems, we basically make ourselves out to be doing something more important than what we're actually doing

Good design comes from a definable objective. Typically, that objective is to solve a problem. To say that designers (and I'm not talking about graphic designer specifically) don't solve problems is to not understand the process of design.

If you are saying a lot of graphic design work is really decoration, then sure, I agree, but there's still a problem being solved: we need it to look better.

You mention that we're in the business of making things so people will notice them. Well, the problem is that the item isn't being noticed. We solve that problem by making it look more noticable.

As for design speak, I'll say it again: Some clients need it, some don't. Just as some people go to Best Buy and NEED to hear the sales pitch to buy a VCR, others don't.

Here is another twist on design speak when it comes to client requests on a specific look, heck even designer's explanations on a look.

Make it look:

a) Modern

b) Retro

c) Elegant

d) Techie

e) Rugged

f) Feminine/Masculine

What is modern to me, might not be modern to you, so how do you make the definition?

...if designers didn't throw around so much bullshit.

i see it as somewhat of a survival tactic to learning said bullshit. that was really the idea behind corporate speak in general—that overall sameness that isn't intimidating (in theory) and levels the field between the client and the company. as a designer trying to communicate with corporate culture, not knowing the bullshit can backfire just as easily as trying to snow somebody that is actually smart enough to read between the lines.

I think this will become more prevalent in the future as well because there isn't the economy to support the "information engineers" who come up with the stuff in the first palce like there was during the mid to late nineties. Therefore making people actually understand—instead of sugarcoating it all.

What is modern to me, might not be modern to you, so how do you make the definition?

Well, that's just discussion of decoration. If you properly defined the problem and analyzed the needs of the client, most of this type of discussion shouldn't need to happen.

However, it often does.

I have mixed feelings about 'tone and manner' boards, but those are often a good tool to use when the client is stuck on the style issues. Verbal descriptions are difficult for both designers and the clients, and, as such, you are better off asking for specific examples.

At least ATMs don't give you pennies.

Ian, in relation to your last point, though, we all probably agree (in general) that more options can nice. But sometimes straight-forward is good too. It all depends on the users, as stated earlier on this thread.

When it comes to IDandA, there are those of us who plan to read the zine leisurely and therefore don't mind a little creative navigation and there are those of us who are just looking to get the info and leave. IDandA, in creating its site, has chosen to focus on the former as its target audience. You win some, you lose some.

Sorry, I have too many pop-ups open and I replied in the wrong thread. My bad. Please forgive me. :)

But I think there are new categories within these traditional services that are new and unique.

A classic poseur-type situation. Unfortunately, I think this happens way beyond 'design-speak.' It happens in any type of artistic or intellectual endeavor.

Shakespeare invented over 1000 words in the English language. I think in today's perspective people want things quick and concise. The information era has made us all victims of Acute Attention Deficit Disorder. What ever happened to the art of dialogue?

I recently had a discussion with my mechanic - who happens to be Chinese. He was describing the English language as being 'utilitarian' - very straight forward. Where as in Cantonese you can create a sentence in a very artistic fashion by using more words to describe the thought.

'Design Speak' can definitely be bullshit, but I do like try to describe things with the same creativity i try to put into my actual work. Is that so wrong?

I agree with you Christopher: my love of language, both visual and literal, is a big part of who I am as a designer. That said, there is a difference between the kind of metaphorical, poetic and personal language that I think you mean and the sort of buzzword-filled puffery that is often employed in the selling of a design (or Design.)

Ok, so I gotta share.

I'm designing a website right now for a company that makes beef jerky. One of the biggest in the nation in fact. I know what you're thinking -- that damn Tan is the luckiest guy in the world. Because what's better than beef jerky and a bunch of redneck clients, right?

Seriously though, boy is their stuff crap. And it's not the kind of crap that's so bad it's cool -- like Spam's stuff is. It's just crap.

So I'm in a meeting last week presenting our varnished crap -- and their overall yardstick in evaluating all the imagery was whether or not the design elements were "jerky" enough?

I kid you not. They asked if a color was jerky enough. A photo of a family was judged as non-jerky. An outdoor activity was deemed almost jerky-worthy. Apparently, the design wasn't quite "jerky" yet overall.

I was speechless, and wavered between laughter and anger.

So we're presenting a new design today that I am 100% more certain is "jerky-fied". We'll see.

It reminds me of that scene from Ben Day when his client goes "I'm seeing corn, but I'm not seeing corn-a-licious." It's so goddamn true, and not in the least bit funny in real life.

The stuff we endure as designers...

My creative director sometimes tells the story of the junior executive for a massive multi-national chocolate company who instructed him to "plus-up the fun 3.5 percent" on a packaging project.

Now that's useful creative feedback, sports fans.

Einstein's brilliance was his ability to distill supercomplicated information into scenarios that normal people would understand. It wasn't condescending -- it was simplification.

>>

I once heard a line that goes like:

"If you can't explain what you're doing to a five-year-old, you don't know what you're doing."

Children are born with all the answers and slowly learn them away with each passing year replacing those truths with language [ding!], dogma [ding!] and doctrine [ding!].

Steve's $0.02

One of our account exec's wanted my coworker to add "sizzle" to the design. When the designer questioned it, his comment was, "You can't have bacon without the sizzle!"

�what?

So that same designer came up with his own explanation. You can use this with either an account exec or your client.

What am I going to do now? Well I'm going to fold it up, put it in the envelope, seal the envelope, put a stamp on it and mail it.

Now what could one possibly say to that?

And it's not the kind of crap that's so bad it's cool -- like Spam's stuff is.

I worked on the Spam site. Their stuff is crap too.

;o)

"If you can't explain what you're doing to a five-year-old, you don't know what you're doing."

My grandfather was an engineer that worked on the Trident missle project a long time ago. He said the guys that wrote the manuals for the submarines they were launched from, were told to use language a high school drop out from Texas could understand.

There are not enough jerky-related stories in graphic design... there is a case study for the AIGA... Envisioning the Jerkiness

I've had an account executive tell me that my work needed some pruning, I mean, what the fuck is that? Prune? I'll prune your hairy ass buddy, that's what I'm gonna prune.

If you are saying a lot of graphic design work is really decoration, then sure, I agree, but there's still a problem being solved: we need it to look better.

That's a very good point.

However, I do think there is some danger in phrasing it as a design "problem" because it implies that, metaphysically, there is a proper or best way to solve it, which is clearly false.

I keep using this example: the language of "problems" and "solutions" makes design sound like math, when it is the farthest thing from it. In math, there is only one correct solution. Sometimes there are different ways to get that solution, but the answer is always the same.

You cannot check design against an answer key to see if it is the correct "solution." Every single person would "solve" a design problem differently.

It seems to me like we should have a different word for a solution that is one of many possible choices. Maybe it could be a zolution. A zolution to a design broblem.

Just got out of the beef jerky client meeting. It went very well. Apparently, I'm a master of beef jerky culture now.

But you know, however stupid my unsophisticated clients may sound, at least they tried to voice their needs with language that they're familiar with.

I'd rather they ask for something to be more "jerky" than say they need it to be "residing within the constructs of our brand promise" or some shit like that.

Here's another story -- I have a client that likes to use the term "lubricate". I know, eew. He'd say something like, "Let's meet and brainstorm on ways to lubricate this process along." Then, I'd say "Great, let's share ideas and see if there's an intercourse."

Bada-boom.

I think we all can agree that when someone says "kudo's" about one of your designs it makes you want to vomit.

Do you all agree?

Yes. Kudos = vomit.

I've had an account executive tell me that my work needed some pruning, I mean, what the fuck is that? Prune? I'll prune your hairy ass buddy, that's what I'm gonna prune.

Here's another story -- I have a client that likes to use the term "lubricate". I know, eew. He'd say something like, "Let's meet and brainstorm on ways to lubricate this process along." Then, I'd say "Great, let's share ideas and see if there's an intercourse."

You guys crack me up.

Tan,

You're like the patron saint of bad meetings.

glad you're out there taking the hit for the rest of us. maybe try a new tie.

> You're like the patron saint of bad meetings.

Hahaha...it does seem to be that way, doesn't it?

I've amassed some good client stories through the years for sure. I've probably had more than my share -- but it's great to remember later and laugh about it all over a few beers w/ chums.

But my collection is nothing compared to some of the old-timer designers around here. I'll have drinks with some of them occasionally, and man -- some of the shit they pulled in their days were crazy! In comparison, I think our generation's tame.

Engineers and doctors require structure and advanced science to make what they do sound and valid. Graphic designers do not.

Why is it that graphic designers have this bizarro identity crisis where they always try to ride the coat-tails of something else? What we all do is perfectly valid in its own right, if you enjoy it and can live off of it, effin' great. Why waste time trying to be important and relevant?

There's no science to what we do; those who try to apply a science to it vacuum sweep all the life and vitality out of whatever the project is, when the whole idea is to give something vitality and life. It's frustrating.

I mean, seriously--Nike and Diesel, two of the more successful brands out there both creatively AND financially openly admit to "just doing stuff" by gut and intuition. Then other companies want to be like that too so they institute weirdo processes to generate the same results. It's like watching Romeo & Juliet and getting hung up on the fantasy of their love affair, and then seeking to quell that confusion by making a diagram that seeks to explain "how it happened and why." Oh fer fuck's sake.

i think people who use big words are covering up for something else lacking

hair-brushes.com sells hair brushes,hair comb,shaving brushes,cosmetic products,mirrors,

massagers,bath care brushes,bath room sets and thousands more.OEM is welcome."

I was actually going to delete this last comment, but who knows? This might be gorund-breaking design speak. Would be a shame to ignore it.

In that case, this design speak is taking over the blogosphere. We've won!