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I worked in design for a little over 10 years. Having an art director "tear apart" your work is generally the best scenario. They can usually back up the critiq

I worked in design for a little over 10 years. Having an art director "tear apart" your work is generally the best scenario. They can usually back up the critique with helpful insights. Regardless of tone. The most dreaded situations, for me, were clients who would tear something apart, but offered no helpful reason why. "Jazz it up" was something repeated an alarming number of times in meetings. I can also remember someone saying that they wanted us to use more colors since they were paying for a full color ad. Because, you know, that's what cost all the money. The colors.

willyt 8y ago
> Having an art director "tear apart" your work is generally the best scenario. They can usually back up the critique with helpful insights. Regardless of tone. Definitely, and in my professional career I have never had my work thrown out in a way which made me feel bad. I have been ignored a few times only to be proved right a few weeks later though!
- ams6110 8y ago
  Yes, harsh but valid criticism is one thing, if the director/instructor is legitimately an expert and is truly trying to make you better. If he is only feeding his own ego by being an asshole, it's better to get away. It can be hard to tell the difference, especially if you are young.
rorykoehler 8y ago
Everyone thinks they're a designer because they can see things with their eyes. In reality they have no clue wha is going on. As a developer who is acutely aware of my shortcomings in design it hurts to sit in client meetings with designers. The whole process is totally back to front on about 95% of the projects I have worked on.
jaredklewis 8y ago
Ah, yes, “Jazz it up,” cousin of “Make it pop.” http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell
- pking 8y ago
  One of my managers in a former data science job reviewed a 15 slide deck and gave me feedback. On 4 slides he said "ok"; on the other 11, he said "so what?"
ghein 8y ago
I've been a client for a variety of artistic professionals. I'm not artistic, don't have that kind of creativity, and can't use words that would be helpful to you. I can only tell you whether or not I like it and give a fumbling attempt to explain why. This is why I (or my company) hired you: to do something that we can't. It is incredibly hard to do the translation between designer language and client language. I've worked with some graphic designers who are absolutely amazing at taking my malformed mumblings and using them as effective critiques and requests. But not many people can do that and it leads to frustration on both sides. This is why those who can do the translation can make incredible money and run their own firms. Just like how people in other industries (accounting, law, coding...) who can translate across domains make more money and run firms.
- pfarnsworth 8y ago
  If you're not artistic, and you don't have that type of creativity, what makes you believe you're the best judge of what is good or not? Yes, you may have the money to pay them, but if you're hiring them why don't you just trust their judgement instead of your admittedly poor sense of creativity? I'm asking this out of curiosity, not attacking you, since you said yourself you're not creative and rely on these people for their creative talents.
  - rileymat2 8y ago
    I am not sure that creativity and criticism are not somewhat orthogonal.
  - toasterlovin 8y ago
    You can know whether the aesthetics of something does or does not work without being able to determine why. For instance, I can't cook much more than eggs and bacon, but I can sure tell whether a dish at a restaurant is any good. And I can even narrow down a dish's quality into various broad classes: disgusting, bland, okay, good, really good, and great. Most other aesthetic creations are similar.
    - 8y ago
mgkimsal 8y ago
If you can't jazz it up, at least make the logo bigger... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AxwaszFbDw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AxwaszFbDw
incadenza 8y ago
Or you know, more pizazz!
jimbokun 8y ago
So feedback like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCud8H7z7vU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCud8H7z7vU

willyt 8y ago

> Having an art director "tear apart" your work is generally the best scenario. They can usually back up the critique with helpful insights. Regardless of tone. Definitely, and in my professional career I have never had my work thrown out in a way which made me feel bad. I have been ignored a few times only to be proved right a few weeks later though!

ams6110 8y ago
Yes, harsh but valid criticism is one thing, if the director/instructor is legitimately an expert and is truly trying to make you better. If he is only feeding his own ego by being an asshole, it's better to get away. It can be hard to tell the difference, especially if you are young.

rorykoehler 8y ago

Everyone thinks they're a designer because they can see things with their eyes. In reality they have no clue wha is going on. As a developer who is acutely aware of my shortcomings in design it hurts to sit in client meetings with designers. The whole process is totally back to front on about 95% of the projects I have worked on.

jaredklewis 8y ago

Ah, yes, “Jazz it up,” cousin of “Make it pop.” http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

pking 8y ago
One of my managers in a former data science job reviewed a 15 slide deck and gave me feedback. On 4 slides he said "ok"; on the other 11, he said "so what?"

ghein 8y ago

I've been a client for a variety of artistic professionals. I'm not artistic, don't have that kind of creativity, and can't use words that would be helpful to you. I can only tell you whether or not I like it and give a fumbling attempt to explain why. This is why I (or my company) hired you: to do something that we can't. It is incredibly hard to do the translation between designer language and client language. I've worked with some graphic designers who are absolutely amazing at taking my malformed mumblings and using them as effective critiques and requests. But not many people can do that and it leads to frustration on both sides. This is why those who can do the translation can make incredible money and run their own firms. Just like how people in other industries (accounting, law, coding...) who can translate across domains make more money and run firms.

pfarnsworth 8y ago
If you're not artistic, and you don't have that type of creativity, what makes you believe you're the best judge of what is good or not? Yes, you may have the money to pay them, but if you're hiring them why don't you just trust their judgement instead of your admittedly poor sense of creativity? I'm asking this out of curiosity, not attacking you, since you said yourself you're not creative and rely on these people for their creative talents.
- rileymat2 8y ago
  I am not sure that creativity and criticism are not somewhat orthogonal.
- toasterlovin 8y ago
  You can know whether the aesthetics of something does or does not work without being able to determine why. For instance, I can't cook much more than eggs and bacon, but I can sure tell whether a dish at a restaurant is any good. And I can even narrow down a dish's quality into various broad classes: disgusting, bland, okay, good, really good, and great. Most other aesthetic creations are similar.
  - 8y ago

mgkimsal 8y ago

If you can't jazz it up, at least make the logo bigger... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AxwaszFbDw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AxwaszFbDw

incadenza 8y ago

Or you know, more pizazz!

jimbokun 8y ago

So feedback like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCud8H7z7vU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCud8H7z7vU