designers in here please

[mojoman]

are you a self-titled graphics designer? good. read this.

just because you can draw pretty pictures doesn't make you a graphic designer. just because you can draw a pretty face but not fingers or toes doesn't make you a graphic artist.

if you're asked to make a banner as a graphics designer it means you know how to fucking use photoshop. do you? do you know how to optimse images? do you know the difference between gifs, pngs, jpegs? do you know how browsers handle the images you make? this is basic stuff. stop and go search google if you honestly can't explain the difference between gif and jpeg.

making pretty images, and making pretty images for users to download are two different things. as an artist you can do the first. but, if you say you're a graphic designer, it means you can do the latter.

i don't expect to have to tell you how to do your job, but a few things i've noticed working with these 'graphic designers'

1/ OPTIMISE IMAGES: use file/save for web. the amount of 'designers' who have pumped out 140k jpegs directly from save/save as (jpeg) is unbelievable. when asked to save like this, they moan "oh, i dont' want to do that...it'll look crap." do or die. i sometimes have to fucking prove it's the best way by spending MY time saving THEIR image using save for web, then asking them to find differences. they're like "uhhh....i can't"

2/ ANIMATED GIFs: be wise. don't have 200 frames for a fade out or something. yes we may live in broadband days, but it's still fucking annoying to have to wait for a flashy annoying gif. a big image inserted into a page may delay the loading of the rest of the page - go figure. but of course, as a 'graphic designer', you knew that right?

2.25/ LIMITING COLOURS: the less colours, the smaller the image. simple math.

2.5/ KNOW WHAT PISSES SURFERS OFF. a blinky annoying banner will be just that - annoying.

3/ BE COMPETENT. if you say you can do something, then fucking make sure you can do it. if you say you know how to use photoshop, then name your layers for a start(paying for a psd with "layer 1", "layer 2" etc is unbelievably annoying). yes, the good thing about ps is that it can be used in many ways, but that isn't an excuse to slack off.

4/ DON'T THINK THAT YOUR CLIENT KNOWS JACK ABOUT DESIGNING FOR WEB, again not an excuse to bs your client.

for now, all i can think of.

[ismokeblunts]

you need to be a designer a designer to use save for web? fuck, i save EVERYTHING i mess around with in photoshop through save for web. i guess it wuld be differnt if you were working with print design, but all i use photoshop for is my websites.

the one that drives me insane is people who use huge graphics for background areas that can easily be done with css. even if it's only a couple k image, thats still unnecesary when it could be done with a line or two of text in your stylesheet.

also the use of huge images when a simple sliver of an image can be repeated along an axis bothers me, it's unnecessary. just because you have a full psd design doesn't mean you have to make it a massive download.

overly flashly gifs in general drive me fucking loopy. i can understand your pain mojo. that's why i only trust myself to do my work.

[mojoman]

ismokeblunts - don't even get me started on those designers who offer 'web desiging'! the output from a sliced-up psd image is not a web design!

[Lipshtich Lady]

ok here is my bitch list about people who hang out their shingle as a designer and dont know anything... but their friends have told them their own pages look nice

- they dont even own photoshop but photoshop essentials

- they have a cheap ass html code generator and can use that but have no clue how to change the code of clean it up by hand

- they think customizing a WP Template means changing the header graphic only

- they are more interested in you moving your hosting - so they can "help you better" aka get affiliate $$ from hosting

- they get pissy when you ask for references

- get extra pissy when you ask if they can show you a portfolio that is more than thumbs

- cannot be tied to a timeline because they are "creative" - this immediately means they want entire thing financed up front and will take months to finish

- they do not really know what CSS is and think it is html

- they freak when you ask about flash and add three zeros to the quote (because they dont really know flash)

- they are over exuberant when detailing out how many changes they will do once they give you a first draft

and my top THING - you find out they paid someone to design their stuff a fwe years ago and have just been tweaking and calling it design

[neak]

Oh you should try being a print designer

CYMK or RGB? 72 DPI or 300 DPI? Raster or vector? etc. etc.

[basschick]

i've run across a lot of guys who did a little print work and decide they can do adult web design.

WRONG!!!!

print isn't the web. what works well in print often doesn't work at all for sites and galleries. eye candy often takes up so much attention that it draws attention away from things like - i dunno - the join link. and page flow is very important for pages, whether they are tour pages or free sites or galleries. some print designers make purty purty pages that don't sell. some make confusing weird pages because they haven't yet got the hang of web pages. and btw, the ugliest, worst-selling design i ever saw was from a guy who actually makes a living in print.