PMS187 Runs Deep In My Veins…

I Love / I Hate

This is a video Nick sent me ages ago [see below] and I’d forgotten about it. But it resurfaced in my brain again after discussing the problem of some ‘print designers’ thinking they can design for the web.

I have nothing against print designers migrating to the web and have worked with many who do actually understand that the Web is not Print and are very aware of the differences between the two and work with me as a web designer to get the work done rather than working against me and starting world war three.

Some Print designers just don’t have the experience of designing for the web and approach a web project in the same way the would approach designing a poster or brochure. I have too often encountered designs that just don’t go beyond the homepage as the designer has no concept of navigation or site structure. Other designs don’t take into consideration the type limitations of the web, or the fact that screen based work should be set at 72dpi in RGB and no CMYK.

I would never bother attempting to design a brochure, which essentially is a print based website as I have no idea when it comes to paper stock, working in CMYK, the best fonts to use, kerning etc as well as deciding on how to bind the thing and get it proof read before printing etc etc. I would just hand it over to a print designer to deal with. Maybe it’s easier to work the other way around and translate your design skills to the web, but I wish some print designers would stop being so arrogant and presume that just because they are good at print, they can easily be just as good at the web when, in my experience, this is rarely the case.

I could rant for hours on this topic, but I did enough of that on the phone to a client the other day after one of my designs was bastardised by an in-house print designer and completely ruined. I love this video and think it’s hilarious, but it also displays the general arrogance of a lot of print designers which is a trait I deplore.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yJexyQT0l1c