Alright this is the last thing I will write about the financial crisis. So pay attention.
I do not wan't to be a jerk towards everybody who really felt the financial crisis in the states. People who had to leave their homes and all those thousands of jobs that where lost. But I have to say that it is not a financial crisis per say. It's the changed state of the world. It is not going to change in six month. It is here to stay. So what we have to do now is learn to adapt. And adapt fast. 10 years ago or should I say, before the internet, the world changed in soft waves along a curve of years. People and markets had time to adapt and get used to financial or cultural change. But then came the internet. And now we have a time where things change by the week and we have to learn to adapt so very quickly. We get information and news almost as it happens. The financial market is not able to forsee anything anymore, because things change to fast. Now the waves of change is like spikes on a cardiogram. This is first of very stressfull untill we figure out a way to fast-adapt, and secondly the business models that our big companies are, and have been, using is outdated and do not work in these times. There is no such thing as a 5 year plan anymore. And what is one of the most difficult thing for people to do? Change...right? You always say you have to love your lover for what they are and not for what you can make them to be. Change is not easy. But it is necessary. So what I am saying is that it is not a financial crisis per say, but a time for adaption and change.
I just saw on the news that in Denmark we have saved many many millions of kroner more than last year on our bankaccounts - this is money we don't put out there in the consumer market and that is fear. Fear will keep things from not getting better. We need to get rid of the fear and adapt to this new world. And don't get me started about the millions of people who are starving and don't have anything around the world. They have had their financial crisis since long before anyone ever dared thinking "Internet".
But what has all this done to The Mark? Well, first of, we obviously lost a big client to that crisis, late last year and has be struggeling for a while to get new clients. This is not the easy part of a designers work. We will not get close to the money earned in 2007 or 2008, but we will survive and keep designing for our clients. We are in it for better or for worse.
But it also have an effect on the quality of work - not that we don't do our best everytime, cause we do - but this year I have been met with demands for price cuts more then ever before in our 11 years. We have to do the same quality work as before but are not making the kind of money that we need to be able to do our very very best. The facts are these: Design is popular like never before, products needs to stand out and attract consumers, from my point of view, it isn't taken seriously enough. Design is a professional process that involves a lot of new thinking, research and feelings, not only the production part and it is very frustrating to want to help your client to help themselves but are not given the amount of time to make the perfect solution. You can't do a serious packaging design in two days...but that is what I am met with. Unfortunately, I could, so now it's what I'm surposed to. Should I say thank you but no thanks? I think not. I love working with design. I'ts my passion and money have never been a reason for me. But if you want a professional solution that works, you should take your designer seriously and give them the time and money the need to make it work for you. Otherwise...if you don't care about the end-result - why use a professional?
All this is pure frustration on my account because I wish to dig deep into every design project I do, because that is what I love. I know this is not a luxury I can depend on, but boy do I long for it. And companies need to take the design way of thinking into their businesses and learn how to design their way out of the old business models and create something new.
Dare be different and try new things
This is not the end of this... I'm sure :o)
