Hello, bonjour and some generic third greeting! My name is Patrick Rice and you can call me “Tricky” for short. In my years as a Graphic Designer I’d never thought I would start a blog but as ideas and opinions are formed at such a rapid pace in this generation there is no better time to start sharing.
For this first blog I want to spend a little bit of time going over a big question I ask myself. What is a Graphic Designer? Some people describe us “those guys in the back room that make the flyers all day.” However in the marketing world I feel like we contribute much more than simply collateral pushers.
In business the number one rule is time is money and every second you take is another dollar not coming into your business. It’s another deal your sales person can’t close on that new business. However while the sales generates more business we need to look past the surface at what makes this sales persons pitch so successful. That’s where the Graphic Designer comes into play.
Your sales man walks into the office and he/she has a freshly printed business card. Big smile, and the card is organized with his most important information highlighted. The client is impressed and has automatically started making opinions and ideas on how this new person can help. That one business card may not seem like much but in reality it has put the client at ease and has started building the most important thing you can have in not just the business world but in general, trust.
Now let’s flip the script. Say the sales person has walked in and is well dressed, nice suit, briefcase you think this person is going places. However he has forgot his business card (dun, dun, DUN). The client has already started forming opinions such as how unprepared this person is and who exactly are they? These little things make the biggest difference.
Someone once asked me what could you compare your job to. I had to think about it as it never dawned on me but after a few seconds of mulling it over I finally answer, a bridge. I received such a confused look that I almost believed I sprouted another head. Graphic Designers don’t make the big plays we make the subtle ones.
We’re the ones that lay down the foundation so sales can meet clients on the other side of that bridge. That bridge is paved in all the collateral and ideas needed to make sure this foundation is a strong one and not going to be washed away. Every print piece, website, video and marketing campaign is one more thing to prop up the sales person to cross that bridge so they can easily and confidently explain what they are all about.
Clients don’t know who we are and that’s ok because (speaking personally) as a designer I get the most satisfaction after a closed sales saying “I built that.”
