Graphic design prices to surge

Mount Laurel, New Jersey
September 22, 2005

Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the anticipated effect of Hurricane Tina, industry experts are predicting a surge in the cost of graphic design services to an all-time high.

"With so many independent designers and agencies being sidetracked and completely displaced by the series of recent storms, the need to fulfill the thousands of graphic design projects, existing and upcoming, will be hard to meet," says Andrew Turner of Turner Design, an independent design and consultancy located in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.

With landfall of Hurricane Rita expected Saturday, rates are expected to jump twenty to forty percent in the next two weeks.

"The effects can already be seen and experienced," says Turner. "Clients are signing contracts in a frenzy before the rates climb. People are lining up for consulting services."

And don't expect the prices to drop soon. "With the rocketing increase in the cost of living, especially gas," he continued, "something's gotta give. And unfortunately, it's not going to be graphic design costs. My kids need to eat too."

My Ribbon is Bigger Than Your Ribbon

It's bad enough that people insist on wearing die-cast "ribbons" on their lapels to let you know they care - as if they care more than I do about, say, POWs or Breast Cancer Awareness. But now, we're being subjected to the parade of oversized, gaudy and in-your-face "I CARE" emblems, and I have to wonder: How, exactly, -should- I "Support Our Troops" ?

Now we have New Orleans ribbons; they're black. Ok - New Orleans does have a Jazz Funeral tradition. But black ribbons are meant for mourning, and don't ordinarily represent hope.

I guess the rush to get the ribbon out supercedes design thought. After all, we need to Support something.

Season Two.

I've just finished the brochure project for the Easter Center for the Performing Arts' second season.

More on this will be posted at www.turnerdesign.net.

Quark. Ah.

"Quark may or may not suck, but complaining about plagiarism – creativity and originality aside – in this case, does suck."

That's from here:

http://www.underconsideration.com/speakup/archives/002412.html#002412

Well, whatever. But that's not really my concern, anyway.

My interest is a brand I know well and a product I've used for 14 years. A brand on a comeback. An attempted comeback.

A comeback formerly trying to appeal to edgy, nutty, gen-x designers... but one that comes back by not only trumpeting their arrival at this New and Important juncture with an unispired logo, but also one that has ironically drawn chortles and snuffs from some (or many) of its intended audience.

Quark responded in time to the challenge of Adobe's InDesign by thrusting, in-your-face, caricatures of designers seemingly found at a stock house in a search for "people I don't want to associate with."

It also seems to me that InDesign's continuing and building popularity caused the cork to blow and the rush to a new identity to leave us with little more than "NEW" on a fluorescent orange deli sticker.

Perhaps it's the cynicism of the times. Maybe it's that [i]I would have loved to have had a shot at that logo...[/i]

It's certainly that aside for some long-ago customer service attitude, and aside from that current poor marketing leaves little incentive to hold-outs from older versions - come on Quark, give 7 away to those who upgrade to 6.5 now - I hold a special place in my designer's heart for Xpress.

I do.

Should they have been more careful? You bet.

Andrew