So I received a graphic design magazine for Christmas from my wife called Graphic Ha Ha. It’s printed by some guys in the UK and the Netherlands, and contains a bunch of submissions by designers as well as interviews with each designer.
At first I was excited about having a new repository of images for inspiration, plus I always enjoy reading about what makes people tick. To my dismay, I grew very bored, very quickly, as each designer interviewed came off sounding like completely pretentious gits. The fact that the questions they were asked were mundane probably didn’t help, but wow.
It got me thinking—most of these “designers” are print designers and self-proclaimed artists. None of the web designers that I know (and I know a lot of them) have the same kind of narcissistic view of the world. Is there a pattern there?
Are print designers more pretentious than web designers?
I used to be a print designer before I moved into web design and I like to think I’m not pretentious. Since working on the web I’ve had to deal with quite a few other print/graphic designers and wouldn’t say that any of them came off as pretentious; a lot came off as overly anal, but not pretentious.
I think that people in the more artistic or creative regions of the universe tend to be a little bit pretentious, it’s not through any fault of their own but those kind of industries (stuff like graphic design and photography) are all bent on competition and trying to out-do each other in terms of quality. Web design and development tends to be more laid back because we are a lot more community focused and driven towards finding common solutions to assist each other. Let’s take this place as an example, if you look at most photography websites like Flickr or DeviantArt they are all about showcasing talent and the closest you get to community attitude is giving tutorials to how effects were achieved (passing down knowledge). Where as SitePoint’s forums along with most web design forums are more “warming” towards aspiring designers in the sense that we showcase common solutions we teach each other (passing knowledge about consistently) and there isn’t the sense of brutal competition that by passing on our knowledge we shall suddenly have our students steal all our jobs (I listened to an interesting podcast on photography where they were saying that their biggest fear is that interns who work with them will take their skills, hit the same niche and put them out of business).
Who hasn’t? But the topic of the thread is: Are print designers more pretentious than web designers? My answer to that question is ‘no’. Not quite sure what your answer is from the responses you’ve given so far.
Summary: I think yes they are, but only because their industry is a lot less “giving” and more like Britain’s got Talent (if you can’t outdo your competition you won’t make a living). Don’t get me wrong, I know some really nice people in the design industry but they do tend to be pretty unforgiving and secretive about their trade
I find almost everyone to be a pretentious git (myself included, obviously). The challenge lies in deciding who’s a likeable narcisstic, pompous a.r.s.e and who isn’t.
Yes and No. I found that those web designers that came from print world or mostly in print world are more more pretentious. Personally and in style. Web designers more cooperate.
I lost a job once, b/c I told to our Creative Director that something wont work on the web and that she should change her design. Even students of design schools looked at me from the high as I am uneducated web designer and they have 2 years of art school (and never designed a site).
From other side, I always have a good communication with any designer that designed websites for more than year.
Do I have to click on the Haha link to read examples of pretentious answers? I couldn’t even begin to answer the question without knowing what the standard for pretentiousness is.
I mean, maybe they just seemed pretentious to you as a reader? Would we agree?
I think one’s chance of encountering pretentiousness increases the more artistic the endeavor, and I think web design has to be a lot more usable and considerate of content than your average ad campaign.
I’ve been trained as a print designer (went straight to web design), spent 7 years as a web designer and have spent the last 4 years only doing web development. Here are my opinions:
Pretentiousness depends on the designer, but I’d say you have a 50/50 chance of encountering someone who thinks they are the king of the world. On the other hand I’ve met some really likable people in this industry.
I’ve found the really bad ones tend to be the people that buy into the motto “Design can change the world”. Every time I hear that I roll my eyes cause I know what’s coming. It’s a heavy dose of navel gazing about to be served up.
I also found this comment interesting:
Although I can’t say I completely agree. There are some programmers that like nothing more to quote you every php command or try to talk circles around you with the latest buzz word just to make themselves feel better. Or others have so many problem with interpersonal communication it makes even the simplest conversation stilted and difficult.
Also if you’re a self trained developer be prepared for snubs from computer science majors. Not all will do this, some are interested in helping, but you will be looked down upon from some CS majors.
Then again like I stated above it really depends on the individual I’ve met some great people that are designers, programmers, account reps etc…
Designers/artists tend to be more introverted than most people. They often live in their own world by necessity in order to be creative. I would say that often artists are aloof, but print designers are not. I worked in that field as well, and in order to be successful in the field of print design a designer must have a very broad knowledge of many things in order to even be able to design, the designer must be able to relate to what he must design.
This broad knowledge is taken by the insecure and not knowledgeable as pretentious, which is preposterous.
And yes, artists as a group are also called: crazy, arrogant, know-it-alls, bombastic, stupid, lazy, spinners. We are often considered as an outcast because we behave a little differently from sheeple.
But the biggest insult is the notion that artistic people can not think in a logical way. How do you all think designing can be done without using logic?
Well there’s an answer to the pretentiousness debate right there. Anyone who takes 99% of the population without knowing their views and opinions and blankets them with a label is bound to be labeled themselves.
Sorry not trying to attack you personally but it is a good example of why others might view artists, designers, whatever you choose to name yourself, as pretentious.
Btw many times people are calling another person pretentious not because they are artists but more so due to their general attitude. If you’re a plumber and you come into my home and act as though you’re better than me, you’re pretentious, it has nothing to do with the fact you’re a plumber.
Did I say 99% of people? I did not. But many many people that I have encountered over my life are looking at artists the way I have described them. Nothing better than personal experience.
This little phrase in itself shows contempt.
haha. Just because artists do not adhere to group think does not make it faulty/pretentious on my part to point group think out.
See, there is this little inferiority complex creeping right out of you. I am an artist and have never pretended to be a better person than any other, but I am much better at many artistic skills than many other people are. Does that make me pretentious? No, it makes me a realist. I look at my knowledge in this field and know that I am good. Does that make me pretentious? By saying that I am good at what I do is not a put down for the other person, they have their own expertise which often I marvel at. I would never call a great coder pretentious because he tells me that my coding is not up to the level that he is at. It is not. Why would I call him pretentious?
