Company giving desingers a bad name

[Chung Dha]

An old classmate who has no diploma or actual skills in design. The guy only studied 1 year of the design school and quited and started an own design company, all because he is a rich kid with allot of fund from his dad.The only skill he had was good in talking like a salesman.

Whats angry me is he is giving designers a bad name. He actually approaches companies saying that there design could be improved with and email then make an appointment and smooth talk them without a portfolio. And then makes a sneaky contract that says paying him by the hour, this normally don't sound that suspicious.

But because he got no talent in design, the companies need to pay him even when the result is very bad. And also pays him through the revision times. The companies would end up having to pay allot for very ugly designs.

However still the responsibility lies with the companies that hired him, because they did not see his work and hired him and signed the contract.

Also something else this guy actually don't know anything about copyrights. He just steals pictures from google. Because first year there were nothing about copyright given at school.

Only not sure if there is something I could do to prevent these stuff. Cause it pretty bad that this could happen.

[entz]

Sweet talker eh... i hate those people/designers. I had the chance to meet some during my uni days. And yeah, they can make you melt just by talking. I think those are the kind of people who always make it to the top.. but will fall eventually. Don't bother about him. Like what you said...he does bad/ugly stuffs.. His reputation is already going down the stream.

[yellow_bagpack]

huh.. i'm pity that he quit schools.. rather than me who wanted to go to design school after my third years in social science ( hehehe ).. until now i still want to study and get a diploma in design (sigh...) .. and he can build a design company, got a client who pay him a lot... hmm jealous... jealous.. jealous.. but still it's hurt to see people like that which give designer a bad name.

for me to criticize other works, i still don't have guts to do it maybe because lackness of academic perspective.. and your old mate (is he your FRIEND ? ) can do it even without portfolio... AMAZING .. geez smoothtalker.

not to forget that magical words " EVERYONE IS A DESIGNER "...... what do it means ?

*off topic* by the way have you guys see "AMERICAN INVENTOR" ? really good tv series..

[Chung Dha]

He is not my friend the guy is so stupid, luckly never teamed up with him on projects cause he always play boss and only and think of stupid things. He plays around if he is the art director and don't have to make anything only say how things should look like. He always play around that the other team members are slaves. He give like 10 euro for one to buy something at the kantine and that cost like just few euro and that guy could keep the money. That guy is way to arrogant and too much money.

Once he got a fight with his team because everyone want the logo on the left side which is normal but he wanted a logo on the right side cause he think that looks better.

Also his teams always end up with bad name, always some old Latin or Greek word that nobody could remember or speak out.

Always hated the presantation he made , he alsways says that everything looks good and that people would like this because. Allot of bull. But I am always the one to criticize his stuff when he said are there any questions hehe.

But everyone hate me on presentation day because they always say wow on every slide. And everyone becomes jealous of me and my work.

Should wait till his parent don't care about him anymore should see his company crash and him becoming a bum.

Also the name of his company is so extreme copied from one of my other class mate. The company name is enjoy design with .nl behind it and also there are about 9 companies that are named that across the world.

[yellow_bagpack]

seems you so mad.. mate... hoho it's rhyme.. by the way it's not worthy for you to wait and see him should falling down.. let's use our 90% remaining of brain to think somethingelse..
i know as a design community we should untolerate this kind of attitude.. but hey there are always different people with different mind n different attitude.. cheers

[bluecherrygfx]

I'm self-taught, so I can't speak to the degree issue.

However, what you'll find the more time you spend in design (and really life in general) is that someone who gives their opinion w/ 100% confidence can easily persuade LOTS of people to buy into their POV -- EVEN if the design stinks.

I have seen it many times and it is discouraging when you know the design is awful, but from a psychological standpoint, people want to be convinced they're making the right decision I guess (even if the reassurance comes from the person standing to profit from selling them the product/service).

[jermeyd]

I would advise you not to think about him, what he does, what he will do. You think about what are you going to do about it?...., do you own work, give much time to yourself. The Fall is guaranteed for him, sooner or later, it will happen.

[hackdesign]

he just gives himself a bad name, it will catch up to him soon enough.
he will have a reputation for being bad and his smooth talking wont help him.
if he has money he should by himself a proper education.
also the clients needs to see his work first and get references.
if they don't they are also to blame.

[DUWDSKS]

TADA................adios

[letterman]

Designers should think about designs and other people's designs not about personals things.
If you think more like this, you will ruin your career.

Good luck.

[Atronic]

Well...

I should mention that I never went to school for design.
I also dropped out of fine arts school after first year because it was expensive and I am predominantly an autodidact and school was getting in the way of that.

Also, I never present my portfolio or concepts on the first meeting.
If a potential client wants to see my work, they are welcome to go to my website, aside from that they will expect to pay for my expertise.

So, in a way I think maybe you're being harsh toward this dude because I recognize some of the traits that you mention in my own practice.

However, I don't agree with trading poor services with a client.
Contracts and copyrights can be slippery though and unfortunately they don't prevent some try-hards from capitalizing off of unknowing clients.

Saying that, I can't really say much about your school mate as I haven't seen his work or experienced his wrongdoings.

So, my only real advice in this is that there is more value in focusing on pushing yourself to produce better work and forging greater professional relationships because in the end, the race you're running is only against yourself.

[Chung Dha]

His level of design is quite awefull because the whole year he never made anything. And even if he does he just make crap. WHen he draws a person he draws it like a stick figure. And once he wanted to draw a happy clown and end up looking like a scary angry clown.

However I know I am much better and can kick it much futher.

This is his website. Pretty awefull design. When you look at the logo they are the same square blocks designs. And if you look carefully at the logo you see he is using a picture in the logo so they are not total vectors. And the one with the giraffe is not even made by him is from a designer who designed that for his dad house decoration company. But looks more fitted for a zoo then a house decoration company.

[Atronic]

His level of design is quite awefull...

Agreed.
His skills are very basic.

I wouldn't bother much with him.

[hackdesign]

you are right chung dha
that guy is terrible
he must be a good talker
cause his site sucks
word up

[baiskee]

he just gives himself a bad name, it will catch up to him soon enough.
he will have a reputation for being bad and his smooth talking wont help him.
if he has money he should by himself a proper education.
also the clients needs to see his work first and get references.
if they don't they are also to blame.

+1 He's the one who will suffer basically.

[Cubo Magenta]

OMG...That´s a huge! problem in mexico. There´s lots of establishments here that offer graphic design and don´t even have designers on their workteams... Mostly guys who know a thing or two in illustrator and some photoshop filters..aaaargg!! It´s incredible how much of threat they are in a country that doesn´t really value design...
Graphic designers have a lot more to offer, and that´s basically what we have to demonstrate to clients who have been working with those guys....

[D.signer.]

Also the name of his company is so extreme copied from one of my other class mate. The company name is enjoy design with .nl behind it and also there are about 9 companies that are named that across the world.

Yep, lets not forget that microsoft started like that, copying, buying and stealing. And look, now they are billionaires.
On the other hand, I am glad he does this to some companies.
Because nowadays they make bad products, and if you want your warranty/
garantee, you have to phone a 0900 number (paynumber here) and pay
to get your complaint across. Although big companies do, and I guess that
he doesn`t bamboozall ;o) those companies.

PS when I read "kantine" I immediately knew you were a fellow dutchie.

And as a footnote, life aint fair. And the masses have no taste.

[samueltolman]

A LOT of people call themselves designers when they don't know the first thing about design. It's a trendy thing to be these days. Angers me, too.

[aggeloscy]

I really hate this kind of people. Some guys think that they are designers just by calling them selfs that way.

[atondex]

Or wearing a name tag with the designer title on it, just to be sure...haha

On topic, I think the companies always need to see a portfolio before even start talking about a contract.