A flea is placed in a jar with a clear lid,
the flea keeps jumping up to get out… only to keep whacking it’s head
on the glass jar.
Eventually the flea gives up and stop jumping so high.
In fact, it only jumps to just below the height of the jar so it does not
whack it’s head.
The clear lid is then removed but the flea will not jump any higher.
It continues to believe that it cannot get out of the jar… and therefore
never tries.
The barrier is mental – not physical.
So here's the thing... a lot of agencies/ businesses seem to be still working in survival mode. Restricting themselves in dealing with whatever the clients wants regardless of whether the quality of the end product is crap or not. Now note that this takes into account various factors like poor education on design on the clients part and the lack drive to innovate. But as designers and agencies shouldn't we be able to make an effort to tick by our guns and guide the client a great outcome for us and them? That's why they hire us right? To provide the best solution. Instead we mope on how they will take their business elsewhere if we don't comply with what THEY think is correct.
In the end though, both sides lose. There has to be a better way that can benefit clients and agencies/ designers all around. Over the next couple of months I will chat and interview with various designers and hopefully agencies to get their take on how the Zim advertising industry is faring, how to provide innovative positions for clients without them feeling that they've lost control of their brand and finding out what it may take for creatives to showcase quality work in a rather conservative industry.
I agree in essence however designers locally have also been reluctant to establish themselves internationally. The resources and infrastructure may not be as reliable as say ones counter part in the US or UK but its hard to make an excuse for not trying to compete for clients abroad through the internet. It would be an effective way of showing local clients that you have a level of competence that should hold greater weight than their own at times. It would also provide a definitive standard/bar defined by the international community. It one thing to say by ones self that I know what good design is but it is easier to convince people when you have an objective group supporting what you are stating.
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