Yesterday, I was involved in a lively discussion regarding the craft industry and the professional designers who work in the industry.
Much has changed in the past few years, with the onslaught of "design teams" and how this impacts the livihoods of professional designers. Companies have taken to USING their customers to promote their products, usually without payment, but instead offering "free" product (to use to promote the company), an (honorary?) place on the "design team" which requires x number of projects per week, x number of blog mentions, x number of forum chat about the said products and how marvelous they are. For this, the "Designer" (non-professional given a professional title) gets her 15 minutes of fame, justification for spending so much money on her supplies and craftroom, you get the idea. At first, this seemed like a good idea. I mean, who doesn't want free stuff, recognition for her creative genious, and an obligation to spend time crafting away? My opinion is this...if your work is good enough to be published, you should be getting paid. simple. Contests and the like are fine if the "prize" is truly an award for outstanding work and takes the form of real money. What's happening is that manufacturers are holding "contests" for projects, using their products. What's wrong with this is that really, the only "winner" is the company who gets 50 or so projects "submittted" and then uses these projects to fill their trade show booth instead of paying working, professional designers who contribute so much to the crafting industry.
What is now required to get published is this: use products that are advertised in the magazines, only the newest product from big manufacturers, use only photos of cute kids or animals. There are of course exceptions, but this is the current norm.
I think that anyone with a true creative vision, a passion for crafting, and a great design should have an opportunity to work in the crafting industry and GET PAID. These opportunities will exist when people quit givng their work away.
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I'm re-reading one of my favorite books, ORBITING THE GIANT HAIRBALL by Gordon MacKenzie. The subtitle is" A Corporate fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace". He worked for Hallmark for 30 years and recounts his experiences working as a creative in a corporate structure. I also worked for Hallmark, only a year, so I have a little bit of insight into his life from inside the walls. I've also worked as an in-house designer for a major craft company which is why I have so much respect for people who do have to deal with corporate stuff on a daily basis and still manage to put out amazing, creative work. The in-house, behind the scenes artists and designers often go unrecognized. I'm so glad that Sizzix gives attribution to their team, they deserve much praise! I just don't understand the thinking of corporations or manufacturers when they keep the designers hidden away. If they were smart, they'd lift them way up, make them highly visible, include them in the sales meetings and brag about them. Anyway, here's a picture of the book, it's a very fun little gem with comical illustrations, insight and wisdom.
**********here's a pic of my good buddy and designer extraordiaire, Jill MacKay.
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