Susan Kirkland (bio)

Those who think it is permissible to tell white lies soon grow color-blind.
Austin O'Malley

The field of graphic design is rife with educated professionals, so why is it only a few can design something that works? The trouble is with the generic term graphic designer. It's a misnomer, like the poor generic drug disdained by brand manufacturers, the graphic designer floats banaly, nondescript and unwilling to be defined. Are you an illustrator, an art director, a production artist, a web designer, a code designer, a packaging designer, an industrial designer, a graphics gal or a designer dude? Frank Zappa summed it up in Camarillo Brillo Is that a real poncho . . . I mean is that a Mexican poncho or is that a Sear's poncho? Hmmm . . . no foolin'" We all know our share of wafflers who morph over the gray-green-brassy line of coding skills or CAD design into aesthetics--a field that requires a completely different skill set. Hmmm . . . no foolin'

When you stretch the truth, watch out for the snapback.
Bill Copeland

There was money in the budget for an assistant, but sometimes there isn't time for the required babysitting. Knock me down with a feather, I was delighted to meet someone with a graduate degree in advertising and proficient in MAC. His first job was to set up some business cards in Adobe Pagemaker. When I asked him for the finished art, he said he was having trouble drawing the little box with the line tool.(!) I introduced him to the box tool, then called Personnel to verify his background; he had his degree in Journalism. “Excuse me, but you said you had a degree in advertising,” I looked him square in the eye, waiting for some plausible explanation. “Well, yeah, journalism, same thing,” he said nonchalantly. Hmmm . . . no foolin'

Some people will not tolerate such emotional honesty in communication. They would rather defend their dishonesty on the grounds that it might hurt others. Therefore, having rationalized their phoniness into nobility, they settle for superficial relationships.
Napoleon on Lord Talleyrand

I know exactly the English usage parameters Bill Clinton followed when explaining his midday tryst with the buxom babe student intern. My ex-assistant subscribed to the same colloquial usage. “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” is hard to argue with unless you specify what she had in her hand and who it was attached to, which few politicians can do and still remain polite as well as nonpartisan. Yeah, I know, he didn't inhale either: Hmmm . . . no foolin'

Hypocrite: the man who murdered both his parents . . . pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.
Abraham Lincoln

Each time the CEO gave me a new assignment, he would say, “Just get the information from what's-her-name.” So it was no surprise that what's-her-name couldn't remember my title when she introduced me to fellow executives. “This is our graphics gal,” or graphics person or artist, which much to her chagrin I gently corrected. “Hello, I'm the Director of Advertising.” (shake, shake, shake) Later she would chide me for correcting her. She found it much less than amusing when I prepared a business card proof for her with the title "clerk typist" instead of her rosey and robust “Executive Assistant.” Hmmm . . . no foolin'

It is frequently the tragedy of the great artist, as it is of the great scientist, that he frightens the ordinary man.
Loren Eiseley

AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you enjoy my blog, you'll enjoy my book, too, because it's the book I needed when I first started out. It's filled with more characters and a full spectrum of experiences that will prepare you to face the unknown in freelance and the world of design. Even if you've been freelancing for years, you'll find new information and a trustworthy mentor to stand by your side through thick and thin in Start and Run a Creative Services Business. Excerpts are available online at my website.