Graphic Design in India: Brainlessly unprofessional?

Design—a thought process with which a problem is solved, in a good way. The ‘thought’ portion of this process invariably requires a brain. Heck, even trademarks are categorized as intellectual property. Even then, graphic design is often undervalued, and the highly intensive process is considered brainless by many very educated by unaware people from other professional backgrounds.

As a graphic design professional practicing out of India, I often have first-hand experiences of getting in touch with people who have no clue about the profession of design, but are inspired to create their brand by looking at design work on Pinterest.

Very recently, one medical dentist (name hidden with lot of difficulty, while respecting the glad-not-to-be-clients’ privacy) contacted our studio for design work for their medical practice. I scheduled a meeting with them, and went to their clinic. After going up a narrow staircase in a building that was absolutely disabled-unfriendly, I reached a really unkempt clinic. This was already a red signal for me, but the conversation that happened was about wanting the highest quality of innovative design for their rebrand and environment design for their upcoming new clinic. I was quite glad when they liked what I did, and told me that they felt I really understood their vision. Our meeting lasted for more than 2 hours, and I left the clinic promising to send a quick quote (they were in a hurry).

After preparing a quote over the weekend, I shared it with the dentist. As a practice, I usually wait for about 1–2 days before following up on a quote. Upon getting no response, I texted them asking if they had a chance to see the quote. No response. Another 2 days pass. Like this, almost a week later, I asked them if they were still interested, and that responding would be the professional thing to do. What followed was interesting:

Dentist: Your fees are too high, more den my architects fees for the entire project.

Ahem, thank you for deciding my fees on my behalf.

Me: Okay, no problem. Thank you for finally responding. Have you thought of a budget for the work?

Dentist: Actually its not that time involving job, we already have basic ideas and theme, so just customization of designs required. Not that much brain work or hard work involved.

So this is the way she thought. When professionals like dentists start undervaluing my profession, I feel like some awareness is due.

Design is a very brainy process. If you don’t believe it, try doing it. Try going to design school. Try being a designer. It’s a tough life, and it’s a difficult yet fulfilling profession.

I believe that nobody has the right to decide if someone else's profession is easy or hard, based on their half-baked perception of it. I would never decide if a dentists’ fees are too high, or their work too easy. Maybe a dentist won’t fit my budget, but it simply means that my budget is low for hiring that particular dentist. There’s a way of saying things, when you are a leading a life as a professional. (And I understand that people may say the wrong things when they are angry, but this is not that kind of a case).

Me: Still, I would like to know the budget you have in mind.

And this is when the kicker came:

Dentist: I have a designer who will not charge me for designing if I will b getting all the printing work done from him.

These are the kind of things that make life tough for designers. When someone from the same profession behaves so unprofessionally, it’s all bound to go down. Such designers don’t use their brains and have no vision about where it will take our sincerely passionate profession.

Me: If a dentist tells me that they will not charge me for the procedure, but only for the filling material, I have to understand that they are unprofessional, and are simply interested in getting business from me.