It always happens. Get a group of designers together and we start complaining. This weekend at our AIGA Leadership retreat we swapped stories about difficult clients and nightmare projects, but it was the bad bosses that really took the prize.
One of the board members, a talented designer, told us about a publisher who tried to renig on paying him after two weeks of work. I told a about a student of mine who took an internship for a local ad agency, stayed on as the only designer for a tiny wage, and endured verbal abuse and temper tantrums until she quite sensibly quit.
We need understanding bosses, responsible clients, and visionary projects. But we don’t need abuse. Read the AIGA / Aquent Survey of Design Salaries, understand the AIGA Policy on Professional Practice, and let’s not sell ourselves or our profession short.
By: Keith Grubb on March 2, 2007 