Nidahas » Musings on design, web standards and free software from a Sri Lankan geek.

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1. indi

   January 11th, 2006 at 1:42 am

   i think part of the problem is a lack of positive examples. In the west you’re surrounded by mainstream examples of good design - from Google to shopping carts to (a lot of) corporate sites. Even on the streets you’re seeing ads and print media that are well laid out, centered etc.

   Here the stuff you see online is frozen in the 1990s and what you see on the street is offensively bad at times. In this environment it takes some searching to even know what good design is.

2. Lakshan

   January 12th, 2006 at 10:57 am

   Sill the standard based web design is catching up in SL. So far little bit of Dreamweaver, Flash and Photoshop could have saved the day for a web designer, but not any more.

   Anyhow standard based designs opened up a new ground for true developers.

3. Thushara

   January 12th, 2006 at 11:08 am

   I dont agree with Prabhath I think we have really good web designers, but the problem is their wages are too low so thats why they do crappy web sites. most of the big shots are leaving sri lanka cause they know they can earn lot of green money from overseas.

4. Prabhath

   January 12th, 2006 at 11:37 am

   I think we have really good web designers, but the problem is their wages are too low so thats why they do crappy web sites.

   IMHO, money (or the lack of it) will not have an impact on the quality of stuff we do. People are good at things because they have a passion for it, and passion can’t be created by dangling carrots in front of them.

   Don’t believe me? Look at all the great free and open source software out there. Hackers contribute to them not because of any monetary gains (there’s usually none), but because they take pride in being good at what they do, and are not hesitant to use their talents properly.

5. Asela

   January 12th, 2006 at 12:41 pm

   Because there’s no design education.

   Quite true. Most design intuitions are teaching “software handling” instead of “design”.
   But this doesn’t mean that Sri Lanka doesn’t have good designers. Just look all the talent in Sri Lankan advertising firms, as you correctly said.

   And when it comes to product design and modern web design, there’s a serious lack of opportunity as well, unless you create / find your own market.

   Even the Micro Car designer is Italian (pls correct me, if I’m wrong), though the investor is Sri Lankan. And also I hear that talented Sri Lankan directors in advertising firms are loosing there positions to economically much cheaper “imported talent”.

6. serendib_isle

   January 16th, 2006 at 6:30 pm

   Well, there are a very few “good” designers in Sri Lanka; but there’s a large number of “miguided” youth - thanks to those opportunists who “teach graphic design” in every nook and corner.

   I have just returned to Sri Lanka after working with a top-5 agency as a Creative Head for a considerable period and I was horrified with the ads the Sri Lankan newspapers were running for Graphic Design Courses. I called a few of them and asked them to send me the syllabus, none of them had a proper course laid out for any prospective student… I also watched a programme called “digital magic” on TV - which clearly demonstrates that some of the self-acclaimed the design “gurus” belong to the jurrassic ages.

   The Ministry of Information and Media or the Ministry of Education has no regard or control over this situation and the result is what we see today: half-educated “designers” who think thay have a “internationally recognised diploma” in their hands. I had the opportunity to interview some of them when I was looking for some talented young-blood; and I was very disappointed with Sri Lanka. None of them knew who Worhol is.

   The ones who have made a name in the local market have done so mainly due to their own efforts and talents, not because of the education or the training they received. Sri Lanka does not have any design institute of international standard; the ones I thought were good enough didn’t even know the meaning of an “Adobe-Certified Photoshop Trainer” - forget teaching design; they can’t even teach you the tools.

   Sri Lankan advertising agencies are another sad story - they don’t even have the basic respect for the consumer. On ad that promotes electical items says “once, and forever” (FOREVER - HOW?) and I’ll sue them if my electrical fittings burn in 5 years..!

   There may be a few good layouts - but has anyone seen a good ad with any brilliant photography? Where are the art directors? Where are the award winning commercial photographers? Where is the talent?

   We may have designers who are good in local standards, but compared to the rest of the world, we are nowhere near them. If we don’t get our act together and provide the youth with appropriate training and guidance they deserve, we will always be stuck here… in the wonderland where people think they do crappy designs becuase they get paid less. Bull Shit. If you are a good designer, you do great work - for yourself, for your portfolio and DEMAND a better pay bacuse you are HOT. Because you are the GREATEST. If the company cannot pay what you deserve, LEAVE for a better prospect. Period.

   If anyone tells me they do crappy work becuase they get paid less, I must tell those people to go get their attitutes fixed.

7. isandi CREATIONS

   January 28th, 2006 at 10:18 pm

   I think we have lots of Good Designers. But most of the designers don’t have any chances to show their talents. We have limited jobs for the web designers. We need the educations for the design. But I hope it also should come from their body. It should be in their body. Education do only take out their talent from inside.

   I have lots of experiance about web designing. Sometime Designer can’t show their design..because client say what they want. We have to design for their requirment.

   I am a web designer, Sometime I don’t put some sites on my portfolio page. Because they are really not good. I did for client’s requirment. But It has no quality. Viewers will think those designs from the designers. They may think Designer has no talent to make web site.