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National Book Store Case: Successful Artistry in Interdependency

The second case examines the negotiation between a senior freelance graphic designer (Designer B) and National Book Store (Client B). This case highlights the importance and the benefits of independency which allowed the designer to produce successful design output, not only meeting client expectation but also affirming the designer’s sense of artistry.

Overview

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Designer B, a graphic designer, reputed for her designs at Walt Disney, Hallmark, Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, and Hachete Book Group, was approached by a leading Philippine-based book merchandising company to seek her expertise on cover designs and illustrations. 


With a Bachelor’s degree in Multimedia Arts from the School of Design and Arts, De La Salle College of Saint Benilde, Designer B has been practicing professionally for the past seven years. Designer B mostly works with publishing companies and specialize on book cover illustrations. Client B is National Book Store, a bookstore and office-supplies store chain based in the Philippines. According to Designer B, she was approached by the Client B through email. In their correspondence, Client B explained that they wanted to hire her as a graphic designer for their campaign posters. Client B offered a “package deal” wherein Designer B had to produce eight posters to be used by the client for a period of one year. All the details to be placed in the posters were provided by Client B. Designer B said that she was given pegs of previous posters by Client B, and was also given the creative freedom to do her own style for the new posters. As Designer B shared:


“They were not very technical. They provided specific preferences like colors and imagery which helped me visualize clearly the expected output. Most importantly, they gave me the creative freedom.”


In terms of the duration and deadlines, Designer B was given a week to do a poster but there were times when she had to ask Client B for extension. As she shared:


“They were willing to adjust the deadline when I requested for a little extension.”


In the course of artistic collaboration, the design negotiation with Client B was apparently smoother perhaps due to the designer’s established reputation in various book illustration projects. In short, National Book Store has hired the designer for her works and they knew what to expect from her. 


The client, albeit its reputation as a large company in the country, was lenient and less demanding. In fact, minimal revisions were requested during the design negotiation phases. For instance, when designing the first out of the eight posters she created for Client B, she originally did a material with a purple background; however Client B wanted to have it changed to a red background because they wanted to make it closer to the branding colors of National Book Store, which are red and white. Designer B clearly understood this to accommodate client’s demand. 


“They were very easy to communicate with. They weren’t demanding. In fact, they were accommodating and considerate.”


Designer B also shared that the next poster designs added touches of red and white colors on the posters. According to her, the amount of time for revisions was reduced and the negotiation became easier for both of them because they eventually learned to adjust from their design branding and artistic tastes. Two to three rounds of revisions took place before they finalize each poster project. Designer B mentioned that the posters she did for Client B is one of the design products that she is very proud of. Her art is clearly visible on the posters and the final output displays a delightful piece of fruitful collaboration.  Client B renewed their contract with Designer B for another year.
 

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Analysis


The National Book Store case proves the benefits of interdependency in the working relations of the designer and client. Both were able to express and apply their own domain specificity or the specialties of both parties. For Client B, who was specific with her company branding, entrusted Designer B to apply her expertise to work around the branding of colors. Designer B, having been educated by Client B, listened to the client’s particularities and welcomed new insights as a way to develop a more satisfactory design output. This paved the way for a mutually benefiting relationship. 


Another factor that made the working relationship a success was that Client B gave Designer B the creative freedom. As participants of the FGDs shared, designers would always prefer artistic freedom with enormous avenue for crafting designs based on their expertise and personal preferences. This flexibility took down any wall to communication that might have complicated the communication process. This case, however, shows how Designer B defied the designer’s trilemma specifically on the time. As mentioned previously in this research, the time element is an important item for negotiation. It was clear that Designer B asked for time allowance during the design process, yet fortunately Client B willingly allowed it. 
 

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