![rw-book-cover](https://is3-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Publication3/v4/e6/0d/86/e60d864a-b6ba-40b9-6dc8-5859ad4b641e/ABA-cover-7.jpg/1650x2550bb.jpeg) # Metadata - Author: [[Mike Monteiro]] - Full Title: Design Is a Job - Published: - Category: #books # Highlights - If the situation merits it, work at a discounted rate. But [◊](https://readwise.io/open/281724517) ^rw281724517 - submit a budget showing the actual rate, with the discount applied. Let the client know the value of what they're getting [◊](https://readwise.io/open/281724518) ^rw281724518 - The Kickstart founders spent years working with NGOs who donated equipment and tools to those in need, only to return to the scene and find that the equipment had been scavenged for parts or was sitting unused and rusting away. People didn't value (or need) what they had been given. So Kickstart decided to sell their pumps, marketing them as the "Super MoneyMaker." The results were impressive. Instead of free hand-outs, the Super MoneyMaker became an item the poorest people in the world would save up for. Only people who actually planned to use one would buy one. When you pay for something with your own money, you value it more than when you get it for free. You take care of it. Most telling, people would scavenge from other things to repair their Super MoneyMakers [◊](https://readwise.io/open/281724519) ^rw281724519 - If the client wants the price lowered, go over all the items in the proposal and find out what can be cut. Never lower the price without taking something away. And never take something away without explaining the lost benefit. If the lost benefit wasn't that great then maybe it's a fine thing to cut anyway. The amount isn't arbitrary; every item has a set cost. So if you want to pay less you have to be willing to get less. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/281724520) ^rw281724520 - Now mind you, I am not trying to make a connection between art and design. The two couldn't be more different: one is a corporate business tool for manipulating the poor, and the other is design [◊](https://readwise.io/open/281724521) ^rw281724521 - Tags: [[favorite]] - The myth of the magical creative is alive and well, and it's powerful. It's equally perpetuated by designers and those who work with them. And it's destructive, reducing a designer's job to pixel-pusher, prettifier, and someone who feels their way to success. A magical creative is expected to succeed based on instinct, rolling the dice every time, rather than on a methodical process that can be repeated time and time again. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/281724522) ^rw281724522 - A designer requires honest feedback and real criticism, and that's not going to happen in a realm where colleagues or clients are worried about crushing the spirit of a magical being. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/281724523) ^rw281724523 - Tags: [[favorite]] --- tags: communication, design, work, books aliases: Design Is a Job date created: 2022-03-31 publish: true --- ![rw-book-cover](https://is3-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Publication3/v4/e6/0d/86/e60d864a-b6ba-40b9-6dc8-5859ad4b641e/ABA-cover-7.jpg/1650x2550bb.jpeg) # Metadata - Author: [[Mike Monteiro]] - Full Title: Design Is a Job - Published: - Category: #books # Highlights - If the situation merits it, work at a discounted rate. But [◊](https://readwise.io/open/281724517) ^rw281724517 - submit a budget showing the actual rate, with the discount applied. Let the client know the value of what they're getting [◊](https://readwise.io/open/281724518) ^rw281724518 - The Kickstart founders spent years working with NGOs who donated equipment and tools to those in need, only to return to the scene and find that the equipment had been scavenged for parts or was sitting unused and rusting away. People didn't value (or need) what they had been given. So Kickstart decided to sell their pumps, marketing them as the "Super MoneyMaker." The results were impressive. Instead of free hand-outs, the Super MoneyMaker became an item the poorest people in the world would save up for. Only people who actually planned to use one would buy one. When you pay for something with your own money, you value it more than when you get it for free. You take care of it. Most telling, people would scavenge from other things to repair their Super MoneyMakers [◊](https://readwise.io/open/281724519) ^rw281724519 - If the client wants the price lowered, go over all the items in the proposal and find out what can be cut. Never lower the price without taking something away. And never take something away without explaining the lost benefit. If the lost benefit wasn't that great then maybe it's a fine thing to cut anyway. The amount isn't arbitrary; every item has a set cost. So if you want to pay less you have to be willing to get less. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/281724520) ^rw281724520 - Now mind you, I am not trying to make a connection between art and design. The two couldn't be more different: one is a corporate business tool for manipulating the poor, and the other is design [◊](https://readwise.io/open/281724521) ^rw281724521 - Tags: [[favorite]] - The myth of the magical creative is alive and well, and it's powerful. It's equally perpetuated by designers and those who work with them. And it's destructive, reducing a designer's job to pixel-pusher, prettifier, and someone who feels their way to success. A magical creative is expected to succeed based on instinct, rolling the dice every time, rather than on a methodical process that can be repeated time and time again. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/281724522) ^rw281724522 - A designer requires honest feedback and real criticism, and that's not going to happen in a realm where colleagues or clients are worried about crushing the spirit of a magical being. [◊](https://readwise.io/open/281724523) ^rw281724523 - Tags: [[favorite]]