16/01/06
46Dream Commission
A recent hicksdesign enquiry, included a line that irked me rather.
“And I guess you are only interested in multiple digits contracts…”
I’m currently involved in The Big Project for Attap which is keeping me busy for quite a while, but busy doesn’t mean money grabbing. I have, do, and will hopefully continue to, work for charities and causes where the satisfaction comes more from the subject than the budgets. Which brings me to this:
When I was interviewed for MacUser magazine last year, I finally got the question I’d always hoped someone would ask.
“What would your dream commission be?”
The answer I gave them, is still the same now. I’d love it if tomorrow the phone rang, and found it was the Omnigroup wanting to know if I’d like to work on the interface for next release of Omniweb. I do tend to moan about this from time to time, but sometimes Omniweb feels like it needs some Panic or Watanabe style polish. Now, I’m probably not the right person for the job, and I don’t expect it to be a ‘multiple digits contract’, but thats what I’d most like to work on.
I’m intrigued, what would yours be?
Tags: design
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Siobhan Curran said 948 days ago:
“Brrring brrrrring”
“Ms Curran? Hi, it’s Philip Glass. Me and Godfrey Reggio are extending the Qatsi Trilogy to four films, and we want you to do the entire thing. It’s going to be called ‘Stripeyqatsi’”
paul haine said 948 days ago:
“And I guess you are only interested in multiple digits contracts…â€
I only ever get multiple digit offers. I tell the client my fee and they offer me two fingers.
Zach Inglis said 948 days ago:
It wouldn’t be Apple?
Your not money grabbing at all, you admit being boooked up til the end of the Universe. You could really easily charge more.
Ted Drake said 948 days ago:
I’ve worked in the museum world and continue to keep my fingers in the non-profit pot. I’m currently at my dreamjob, Yahoo! on a brand new project. However, if I could dream… I’d love to do a site for Crispin Glover.
Jon Hicks said 948 days ago:
No, not Apple. Steve’s reputation goes before him! ;o)
BJ Vicks said 948 days ago:
Incredible how little consideration can be put into character judgements, isn’t it? Just received a similar rebuke yesterday, in the midst of putting together a business plan that puts incredible emphasis on contributing to community-supported social initiatives.
Small Paul said 948 days ago:
Proof-reader, Victoria’s Secret, Catalogue Division
paul haine said 948 days ago:
I’d like to work for Nintendo, but only if they paid me exclusively in Mario-themed merchandise.
Patrick H. Lauke said 948 days ago:
dream commission? being called in to collaborate on any morally/socially relevant, high exposure project with a group of like-minded, creative individuals with complementary skills, and having clients that don’t turn around at the last minute and say “great, now…we really want the whole thing to be in a frameset”. money wise, it wouldn’‘t have to be astronomical, but certainly enough to allow me to ditch the day job and concentrate entirely on this fictitious project. ah…one can always dream…
joel schou said 948 days ago:
“only interested in multiple digits contracts”
Right, because I’d totally be willing to work for less than $10 (or £10) per project…
Allan White said 948 days ago:
An angel investor hires me for 6-9 months to shoot photo and video documentaries (paired with companion websites, of course) of missionaries in Western Uganda, East Africa. The stories and people are amazing from that region.
matt Carey said 948 days ago:
Ever since I started working for myself I have always had at least one charity or fundrasing-led client ‘on the books’. It counter balances the ‘corporate’ work I do, and while it may not pay well that is not the point. Giving a client something above and beyond what they expect (or can afford) for a good cause puts a spring in my step when I walk home in the evenings!
Martin Smith said 948 days ago:
... To work alongside Patrick H. Lauke on his dream project… preferably based in Manchester, or more specifically Stalybridge so we can be back with family.
eric said 948 days ago:
I’m not sure I even know whether I should take ‘multiple digits’ literally or not. What an odd statement.
Right now, because I have to use it every day, I’d want to completely revamp my university’s website and student registration system. It’s about as awful as they go.
Adrian said 948 days ago:
Either Harley or Triumph would do nicely
Matias said 948 days ago:
Designing City Maps, with a low budget for printing.
Nathan Smith said 948 days ago:
John: I recently recieved an email with that exact same wording:
“And I guess you are only interested in multiple digits contracts.”
I took offense to that line too. I’m curious if it was the same person. Were they asking you about doing a site with Expression Engine? I mean, what is “multiple digits” anyways? That just means more than one digit. So, essentially they’re asking if you want more than $9.00.
Anyway, my dream project would be affecting the way the Church at large uses the web. I got an email awhile ago, out of the blue, from the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, offering me a graphics job, but I don’t think they’re really focused on web standards. If they were, that would probably be my Dream Commission.
David Barrett said 947 days ago:
Crikey, the amount of quietly active Christians on the web is nuts! Keep it up, guys! :)
My dream job is what I intend to start work on this year, only getting payed for it instead of ploughing money into it (and it’s not as if I’m made of cash).
Oh, there’s an idea for a dream job. Being made of cash, and because of that being able to do all the cool projects I think up instead of having to do other (rewarding) work to support myself at the early stages of development.
kjd said 947 days ago:
Google – doing UI design and polish.
Sure, Google’s technology is generally great, but their user interface design would be a delight to improve beyond the level of ‘crayon’.
Chris McElligott said 947 days ago:
I’d love to be part of the team that gets to redesign Aqua for a future OS X release, actually I wouldn’t mind going solo on that either.
Richard Earney said 947 days ago:
I saw the dream job several years ago.
Art Director at Adobe.
Marcus Taylor said 947 days ago:
Dream job? I’ve never been able to answer that one. I probably never will. I’ve done some great jobs in the past, but they were either lucrative and dull, or creative and free. Since my own company philosophy is to do the best work you can regardless of the budget I often find that I have to solve communication issues with other means if there isn’t any money for a photographer or illustrator. Obviously it’s a compromise, so I guess my dream job would be a marriage of both creative and lucrative allowing me to reach me and my client’s full potential.
And as for the “I guess you are only interested in multiple digits contracts.†Well yeah… I don’t do this for fun! This is how I pay my M.O.R.T.G.A.G.E.
It’s one of the perennial problems; getting clients to understand the value of good design. Because everyone has access to computers, it doesn’t immediately make them a designer.
paul said 947 days ago:
free beer for a year. a few have come close over the years though.
Pete Ankelein said 947 days ago:
I would say my dream job would be to corner the market on Dive Resorts…they fly me out for a week at various dive resorts around the world, I spend the week shooting underwater/and above water photos with the DSLR…come back to a nice house somewhere in the ‘burbs (anywhere outside of NYC) to edit and design/build their site and/or collateral, earning a decent commission and another discounted or free trip for the family. :) I suppose being a mattress tester at “Waterbed City” wouldn’t be so bad either…at least I’d get some much needed sleep. :)
Alun Rowe said 947 days ago:
One that pays enough for the mortgage and a few trackdays here and there and has a management team that will actually listen to the people they employ…
In terms of the field I’ll be really obvious and suggest I’d like a job with an F1 team.
Andrew Fox said 947 days ago:
Websites:
Google – as their sites are so ugly and needlessly complex (whatever anyone says).
Photoshop – rethink the UI.
Nokia/Sony Ericsson phone interfaces or MS Windows – just because so many would be affected by what you did.
And, of course, Apple and OSX.
Karen said 947 days ago:
Hi Steve Jobs here, I’m finding it a real pain coping with all this money and I’m looking for someone who is a real expert at shopping to go out and spend it for me. Oh, and by the way, you can keep what you buy…
But I guess that one isn’t likely to materialise either…
I wish the Omni Group would sign you up for OmniWeb too, Jon. It could do with it. I really like your design for Path Finder 4.
Erwin Heiser said 947 days ago:
My dream commission would be doing Adriana Lima’s personal website and in the process working on location in sunny Brazil spending lots of quality time with my employer…
Pierce said 946 days ago:
OK Jon, I’m going to call your bluff on this. I will give you 9 euro to design me a new logo. Euro, not Sterling, mind. I’m not made of money.
My dream commission: To be bankrolled for as long as it takes me to write the novel of my choice. And whatever it takes to hire the illustrator of my choice (it’d probably be a childrens’ story).
Jon Hicks said 946 days ago:
“OK Jon, I’m going to call your bluff on this. I will give you 9 euro to design me a new logo. Euro, not Sterling, mind. I’m not made of money”
;o)
Khoi Vinh said 946 days ago:
I’m grateful for the job I’ve got, but if there were two of me, I’d be overjoyed to set my other self to the task of redesigning the Web site for New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority, including redesigning all the online and offline maps and developing new ways to help passengers get around the city.
goodwitch said 946 days ago:
research and development for a consortium of art museums where I would pursue my dreams to 1) create an open source discovery tool for exploring art 2) design and develop interactive content for museums…in the meantime, i deeply love my current work with accessibility and museums
Dan Hiester said 945 days ago:
Jon, kudos on valuing the contribution you make over the money you receive. I think my dream commission would be to do graphic design for a public transportation agency here in the states. In most of the cities I’ve been to, transit marketing, maps and schedules are all a joke compared to the design work I saw going into the Tube in London.
Which means I must give a high five to Khoi Vinh. :)
On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind shooting movies, either.
kert said 945 days ago:
Leading Creative Director @ LEGO ;) Their toys have become painfuly commercial these days, full of that Harry Pothead c*ap. I’d really like to change that. For a Wally Yacht and some Aston Martins please… or for a little less… it’s all a matter of negotiation.
Alan Orozco said 945 days ago:
Hate me if you want to, but I’d be glad to work on the next Microsoft Operating System…
Alun Rowe said 944 days ago:
“Leading Creative Director @ LEGO ;) Their toys have become painfuly commercial these days, full of that Harry Pothead c*ap. I’d really like to change that. For a Wally Yacht and some Aston Martins please… or for a little less… it’s all a matter of negotiation.”
One of my friends is a creative for Lego. Lucky B******d!
Has to be one of the BEST jobs in the world
Stephen said 944 days ago:
Book designer at Penguin. They’d have to pay me in multiple digits though, I’m not getting out of bed for £9.50!
Alun Rowe said 944 days ago:
How about “Any job where I get to work with Jon Hicks” :p
jesse said 944 days ago:
I’d like a client that wasn’t an idiot … ah the simple life …
Faruk Ates said 944 days ago:
Hrm. Very interesting…
In regards to Web-related things
My dream phone-call (or e-mail, rather) would probably be Apple asking me to come work for them in Cupertino. It’s pretty much the only thing that would surpass what I’ve had happen so far already (be asked for speaking SXSW — check! be asked for writing for a major online magazine, paid — check! be asked for writing for someone else’s book — check!)
Actually, any fun company in the Bay Area would be good, not just Apple.
In regards to things outside of the Web:
Quentin Tarantino’s agent calling me, asking me if I’d like to meet up with Quentin because “he heard about this movie script you’re making that he would be the perfect director for?”
Shit yeah. That would make my LIFE.
Alun Rowe said 943 days ago:
“I’d like a client that wasn’t an idiot … ah the simple life …”
Ding!
Harry said 942 days ago:
to move to america, all expences paid, to work for either Apple, Flock, UMI or Google.
Alan Orozco said 942 days ago:
Well, now that I think about it, it wouldn’t be to work on a OS’ design, it would be really great to work with Google, who wouldn’t like to do that?
You just need to check out their offices.
nick harris said 940 days ago:
Without a doubt, it would be for Pixar. Except they tend to favour flash sites. but, you know… if they ever wanted to switch to a nice clean accessible standards based xhtml type stance… my number is 0161 4…
I also wouldn’t turn down BMW, if they wanted to do another BMW films. Or perhaps Warner Brothers aren’t happy with the Superman returns site. or the next batman film…
Nathan said 940 days ago:
I’d say to be involved in a total redesign of the W3C website, bring it up to standards from a design point of view. It’s a bit Jacob Nielson isn’t it?
Andrew E. said 939 days ago:
To grow my local Portland website into a self-sustaining, profitable venture, allowing me to schmooz and sit around, until one day, Yahoo comes begging for it to be at the core of the next version of their “Local” service.