If you’ve been hired to design a presentation, then perhaps there’s nothing worse than hearing this phrase from your client. “I could’ve made that”. I have heard this about my work, and unfortunately many designers hear this every day. Today, we will be looking at why people don’t want to pay for simple design because it doesn’t look complex.

Simple Design - Cover - FreePowerPointTemplates

Simple Design Is Best For Effective Communication

The best presentation design is simple. It puts emphasis on the content of the presentation slides without distracting the audience with needless animation, 3D effects, clip-art, decoration, etc. But, paying for the services of a presentation designer can get expensive. So, when people are paying money for a design, they expect it to be “worth their money”. Basically, for most people, this translates to some action on the screen.

But, The Most Well Known Designs Are Simple

The misconception that expensive design should look fancy and colorful does not take into account that some of the most iconic pieces of branding are simple. Take for example the I Love NY logo by Milton Glaser. Can you imagine the conversation in the board room when where this design was first presented? You’ve guessed it, “Even I could have done this”.

Maybe you could, but Milton is the one who actually did it.

Simple Design - I Love NY - Pixabay - FreePowerPointTemplates

It Must Have Taken You 5 Minutes

There’s a story about an artist who often made paintings for his customers. One woman came to him and asked him to make a portrait for her. He completed the portrait in a few minutes, gave her the painting, and told her: “That will be $5000”. She replied, “But it only took you five minutes”. To which Picasso replied, “No, It took me my whole life”.

The Lesson?

You might not have the lifetime of experience that Picasso had, but we can learn from the lessons these people have left behind for us. Don’t let the price tag dictate your job. The design should be governed by principles, not opinion. Your duty is to do the best work you can.

Image: I Love NY [Public Domain] via PixaBay

Image: [Public Domain] via Pexels