Work is over! At least at Red

So work at Red is over. It was a interesting experience! Not just because it was working in a land that is not America but because it gave me the opportunity to take what I have learned in Design from life and from the Art Center and put it in to action at least with real life clients. Now one thing that I have learned about Greece is that design thought it is quite good is really just the leaf overs from the rest of Europe. With a discussion from some coworkers this is the issue in Greece. Since it is the EU Greek students, the talented ones, go to England or Holland or Switzerland, or the US, to get their college educations and then if so inclined bring it back to Greece because family is super important here as children don’t stay away too long if at all, ie Ronda the creative director went to Art Center. Now in the Greek educational system Design especially graphic design is not even offered by the universities. The design education is then relegated to trade schools and institutes with in Greece which are, like in the US, shorter and less rounded educational wise, concentrating more on program application then design theory and implementation. I think this is a factor because the Greeks seem more engaged in trend then consistency of good design that is occurring in London & NYC or LA. A coworker express to me that Greece is Europe but a couple years behind. It seems like Greece is doing design work that was done in London 5 years ago, not that it is bad but just not at the same pace. Since design is not as understood the clients are then more apt to not knowing which caused some headaches at the end of my stay at Red. I was told I had a logo and packaging branding approved by the client to have the re-neg two days later. This could have been a client service problem but the client is having to be educated and convinced about a subject that is so far away from his understanding that it is laughable. Because of this the owner will not make decision and instead allows input from everyone at his place of business which then required me to do version after version and eventually re start on the project no one had the gumption to just say you asked for the answer and here it is. Take it or leave it! Clients here in Greece take too many liberties or at least at Red they do. It is hard to have a client make a decision when they have to be educated first!