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atomicbus
atomicbus
Inspiring
October 9, 2018
Question

Anyone else have a problem with Adobe pushing Tutorials with every programme?

  • October 9, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 402 views

Is this Chateaux de Sour Grapes? well possibly but I went through Uni and have been a professional designer for 20 years. Do I like Adobe offering free templates professionally laid out designs and tutorials for anyone to follow, or editable downloadable stock like indd files? Well no.

I've lost clients to people who've taken things, or some things in-house after getting CC - thanks to Adobe's "anyone can" attitude. After a couple of Adobe How too's clients consider themselves on a level pegging with a seasoned designer, which has resulted in a few bun fights over what I produce, and requests for live files. Adobe are alienating the base that built their company, nigh on at war with, they seem not to care where the money comes from, as long as it comes.

Back in my day, it was part Uni, part books, part learning on the job. Are they attempting to make everyone a 'designer' at the expense of people who trained hard and sacrificed a lot to acquire these skills and indeed, built their company? - with professional results laid out on a plate.

Message was edited by: Chris Bridgeman typo.

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1 reply

John Waller
Community Expert
John WallerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 9, 2018

No, I don't have any issues with Adobe offering free templates and stock for anyone to produce their own work. It's inevitable that they will and it's a crowded marketplace of free and paid-for templates. Adobe is one of hundreds of vendors doing so.

Your clients are obviously happy with those designs (or they are good enough) so it gives them a zero or low cost solution with maximum in-house control for future editing. That's been happening for many years. You're swimming upstream by resisting the direction of the market.

The question for you is how to respond. How do you adapt your hard earned skills (which are proving expensive for yourself and, it seems, your clients) and, perhaps, dated business model in today's market? There's still work out there for you but it's a case of tapping into the gaps and demands of today's market.

    atomicbus
    atomicbusAuthor
    Inspiring
    October 9, 2018

    yes, I've shuftied everything along a bit and just moved more towards clients that like more lateral stuff. The ones that like templates I've figured leave them to it, but I was in the ludicrous position the other day where a woman said to me she could just download something as all I produced was just ink on paper so why should she pay? My rates are not expensive, which begs the question that the only reason my works dropped is people doing it themselves, my bars always high on quality.

    John Waller
    Community Expert
    John WallerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 9, 2018

    I dare say every business and freelancer has similar stories. She's entitled to her opinion but she's obviously not your target market since she does not see the value of your work. You'll probably never convince her otherwise. I wonder what she does for a living. Time to let her go and find other clients. Your rates might not be expensive in your eyes but is the market still willing to pay you for what you do? Or has the market changed?

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