There are times when things just need to be explained using a spectacular Venn diagram. I made this last night whilst sitting on a screened in porch by an outdoor fireplace when it was late. Design is a funny thing, not as funny as a Kangaroo jumping on a trampoline, but let’s be honest what is as funny as that? I’ll give you a little hint: nothing.
Anyway, I love design, but it has its limitations in the creation process. Hopefully this helps you understand what those are limitations are, and helps you choose how you would like your design work in the future.
Your thoughts?
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Muy muy bueno
Featured here: http://design.org/blog/how-would-you-your-design
Featured here: http://leganerd.com/2010/12/28/how-would-you-like-your-graphic-design/
Featured here: http://thecreativebridge.tumblr.com/post/2437983527/go-on-pick-two
this is awesome, i would love a print!
this is awesome, i would love a print!
Featured here: http://www.newesprod.com/2010/12/how-would-you-like-your-graphic-design.html
Funny I was discussing having a friend about this just the other day, we ought to share the very same views. I hope it’s ok I added your internet site to several of my bookmark lists?
Hi, Colin. I loved this! (as many other designers, I guess).
Is something we all know but have to explain to clients again and again…
This diagram shows the facts clear and beautifuly, catching the eye and making a smile appear. Congratultions!
It is not my intention to steal your idea, but to redistribute this valuable information, so graphic design becomes a more pleasant profession for everybody… then I made a spanish version of this, just for friends and with your name on it as the “original idea” father.
But anyway I’d like to have your permisson for that. If you disagree, I’ll just keep it for me.
If you wanna see my version, send me an email and I’ll send you the jpg.
Thanks so much.
This is awesome. Saw it on Geeks are Sexy. My customers just don’t seem to understand that GREAT sometimes take a little longer. Quality vs. speed. If you want speed, buy your scrub caps “made in China”. If you want Quality, buy your scrub caps made by me in Idaho. Can I use your art on my website and give you ALL the credit???
Awesome! Would love a print as well!
Did you ever make a set of prints? If so, I’d like to purchase one!
Shouldn’t the “Free” circle be a subset of the “Cheap” circle?
(I didn’t have more than 90 seconds, and whipped this up in Irfanview, therefore proving it to be true.)
http://ike4.me/cheepasfree
It should be its own circle. And isn’t the point that Free really isn’t an option? Free should not intersect with Fast or Great at all, since all of the labels there are basically “No.”
are you still making prints? if so i’d love to purchase one to hang in my office and reference during discussions of timeline and pricing
I’d like that on a poster. Better still, I want that on the back of my business cards.
I would like to be notified when you have posters for sale!
Works for software development, as well. I cringe every time I give someone a spec, telling them how long it’ll take, and they ask if I can do it in half the time for for half the cost. Uh… no.
I’d love a print of this.
Love it. Poster? Yes please. I’m in. Colin, please email me and let me know where to buy. Thanks, jeff
I’d love a print of this poster, how would we go about it?
I’m very interested in a print.
Wow. This is awesome. My husband is a graphic designer, and I occasionally help him out, so we completely understand and agree.
epic – gotta have a print.
Another dimension to this conundrum is liability. Can you imagine telling a structural engineer you want a bridge built fast and cheap?
TOP SHELF!
Could you make it fill-in-the-blank for other professions? I think this diagram is more universal than you think.
Great Diagram. Would love to have a print if you’re doing them!
Love it. I’d buy a print!
Awesome, I’d LOVE a print as well!!!
@JoshWalling that’s a great point, that’s a big part of it as well.
add me to the list of people interested in a print. Love this.
First print just came off the press, photos and where to get yourself one coming very very soon.
Be sure to tell us if you make prints, and how much you want for ‘em. (or a high enough quality image to make a print out of it).
I am honestly going to hang that up and point at it any time a client asks for a quote and say “Pick two”
Love it dude!
(@machine906)
I’d be very interested in a poster version of this graphic – nice work. I’ve been using the simplified 3-points-of-a-triangle version of this concept but I like the look of yours much better – plus its something the business wonks will better understand.
Really like this! It’s so perfect it’s scary. I would like to buy a print, too, when it’s available.
Love your work, especially the scripture based pieces and that they are NOT in Old English or some other theologically approve “churchy”font. I have just written a play to be premiered in April at Colorado Christian University: “I,WITNESS ” based on the gospel of Matthew. I am wrestling with a logo – -getting close. Keep up the great design.
this diagram is great. lays out perfectly what i find myself trying to (nicely) explain to clients time and again.
i’d totally buy a print of this if you decide to print them.
Brilliant. Perfectly compliments a favourite quote I used today, funnily enough: “You can have it today, or you can have it done properly”. Put me down for a print.
This pretty much hits the nail on the head! I be interested in this poster to show clients. Are you gonna sell them?
Pick two my eye, this diagram tells people to pick only one. No one would want the middle portion of any of the two circles and that is right where every job ends up. Perhaps a more helpful diagram would explain the value that lies between picking two.
Hey Colin, great work using the appropriate diagram to illustrate the old saying in the business! (The way I’ve heard it was “You can have fast, good, or cheap, but not all three.) And maybe I’m reading too much into it, but perhaps the more detailed explanation that should accompany it is that if a client wants to be just one of the above, then it will NOT be either of the others.
nice one. interesting concept and realization. keep it up
Hey Colin, you hit all the right spots…..its what we all think, but you put it together nicely. Good job!
Whooot. Venn diagrams are the enemy. Now I will proudly hang this poster in my office!
would LOVE a print.
although the diagram applies pretty equally to many creative endeavors!!
omg, I NEEEED a print of this!! Please!!!
@Dora B. http://colinharman.bigcartel.com Go get one!
absolutelly … euh … fabtastic!
Hi!
I made a digital Spanish version of your poster:
http://www.facebook.com/kimeracreativa#!/photo.php?fbid=491512214763&set=a.421506684763.197311.287123734763
I thought it was a great infographic to share with the non-English speaking audiencie =)
Im on the trail and stumbled upon this very artful graphic. May God bless you
Excellent! I need to get the Portuguese version.
Awesome chart Colin and it is spot on! I think there should be one of these sent to every client you have. Help the ‘suits’ understand! haha
Hmm, overall is good, however I am not crazy about the choice of color used for the color used for the “I AM” image. It blends too much with the background, and is not consistent with the colors used in the upper banner. If you want this message to stand out, you may consider other choices of colors.
This is of course my humble advice, everyone has different point of view. In general I am impressed with your work.
Found a link for this on a translation-service related website – it applies just as well for our kind of service! Maybe you should print it with a blank “How do you like your …..” so one could substitute whatever kind of service she/he provides.
Keep on going!
⌘ P
Brilliant! I would put it up at the office
Superb!
Not to be a pain, but shouldn’t the “You get what you pay for” and “Just in time to be too late” sections be swapped? The one related to time is currently overlapped with price, and the one related to price is overlapped with time. Maybe you meant it that way, but it certainly looks like a legit mistake.
@Yemi:
You’re not a pain, I just think you’re not understanding how the diagram works. By choosing both “fast & great” you would be subjected to the opposite of cheap which is expensive, which is described by “You get what you pay for”, get it?
This is funny, but I think you need to baseline shift your parenthesis and use some better type before I buy it.
As much as I agree with the general direction of your message, if you are asking for a genuine opinion: Infographics fail. A venn diagramm is the wrong visualisation for the variables you mean to express. Introducing yet another variable into the widely recognized triangle of forces of information retreival (wait, why is free not the utmost extreme position of cheap?) does you no good either. Then again, from a meta perspective, if this graphic was designed on a tight budget without any time whatsoever: Epic win. The joke’s on me for not getting the irony.
It looks like to me “You get what you pay for” and “Just in time to be too late” need to be exchanged.
Am I missing something?
And shouldn’t Free be a part of the cheap portion.
@Richard: You’re missing something. I just think you’re not understanding how the diagram works. By choosing both “fast & great” you would be subjected to the opposite of cheap which is expensive, which is described by “You get what you pay for”, get it?
And free is very different than cheap.
my point is the time reference has to be in the fast circle. And the pay reference has to be in the cheap circle.
Very similar to something I created last year… http://likeyougiveadamn.com/portfolio/design-principles/ It’s based on a blog post I wrote about the project management triangle and how to be a “Good Client” http://likeyougiveadamn.com/design/how-to-be-a-good-client/
Nice to see the idea being transferred in a different way.
I love this – blogging about this now, I will trackback. I hope it brings you some print sales!
I don’t need to pick two, I’ll settle for the one shaped like a Reuleaux triangle that doesn’t say GO AWAY.*
* When I’m buying.
This is the best thing i have ever seen in my life
This is a wonderfully and clever answer for those unwanted (and wanted) clients. In the olden day, (I will not tell you how long I’ve been in the game) we asked a potential client, “Do you want a Cadillac, Chevi or Volkswagon?” Now VW were seen as higher-end cars in my day…back then they were flower child buggies. This is the Infographic Age (apologies to Marshal). I’m loving it! Job well done, Colin!
Spot on. I love it. Maybe Clients would understand the value of what we do if we used Cool Visuals like this because clearly they do not understand when we explain this to them.
AND I love the Hell Yes/Hell No It shows the concept visually…. I like them a lot!
Add me to the growing list of fans of this graphic. I’ve just reblogged on my site. Great stuff
Thanks Mark, greatly appreciated. I’m thankful I could be a part of inspiring you.
It’s brilliant, beyond creative ideas like these that make me say to artists like you “can we be best friends?”
Thanks again, best friend.
Too true!
Hi Colin, thank you for your e-mail and of course for this diagramm. It’s compact, it works perfect and it simply looks great! In my short article about price inflation for freelance design I placed a picture of it and the new link to your article.
http://www.typerspace.de/2011/08/cheapcheap/
A bunch of my fellow designer pals have passed this on to me, and now that I know where it’s from I’m super bummed that no more prints are available. Any chance you’ll be doing another run? Thanks!
More prints are definitely in the future. Got lots of transitions in life happening right now, so put them on halt for a time, but I’m sure they’ll be back around soon. Thanks for the interest, I’ll post here and on twitter when I work up another run.
You might want to just pop the original high res file up on a print on demand website, like redbubble, or zazzle – you’d make a killing, and wouldn’t even have to deal with shipping anything or dealing with printers. Just a thought, from one busy creative to another. I’ve done this stuff myself many times with my own stock art.
Did you look at the link at the bottom of the post? There is a link to the shop.
Prints are now available! Check the link at the bottom of the post or go here: http://clnhr.mn/CdJh
Thanks!
this is so complicated to judge my own work
I love this thing. Great work. I reshared it on my blog. http://marketingjesus.net/how-would-you-like-your-graphic-design-by-colin-harman/
I like….
Super, great job !
Featured here : http://jesuisserieux.com/humeur/votre-conception-graphique-vous-la-voulez-comment