DesignByHumans.com - Complaint Received and Dealt With Thanks!

I woke up today and was most gratified to receive an email from Matt of DesignByHumans.com

“First off, I apologize for the negative encounter you had with one of the members of the community. We try our best to promote a positive atmosphere here at DBH but sometimes there are those who choose to spoil the fun for everyone. We have since deleted ********* comments on your design as well as on some other artist’s designs. Thanks for calling our attention to this.”

I was very impressed with how far DBH have gone to make me feel welcome, admittedly there is still the problem with the comments system. I’ve asked Matt to discuss the possibility of a comment approval or quick complaint system to counteract this abusive form of behaviour. The truth is if we’re ever going to raise the benchmark of t-shirt design, or any design/arts medium for that matter, we have to place more emphasis on the quality of submitted works, rather than mere positive or negative publicity. I encountered an artist with little talent, and probably almost all his attention was focused on generating an income. He may have had a fan base, or he may have used an anonymous proxy server to charge up his votes, either way I don’t believe the guy had talent. Yet… I never wrote a single thing about any of his t-shirts or himself, either on his profile page, or his comments section. I did lose my temper, however I kept this retaliation to my own page at DBH

you maybe asking, what’s the difference Paul? Well firstly I wasn’t bombarding his works with a negative publicity campaign. As the old saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, true, however, a long rant of an argument below an image, especially a personal and pointless barrage of insults, provides great temptation to read on, or close the page. As Matt explains, this wasn’t an isolated event, and so my suspicions were proven, some people climb by their own talents, whilst others smear and besmirch their competitors in an attempt to reduce choice, and elevate their own position in a new arena, influenced by their own objectives and beliefs.

This happens everywhere, in politics especially, there’s nothing wrong with a third party, or tenth, or hundredth. It’s simply a matter of supply and demand, and the problem of making good on your promises. Talk is cheap, the only thing that people truly respect is results. If you can do it better than most others, there will be a market for your talent. Of course, infinite choice is inevitable in a world of infinite suppliers, producers, distributors, marketers, it is in the vested interests of many self-made entrepreneurs to promote what pays well. The only chance the online consumer has of finding what they want, and not what’s ranked on Google, or subjectively reviewed by a million affiliate marketers, is the power of public appreciation.

i have to admit, I would find myself in the same quandary as the team at Design By Humans when it comes to the voting system, my recommendation would probably cripple their traffic and hence presence on the net. However, I’d still say their is currency in the following modification to their rules.

Instead of letting anyt DBH member vote, only offer this option to those who have purchased a product, but who haven’t designed one. This would mean seperating the login sections for buyers and producers (which I’m sure a php genius could do). I doubt they’ll ever do this, it’s probably self-defeating, sre they could limit access by IP address, however as I’ve mentioned before, anonymous proxies can always work around the security of most popular vote sites.

I’ll keep wrangling thoughts on the subject, I’m sure if I send this question far enough to the back of my brain, something will figure out the perfect way to promote and sell popular t-shirt design. However it will probably take a while, I’m not the most logical-minded person in the world. Just takea look at my t-shirts for proof! However I do have one final suggestion. Perhaps DBH could create a thumbnail sized featured image in a prominent position on the homepage. It could change with every referesh, with every new visitor, and it would display the very latest submission. Regardless of votes or talent, or amount of friends who vote for you because you vote for them.

I do have a problem with the nepotistic nature of the arts industry, it indulges in a lot self-congratulation, small cliques find themselves in a position of influence and steer the world up another cul-de-sac of short-term vision. I am not a snob, I find inspiration in the dirt, in the detritus of culture, the idioms that never caught on, the bygone years that never were, and their mistaken ideas of what the future would reveal. I love t-shirts and t-shirt design because I feel at home with the history, the culture, the styles involved. T-shirts is the last remaining icon from the now dead, now revived, now dead Pop Art movement. Andy Warhol screen-printed, Roy Lichtenstein took infleunce from comic art, fashion found bold colour and chaos in pattern, people of all classes and intellectual levels began to realise they could express themselves, it was allowed, you didn’t need permission.

If I’d lived through WW2 the 1960’s would’ve been a godsend, an antidote to the restrictive existence forced upon all those involved, the rations, the lack of fashion, the lack of fun. I hate suppression, I can’t abide rulebooks, I will always support a creative revolution, I am glad to tear down the walls of assumption for a clearer, wider perspective on culture, life and our reasons for existence. The answers are never logical, the answers are never black and white, hence we have art. Art is the vital integer in the equation of life when put in the context of logical progression and objective analysis on an emotional, cultural, or even spiritual plane. We cannot live by numbers alone. We cannot allow those who suppress creativity and originality to succeed. If you find yourself witnessing this, defend the rights of the individual concerned, not the rights of the oppressor. If one doesn’t eventually this negative viral event will turn on you.

So anyway, I’m back at DBH, and I will be submitting more work there. Who knows I might even win something one day.