How Much Does a Graphic Designer Cost?

I don't know if this realization is liberating or depressing. 876,600 hours to live. Unless I'm wrong. Graphic designers are not really good in math. Click infographics to enlarge.

You have 876,600 hours to live! Assuming you’ll reach your 100th birthday. If my calculation is correct: there are 24 hours in any given day. 365.25 days in a year, that’s 8,766 hours. Multiplied by 100 years, that’s 876,600 hours to live if you were born right now and if you'll reach 100 years old. 
Freelancers, in-house creatives, corporate/office, NGO, factory workers etc. We all have something in common, we’re paid based on the number of hours worked. Or if you’re a Tim Ferriss fan, that’s number of hours spent looking busy inside an office.
I just realized something today; we’re not paid for our time but for our life. So when someone asks you how much is your per hour rate, think of this: you have 876, 600 hours to live. How much does your life cost? 


EDIT: After a good chat with a new friend and some much needed sleep, woke up today feeling refreshed and liberated being aware that everyone has 876,600 hours to live... assuming you'll live to a hundred.

Copyright © Whitespacelover a.k.a. poNg Lizardo 2011 All Rights Reserved, unless stated otherwise. You may copy and/or use the content of this blog only if you acknowledge this blog and other parties (if there is any) as the source of the material.

On Being a Graphic Designer in Haiti

We woke up one morning to this, part of the mountain at the back of our building fell. Luckily my car is safe, the rubble stopped at the nose of the car. ;-)

Graphic Designer, Montagne Noir, Haiti—I once asked for clean running water, continuous electric service and a bit of silence in an apartment. The landlord and the real estate agent looked at me as if I’m asking for some luxury item like Zafiro’s $100,000 razor made from meteorites (and yes, that razor is already on sale!). What’s next, they’ll say people need to pay taxes for their human rights? 

Now I believe Maslow when he said that creativity and art ranks as one of the highest human needs that could only be satisfied once you’ve fulfilled your basic needs. It’s hard to create great designs when your head is still trying to understand how the sink could spew murky water, rice and beans all over your kitchen, mmmm smell the morning air! Or when you're still dazed on how part of the mountain fell on the parking lot crushing the neighbors' cars and making the parking lot as useful as coffee to an insomniac. This is what a graphic designer has to deal with in Haiti. Life is a bit complicated here (understatement). It’s a miracle sometimes how we could produce nice designs when the mountain is literally falling over our heads. Though, I should say, when things work life's a bliss. When it doesn't... well, it's like walking into the twilight zone mixed with the worst of Dante's inferno.
Maybe Maslow is not completely right. But I like his triangle… 

Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. Courtesy of Wikimedia.

Copyright © Whitespacelover a.k.a. poNg Lizardo 2011 All Rights Reserved, unless stated otherwise. You may copy and/or use the content of this blog only if you acknowledge this blog and other parties (if there is any) as the source of the material.