Welcome to DesignStamp!

I have close friends. They tease me. They say that it is unheard of for a “web designer” to not have a website. They say that it is, in fact, short-sighted for a designer to look for new business instead of making their own website.

I agree with my friends. And I have gone far too long having DesignStamp.com be nothing more than a “coming soon” teaser, an email harvester and worse a very broken countdown clock!

So here we go. DesignStamp is up and running.

Someday I would love to conduct research into why designers procrastinate over making work for themselves. I know of one or two designers who have spent years creating their own portfolio sites. I know others who just don’t even bother.

Is it the courage required to state our own point of view? To not have a client to blame as to why we ended up with a certain color? Are we lazy? Or are we fickle like the fashionistas that most of us are, and by the time we finish one design, we want to re-do it all over again (gray is so yesterday). Or is it just that our attention, time and effort seem better spent doing “billable” work?

Well, in DesignStamp’s case it is a bit of all of the above. (Especially the last reason!)

This year continues to be very busy.

DesignStamp is now a collective as I wanted it to be. I have the privilege of working with a creative, diverse group of people. And we get solve problems. Everyday.

We are lucky to have clients who give us the leeway to be able to not just build another website or create another tradeshow sign, but also provide consultation on brand and design from a holistic point of view. How does this piece fit into where you want to go next?

I talk about Unique Selling Proposition(USP) in my branding class at VFS. DesignStamp’s USP is solving problems. Design problems to be specific. But then again, design problems are the basis for most of world’s problems…aren’t they? Look at the debate over Iraq’s flag redesign. Or why people spend probably spend more time complaining about their computers and software, than their boss! Bad design is all around us and drives us all nuts.

So here we go. Welcome to DesignStamp. We solve the world’s problems.
(and I never use smileys)

Gagan