Island Professionalism

I am an artist, and I live on Maui. I love Maui. It’s the most beautiful place on Earth. (Only a few of the best spots in Australia even come close in my opinion.) However, for certain kinds of artists, Maui isn’t exactly the best place to be. Perhaps I’m missing something, but in my experiences so far, Maui is very a quirky little market for creative people. Sadly, this island tends to be a bit of a short-sighted environment where the great business mantra: “you get what you pay for” goes somewhat unheard. As such, many so-called “creative professionals” find themselves inadvertently creating and sustaining an underpaid market built upon questionable aesthetics and cultivated comfort zones based on the varying ignorances of their clientèle, as well as the desperation of their fellow creative people; making the term “Maui professional” an almost complete oxymoron in creative circles.

Take this recent ad on craigslist for example:


It’s bad enough this kind of reminds me of a stint I once did in retail electronics, where poverty-conscious customers would request stupid things like, “the best computer you have for the least amount of money.” So basically, something that does almost everything that you can pay next to nothing for …but to make matters worse, in this ad, if you look down at the smaller print after the mention of crappy pay, (amidst other crappy grammar) note the sentence fragment, “If you are a female and beautiful.”

If you are female and beautiful, what?!?

WTF is that? A sexist typo? A mislaid copy and paste? Some kind of NLP trick gone wrong? Based on the following text, to me, it looks like he's saying, "If you're hot, you can have the privilege of modeling for me." Hmmm... Great job, idiot. Way to make female readers comfortable.

Sadly, although a little extreme, this example is in some ways indicative of mentalities I have been dealing with here as a freelance designer, both from fellow creative types AND clients alike. Not to say I've seen a lot of sexism, but there is an certain level of useful professionalism and tact that seems to get rather undermined. On one occasion, I had a client insist that I do on-site work with blatantly pirated design software, even though his multi-million dollar business was operating in the black at the time. Apparently he missed the part of my website and resume that mentions I own a Micro ISV company in Massachusetts. Compromise ethics much? *sigh*

Now generally and realistically, it’s rarely ever easy for people in creative fields. So please bear in mind, I am venting a bit here, and don’t get me wrong. There are A LOT of good hearts on this island, but there are also A LOT of lessons in patience. So dear reader, if you ever have aspirations of being an artist or designer on Maui, just consider that the international money and the mainland professionalism I once nearly took for granted are both rather elusive prey out here... At least, so far. ;)


Comments

Nesting Guest said…
Boy, that is sketchy.

You know, it's tough over here as well for freelancers. A lot of people with, as you said, questionable ethics and aesthetics totally undersell the value of the services a real professional can provide, because people can't understand that results are worth paying for. Why run an ad that won't get you any customers? Why brand yourself with a logo that doesn't positively represent your company? It's like buying a car without an engine because it's cheaper.

In short: I feel your pain, but it seems your talents are at least getting recognized, so keep on keepin' on.
October 15, 2007 at 2:59 PM
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