Demonstration of Talent through Competitions.
Background
Graphic Designing is one of the most common professions that exist to date. Many courses providing companies are established only for Graphic Designing. Numerous amount of people from all over the world take part in graphic designing courses and go onto achieve success in their life. A graphic designer is a person who introduces visual concepts through software or by hand. Graphic Designing is a field in which both the genders get equal opportunities and it can even be performed by sitting under the roof above our heads! This field has a lot of scopes that can be executed on the internet on websites like Fiverr and truelancer.com.
• Logo of famous freelancing website (Fiverr)
Pakistan is a place where a lot of talent takes place in the people of the country. Even though the world does not reveal this part of our beloved country, but we still get to see a lot of flairs through competitions that take place. Due to the culture of the country, most women are not allowed to do jobs or even have an education. Graphic Designing is a field that helps most of these women earn online without going anywhere. One way to learn Graphic Designing is to get admission to a good college/institute that offers training in this specific field. Hunerkada College Of Visual & Performing Arts (Lahore) and University College of Art & Design (Lahore) are examples of fine colleges that offer education of Graphic Designing. Another way to get training in this field is to take physical presence/online courses. In this way, you can get a lot of helpful tips to pursue your career as a graphic designer.
Comparison of advantages b/w Creators and Companies
For Creators:
1: A great idea is accomplished!
With the help of minor skills in arts and with the help of great software such as Adobe Illustrator CC and Adobe InDesign and with an online website like Canva which provides the base of anything a graphic designer can think of, great ideas are expressed and shared with the whole world. These ideas can be logo designs, box designs, book covers, package covering, etc.
2: Pocket Money is earned easily!
If someone is struggling financially and needs instant money, then graphic designing is a field perfect for them. If a person takes only 1-2 courses, he/she can start earning online very easily by signing up to Fiverr or truelancer.com and adding up their name to the graphic designer's list. They can also work part-time for other people who run their own blogs on blogger.com, WordPress, etc. Research says, on average a local graphic designer in Pakistan earns 26,359 PKR (source:https://www.indeed.com.pk/salaries/Graphic-Designer-Salaries). However, it still depends on the skill and on the efforts of the graphic designer him/herself.
3: Jobs can be found easily, thanks to the internet!
Companies frequently visit websites like fiverr.com and freelancer.com to hire graphic designers for their visual work or for their digital work, so jobs can be easily found but it is recommended that a graphic designer should have a little bit of experience which includes 4-5 courses and some freelancing experience through famous websites.
For Companies:
For companies, Graphic Designing can be really important as it is used almost everywhere such as logos, in packing, box art, cover art, etc. Moreover, if the company is for photography, gaming or other subjects that involve digital work then they will need a graphic designer in every step they take forward.
Qpro - A Pakistani Freelancer and Programmer Community
Qpro is a Pakistani freelancer and programmer community that has missions to uplift Pakistan in freelancing, programming, designing and digital marketing. It is a great online service that hosts competitions and workshops as well. Freelancers and Graphic Designers have started growing through this service. Qpro website link: qpro.pk
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Qpro also provides a platform to explore the hidden talent in the digital fields. Qpro has recently done some important workshops such as UI Design workshop (Trainer: Zulqarnain Ansari), Front-End Development workshop (Trainer: Shafique Bajwa), 3-day Graphic Designing workshop (Trainer: Maaz Afzal), and more. For all the workshops and their respective trainer's list, visit http://qpro.pk/workshops. They have also done many impressive meetups such as Android Developers meetup, Lahore Freelancers meetup, and others. For the list of all of the meetups held by Qpro, visit http://qpro.pk/events.
• A picture from the Android Development Workshop hosted by Qpro
Recently Qpro hosted an online competition named 'Idea Logo Ka' to increase the amount of talent among the people of Pakistan. The main objective of this event was to showcase the talent of the hardworking and creative graphic designers of Pakistan. Qpro also wanted to provide a huge platform where the people of Pakistan can see and learn from these digital workers and for the betterment of the graphic designers themselves. As per statistical reports, 774 people participated in this talent-boosting competition. According to Qpro, this contest wanted the participants to create a logo on the idea of 'Purple Cow.' They also made a 15,000 PKR prize for the winner of the competition! Qpro themselves say that they were excited and had high hopes from the talented people who participated.
According to Qpro, Pakistan has a total of 9% of freelancers who generate revenue of only 1 billion US dollars per annum while our neighboring country has a total of 24% freelancers who generate revenue of 40 billion US dollars per annum. Qpro's inspiration for this event was this amazing fact: "Around 40% of Pakistani freelance community consists of Graphic Designers!" - research by Qpro.
Idea Logo Ka - A brilliant idea for the uplift of talent by Qpro
Recently Qpro hosted an online competition named 'Idea Logo Ka' to increase the amount of talent among the people of Pakistan. The main objective of this event was to showcase the talent of the hardworking and creative graphic designers of Pakistan. Qpro also wanted to provide a huge platform where the people of Pakistan can see and learn from these digital workers and for the betterment of the graphic designers themselves. As per statistical reports, 774 people participated in this talent-boosting competition. According to Qpro, this contest wanted the participants to create a logo on the idea of 'Purple Cow.' They also made a 15,000 PKR prize for the winner of the competition! Qpro themselves say that they were excited and had high hopes from the talented people who participated.
According to Qpro, Pakistan has a total of 9% of freelancers who generate revenue of only 1 billion US dollars per annum while our neighboring country has a total of 24% freelancers who generate revenue of 40 billion US dollars per annum. Qpro's inspiration for this event was this amazing fact: "Around 40% of Pakistani freelance community consists of Graphic Designers!" - research by Qpro.
• Statistical Fact by Qpro.
Even though the age group was not defined, it mainly consisted of graphic designers from 18 to 38 years, in which 40% out of 100% were from Lahore! 68% of the total from the people who participated were professionals while 11% were beginners and 21% were fresh starters. The skillset was overall strong. This was the reason behind Qpro's excitement and high hopes.
Even though the age group was not defined, it mainly consisted of graphic designers from 18 to 38 years, in which 40% out of 100% were from Lahore! 68% of the total from the people who participated were professionals while 11% were beginners and 21% were fresh starters. The skillset was overall strong. This was the reason behind Qpro's excitement and high hopes.
• (Contest Audience) Statistical Fact by Qpro.
If I talk about the judges of this contest, they were highly certified judges from Pakistan. The judges were Awais Kazmi from VentureDive, Zulqarnain Ansari from ExpertsDesk, Kashif Nadeem from RichCandies and Ayesha Nadeem from Qpro Pakistan. All of these judges have been part of various competitions as well. If you wanna see more about the judges, check the link ahead: http://qpro.pk/contestant-logos.php?contestid=jZEeQyhfwMVBsTqgeB
All of the hopes and excitement everyone had for this event turned into disappointment after seeing the results. As mentioned before, 774 contestants participated in this event. Out of this amount, 350 contestants were rejected due to no or poor and unacceptable portfolios! Many contestants didn't even know what a portfolio is! 424 portfolios were accepted. 200 submissions were made in total after all of the rules that were applied.
• Statistical Data by Qpro.
It is still not over! Out of the 200 entries that made it to the submissions, 70% were copied. Just some editing or fonts were added to the available template. According to Qpro, only 5% of the total contesters were actually creative and knew what they were actually doing.
If I talk about the judges of this contest, they were highly certified judges from Pakistan. The judges were Awais Kazmi from VentureDive, Zulqarnain Ansari from ExpertsDesk, Kashif Nadeem from RichCandies and Ayesha Nadeem from Qpro Pakistan. All of these judges have been part of various competitions as well. If you wanna see more about the judges, check the link ahead: http://qpro.pk/contestant-logos.php?contestid=jZEeQyhfwMVBsTqgeB
The Turning Point of This Event!
All of the hopes and excitement everyone had for this event turned into disappointment after seeing the results. As mentioned before, 774 contestants participated in this event. Out of this amount, 350 contestants were rejected due to no or poor and unacceptable portfolios! Many contestants didn't even know what a portfolio is! 424 portfolios were accepted. 200 submissions were made in total after all of the rules that were applied.
• Statistical Data by Qpro.
It is still not over! Out of the 200 entries that made it to the submissions, 70% were copied. Just some editing or fonts were added to the available template. According to Qpro, only 5% of the total contesters were actually creative and knew what they were actually doing.
• Statistical Data by Qpro.
Most Discouraging fact about this event according to Qpro was that not even a single logo was selected for the 5-star rating even though the judges were ignoring a lot of mistakes. All of the reasons for this disappointing result is told by Qpro themselves.
The entries that were made were overall good but still could not meet the expectations and rules of Qpro. If you want to see the logos that made it to the entries, click the link ahead. http://qpro.pk/contestant-logos.php?contestid=jZEeQyhfwMVBsTqgeB. The winner of this competition was Maaz Afzal, a professional graphic designer. There were rising stars from this competition as well. The winner and the rising stars in the link ahead. http://qpro.pk/logo-design-competition.
Qpro says that the reason behind this result was the lack of understanding and the lack of will for improvement from the graphic designers. They say that the specific mindset of the graphic designers of Pakistan is totally not acceptable. The graphic designers keep looking for shortcuts, they want to work for low-paying companies but do not want to learn.
Unacceptable habits from these graphic designers are lack of communication skills with the customers, not reading the rules and always looking for shortcuts. Lack of professionalism is one of the main causes as well. All of the points can be read from the stat report by Qpro themselves.
Time To Make The Change!
It is also important to know the impacts that we will make in the coming days. If we do not improve, we will stand nowhere in front of other countries. We will not be able to make an impression on foreign companies. We will remain at the beginner level in the jobs category.
Final Words!
The plus point for these competitions is that the competitions hosted by Qpro till now are free. So, anyone can come and participate. These competitions are for people who want to express their brilliant creativity through arts and digital use. For learning, we should join workshops and meetups hosted by these communities regularly.
My personal opinion on a community like Qpro is that they are doing a wonderful job to execute the talent of Pakistan. We should all help Qpro to grow and participate in their workshops, meetups, and competitions as much as we can.
I would like to end my blog with a quote from our beloved personality Quaid-E-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. "With faith, discipline and selfless devotion to duty, there is nothing worthwhile that you cannot achieve"
Thank You! Written by Ahmed Hassnain.
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