Here’s someone I truly admire and respect. Paul Melo owner of meloCreative is one of those people you just can’t help but like. He not only produced my stylish website, but he is also a source of inspiration for me. I am so very pleased to introduce him as this month’s Industry Insider.

Your official title and job description: Visual Media Designer - A title I adopted to encompass the many facets of what I do… Print design, web design, marketing, copy writing and photography. I typically handle the majority of my client’s visual media from their identity and branding through to collateral and their online presence. Occasionally I create motion graphics as well.

Where and how do you get your inspiration?: I am a magazine and film junkie. A voracious reader, I usually read at least 15 - 20 magazines a month from all genres. My favorites are British Esquire, Arena, British GQ, Monocle, and City magazine. I find magazines to be such a versatile source of creative inspiration from layout design and typography to stunning photography.

Form over function? Or vice versa?: Form supported by function. So many businesses overlook the power of strong visual appeal. In the current marketplace people are always referencing MySpace and Facebook as models for success despite their plain and bad design approach. They don’t realize that these sites, as do many popular sites, fail to capture proven financial success despite their huge user base. They simply don’t make a lot of money in relation to their millions of users.

If you had a choice to be one animal what would that be?: A Lion. King of the Jungle… And great hair.

Favorite brain food?: Café Artigiano’s Tall Caramel Mochiato and an Orange Pistachio Biscotti (however Yuppie that may read). Or just good old fashioned oranges.

Your favorite quote?: “You get exactly what you focus on.”

Your business and or client gripe?: Clients that believe a logo or website costs $100. (Plus they’ll put your name on their website for the ‘great exposure’.) Thanks… So generous of you.

Here’s a simple formula:
Just rent for a business location on Robson Street, Vancouver can run $20,000+/month and doing business 70 hours / week.

Simple Business design package (Logo/Print Collateral/Website) will be $20,000+/once and you’re doing business 24 hours a day / 7 days a week / 365 days a year.

Do the math.

At the end of the day what keeps you going?: I started designing for fun and because I’ve always been artistic. I bought my first computer on Sept. 12th, 2001 and taught myself. At the end of the day, if money were no object, I would still design on a daily basis. Getting paid to do it is the icing on the layer cake.

Advice to future designers?: Don’t go to school to ‘learn’ design. Learn how to do business. Learn that the customer is NOT always right, but most often wrong when it comes to design. Clients are a pain in the ass a lot of the time. Accept it. Design as if you were doing it for yourself. That is known as creative truth.

Sunny Shum, Your Industry Insider