Gerard Serrano on why a designer and a developer should be partners, not supplier and client

Gerard is a graphic designer. Communication, illustration, screen printing, and a lot of work around music and vinyl.

We've worked on projects together for a while. This year we went a step further and started Backline, a tool for managing the production of events, festivals and concerts.

I wanted to ask him what changes when the designer stops being "the supplier".

How did you get into graphic design?

Drawing, long before I knew it could be a job. Then I discovered that a drawing could also communicate something to someone who didn't know me. That's when it stopped being a hobby.

Why vinyl and music? What does that world have that other commissions don't?

Music has a physical side people still care about. A cover isn't decoration. It's the first thing someone holds before they hear a single note. And in that world you can take risks a corporate brand would never accept.

Can you make a living from design in such a niche sector? What did you have to learn?

You can, but not just by designing. I had to learn to quote, to say no, to chase invoices and to explain why something costs what it costs.

Design is the part I'd do for free. The rest is what pays the rent.

What is Backline, and why did we decide to build it together?

A tool to manage the production of events, festivals and concerts: suppliers, artists, technicians, the whole team. I know that world from the music side. You know how to build software. Separately, each of us had half the idea.

What changes when a designer and a developer work as partners instead of supplier and client?

As a supplier you deliver what you're asked for. As a partner you question what you're asked for.

The arguments arrive earlier, when they're cheap, instead of at the end, when they're expensive.

Tell me about a project that taught you something you didn't know.

The ones where the client says "whatever you think" teach you the most. That's when you find out what you actually think.

How do you balance the creative side with the business side: quotes, payments, deadlines?

Badly, some weeks. What helps is putting deadlines and prices in writing from the start, so the creative part doesn't get contaminated by awkward conversations later.

What would you tell a young designer who wants to go it alone?

Find a niche you love so much you'd follow it anyway. And find people who do what you can't. Alone you're a freelancer. With the right partner you can build something.

Backline is just getting started.

Ask us again in a year.