KATHMANDU: Having gathered 11 years of experience in the field of creative design, Suraj Joshi has been showcasing his ideas by establishing his own outlet named Hand ‘N’ Mind Creation at Putalisadak in 2007. Joshi says, “My store caters to all aspects of printing and creative designing such as crafting and producing logos, flexes, photos, brochures, and visiting cards.”

Explaining his love for the art, Joshi says, “I was fascinated with designing right from childhood. Although I have not received any formal training, I am truly an example of practice makes perfect.” He feels that the shortcoming of his profession is unhealthy comp-etition. “There are many stores where inexperienced

and less creative people are offering their services at

lower prices, which breeds negativity within our profess-ion,” laments Joshi, adding that customers can, however, distinguish quality. Stating that his most valued achievement is customer satisfaction and appreciation, he further adds, “Rather than making money, I value self-satisfaction and inner happiness.”

Joshi considers knowledge of sketching, colour combination, illustration, creation, techno-logy and software handling to

be pre-requisites for being a designer. “Some people think that a designer’s work entails just sticking pictures and other patterns together, but designing is really an art that requires

utmost concentration and special flair,” he claims.

He explains that designing may be done in myriad ways,

depending on personal skills and styles — a page layout

may be designed on a rough paper and pencil sketch before production, or produced during the design process to final

form. Both design and production may be achieved using hand tools or page layout software.

While business houses, colleges, consultancies and event management groups are his most regular clients, according to Joshi, it has become far easier to meet the needs of clients nowadays. “Over the years, they have become more flexible and knowledgeable about suitability of designs and let us create

concepts that appeal to our imagination,” he explains.

Load shedding, lack of proper equipments and expensive print machines are challenges that

designers face. “Sometimes, what we sketch or design on

the computer does not appear the same in print because of

outdated technology,” Joshi

expresses in disappointment. However, he informs that the business offers good profit margins if one can satisfy the client. According to him, he has a total investment of Rs 3.6 million, out of which he gets 40 per cent turnover annually. At his store, a simple logo design costs a minimum of Rs 500, multi-coloured visiting cards cost Rs 1.5 per piece and normal flex printing is charged Rs 20 per square feet. He maintains that overall charges depend upon creativity required, quality of paper as well as order volume. His long-term vision is to develop his store into a well-established design house besides updating it with the late-st technology and equipment.