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Need Help How do you convince a local bank their logo looks like a DAYCARE?

tedbragg

New Member
A local credit union wants to change their REALLY nice logo with something their secretary pooped out of Word, because it's more 'community'.

It. Looks. Horrid. I can't post it here because of contracts, yadda yadda. I've made some variations of it to show them, before making their HUGE backlit monument panels. But I'm afraid it'll fall on deaf ears/blind eyes.

How have ya'll convinced a longstanding institution their idea is a total $#!tshow without alienating them?
We HAVE to do it -- they've already paid for it and the material delivered today. I'm cringing.
 
C

ColoPrinthead

Guest
When I worked at large production house my motto became "if you want crap, I'll give you crap" when dealing with low res images etc., I still can't believe some of the horrible stuff people were spending hundreds of dollars on.
 

Johnny Best

Active Member
Its like marrying a rich girl who is not good looking. Have fun with the new cars and boats, nice clothes and house and smile and tell her she is beautiful. Don't tell her to have plastic surgery then other guys will try to steal her away from you.
 

Andy D

Active Member
A local credit union wants to change their REALLY nice logo with something their secretary pooped out of Word, because it's more 'community'.

It. Looks. Horrid. I can't post it here because of contracts, yadda yadda. I've made some variations of it to show them, before making their HUGE backlit monument panels. But I'm afraid it'll fall on deaf ears/blind eyes.

How have ya'll convinced a longstanding institution their idea is a total $#!tshow without alienating them?
We HAVE to do it -- they've already paid for it and the material delivered today. I'm cringing.
If they end up going with their horrible design, can you message me a image? I have to see it!
 

2B

Active Member
They are hiring you for product fabrication instead of design marketing.
Smile, nod, make what they order and APPROVE prior to production starting (price & digital proof) deposit payment, move on to the next project.

If they ask, you can comment.
if you truly can't stand what is being done and see an "easy" fix, do a side by side proof so they can compare before ordering.

do NOT take it on yourself to be the design police, or insert your opinion when it is not requested.
 

Andy D

Active Member
Vent here, make their ugly sign & move on.
I agree though, it is maddening to create a effective, readable, good looking layout
and have it ruined by ignoramus who loves the smell of their own f@rts. :mad:
 

GAC05

Quit buggin' me
Sometimes you just have to release a questionable, designed-by-committee layout out into the wild to survive or die on its own.
cuomo-campaign-poster.jpg
It is the law of natural selection.
 

Hollywoodsigns

Designer, printer
Just did a Daycare that now looks like a bank. Customer claims a very expensive "Graphic Designer" designed their signs. I just grind and installed.
 

Stacey K

I like making signs
I have a customer who is on a 5 year plan to demo a building that will hold about 16 different "activities". Her partner is in marketing...she created their logo in Publisher (black and dark blue ugh) and they came to me for banners. Silly me talked her out of making 16 separate banners showcasing all the activities they will be offering (not exaggerating). They settled on one banner but want 16 pieces of clipart representing all the activiites and all the social media logos and their own logo - it's like googling images of "logos" an taking a screenshot and putting it on a banner. The one gal liked my designs, the marketing gal said she can do better, if only she had the right software. I suggested she do her best in Publisher and I'll clean it up. No, apparently that won't work. I said OK but you used up your "free design" time and from here on out you will be billed for labor. Now it's on hold as they are arguing on the design and colors. It's a real sh*tshow. My suggestion was to keep it simple...Coming Soon - Logo - catching saying that sums it all up like City Recreation Center offering a variety of activites for all ages. If they want to know more the can visit their website. No need to put the details of 16 activities on one banner - or 16 banners 5 years out. It's a long time away, I wouldn't get too specific until you know for sure what the building will be used for. But, what do I know.

"Sally, put a note on the 2025 calendar to sign up for painting classes" - SAID NOBODY EVER
 

Bobby H

Arial Sucks.
Some client-provided "logos" can look terrible or even unintentionally funny. But we won't act as the "Design Police" unless the artwork is going to create a problem with fabrication or will just be illegible.

For example we've had customers want really modest sized channel letters yet expect to use a really thin script typeface. They either have to go with a cloud-type sign or change the typeface to something with a letter stroke thick enough that we can fabricate and fit LEDs inside. I've seen DIY-artwork with things like white outline effects applied to thin letters. We'll warn the client the letters will literally disappear when back-lit. We're not going to judge things on "style," but we will advise about what works physically and optically and what doesn't.

Stacey K said:
I have a customer who is on a 5 year plan to demo a building that will hold about 16 different "activities". Her partner is in marketing...she created their logo in Publisher (black and dark blue ugh) and they came to me for banners.

It's always funny to see some people try to throw their weight around as if they somehow have qualifications superior to someone doing graphic design work full time at a sign company. People in "marketing" often try to pass themselves off as if they're a creative professional when in fact their field of study ("marketing") makes them little more than a glorified bean counter.

I think it's really comical this particular marketing professional would hand off a .PUB file made in Microsoft Publisher! Usually if someone is going to put on an act of being an "artist" they would at least get "costume" right: use an Apple-branded computer (of course) and hand off some kind of Adobe-generated file, most likely a web page oriented JPEG pumped out of Photoshop!

Even if the "marketing professional" took some actual courses in graphic design, chances are about 99.9% his studies covered zero regarding outdoor design. I have a 4 year BFA from a prestigious NYC art school, but none of the illustration and graphic design courses I took there covered outdoor advertising. I feel like signs, billboards, etc are treated like the red-headed step child of advertising. But it's still a big field.

As to the 16 pieces of clip art requested for a banner, unless the elements were simple and ready to drop into the layout, such as vector-based icons, we would probably shut that request down immediately. We would really be inclined to do that if the client was going to order nothing more than a cheap banner. It's a different matter if they're ordering an actual package of signs and will use all those graphics elements in other places than just a banner. Still, if you're tasked with having to create or clean up 16 different pieces of artwork that's probably going to add up to a significant design bill.
 

visual800

Active Member
You just tell them sometimes. In a tactful way, their logo is not going to work OR you redo it using a side by side reference. If after that they stay with the one they had you do it and dont tell anyone. Bad design is running rampant. Too many humans with too many programs and EVERYONE knows how to design, from the secretary with publisher to the "are student" at the local college that is someones kinfolk.

Side by side says it all along with explanations of why what they have wont work, if they do not take your suggestions, then just go with what they want and make a disclaimer you are not responsible for legibility on art that is not yours. I have won more than lost over my suggestions, I have lost jobs over my suggestions I have been "thanked" for my suggestions. I think the important thing is you speak up if they walk in with crappy art, if you care.

My favorite past time now is a customer sending me a logo, in a jpeg or png and thats all they have. they have no idea what an ai or eps is. The designer has no idea how to convert fonts or save to legacy in illustrator. I dont know when everyone decided to label themselve as marketing and start designing
 

Bobby H

Arial Sucks.
A lot of the de-professionalism that took place in the graphic design industry began in the late 1980's to early 1990's when graphic design applications began proliferating on desktop computers. The mindset was, "why do we need these expensive graphic designers anymore when the computers are doing the work now? I'll just have my secretary create our ads now!" When graphic design was a purely analog thing it took a LOT more dedication and discipline to be productive at all. It took a lot of work building up what was called "agency and studio skills." A lot of it was hands-on manual work. There was actual dark room work using photographic negative enlargers and photostat machines. I remember cutting rubylith and amberlith with an X-Acto blade to make spot color plates for print ads. Kids these days wouldn't even know where to begin if someone handed them a ruling pen (what kind of tweezers are these!?) or a Haberule.

Computers did open a lot of new creative possibilities and allow for a much improved level of precision in graphic design. But computers also set the stage for a lot of laziness and allowed for new kinds of terribly bad graphic design, like all the squeezed and stretched type or more fonts in a design than a ransom note.
 

Reveal1

New Member
[QUOTE="B

Computers did open a lot of new creative possibilities and allow for a much improved level of precision in graphic design. But computers also set the stage for a lot of laziness and allowed for new kinds of terribly bad graphic design, like all the squeezed and stretched type or more fonts in a design than a ransom note.[/QUOTE]

Darn them computers!
 

Boudica

Back to "educational purposes"
What I can't stand is the "phone art" - crappy low res graphics people (not graphic designers) design on their phone. sigh.
 
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