Gino
Premium Subscriber
This is something which has bothered me for a long time. For the most part, I ignore the feeling, but as you said, I see so many totally worthless logos and branding ideas, that make me cringe.
I’m in the same group as you Pat. I can get around, but I don’t do anything spectacular. When I started out, I was in the sign section of an agency/sign shop where they made all kinds of ads, designs, signs, logos, radio ads, flyers and so on. I’d watch them once in a while, but nothing ever really rubbed off on me. I learned the mechanics, but not the fanciness of pizzazz.
Now, I feel I can hold my own as being good at balance, color, elements and other aspects of putting a good layout together using the most basics of drawing. Every now and then a good one will slip through and the end-user will use it as a logo. Putting together good sound layouts is my strong point.
However, after seeing what the vast majority do, I had no problem in taking and using the title of logo designer and then charging for it some years ago.
Sign painters for years just gave this stuff away, while others charged big bucks for it and sometimes wasn’t any good. Why did some get paid well and others not so well ??
An old friend of mine whom owned a nice size ad agency….who is now long gone, told me the real designers aren’t even in this trade. They will leave and go onto areas that actually pay well, leaving starving semi-artists the task of designing logos. His insight was truly amazing as he showed me the books from where all the designers’ ideas come from. All the top designs were usually cataloged and put into print and these books would have volumes and be available for a price. Back then, only artsy-fartsy people bothered paying for them, but the trick was…. the East coast people would get the stuff from the West coast people and vice-versa. He had a whole library of logos and when they needed to come up with something new…. they’d look up what someone did from say… California, Nevada or some other far away place and change things around a little and present that to the customer, knowing full well, no one saw what went on…. on the other coast whatsoever. After some changes were made, it was considered a copyrighted logo. It was then presented in about 10 or 15 paper tissue colored ideas and got paid a huge amount for basically copying someone else’s work. It got to the point no ideas were new, but just re-inventions of the wheel, so to speak. Most agencies would find a niche and they would design in this fashion or that fashion for a while. You see that today, when someone will go off on a tangent and stay on that high for a while and when they feel they’re getting stale, they’ll go in another direction. It’s all about selling. If someone is good at selling and convinces you… you are buying top quality work… well, after it’s drummed into you enough, you start to believe it and a new super hero is born/crowned.
I’m not about to give it away, but when a logo and/or re-branding job comes our way, I do heavily weigh out if it’s worth my time…. worth the client’s time and will I get paid enough or just point them in another direction. I have a handful of designers that I will suggest, and all those designers know to hand them back over to me when they’re finished with them.
It’s tricky Pat, but don’t cut yourself short….. you’re as good as the next guy and probably far superior to the majority of local talent and even on the forum here.
You don’t have to have a knock-out piece each and every time. Sometimes the client’s budget prevents that and some days the pressure from other areas gets in the way. Take what you feel you can handle and treat your customers and potential new customers fairly.
Tell yourself…. YES I CAN !! :U Rock:
I’m in the same group as you Pat. I can get around, but I don’t do anything spectacular. When I started out, I was in the sign section of an agency/sign shop where they made all kinds of ads, designs, signs, logos, radio ads, flyers and so on. I’d watch them once in a while, but nothing ever really rubbed off on me. I learned the mechanics, but not the fanciness of pizzazz.
Now, I feel I can hold my own as being good at balance, color, elements and other aspects of putting a good layout together using the most basics of drawing. Every now and then a good one will slip through and the end-user will use it as a logo. Putting together good sound layouts is my strong point.
However, after seeing what the vast majority do, I had no problem in taking and using the title of logo designer and then charging for it some years ago.
Sign painters for years just gave this stuff away, while others charged big bucks for it and sometimes wasn’t any good. Why did some get paid well and others not so well ??
An old friend of mine whom owned a nice size ad agency….who is now long gone, told me the real designers aren’t even in this trade. They will leave and go onto areas that actually pay well, leaving starving semi-artists the task of designing logos. His insight was truly amazing as he showed me the books from where all the designers’ ideas come from. All the top designs were usually cataloged and put into print and these books would have volumes and be available for a price. Back then, only artsy-fartsy people bothered paying for them, but the trick was…. the East coast people would get the stuff from the West coast people and vice-versa. He had a whole library of logos and when they needed to come up with something new…. they’d look up what someone did from say… California, Nevada or some other far away place and change things around a little and present that to the customer, knowing full well, no one saw what went on…. on the other coast whatsoever. After some changes were made, it was considered a copyrighted logo. It was then presented in about 10 or 15 paper tissue colored ideas and got paid a huge amount for basically copying someone else’s work. It got to the point no ideas were new, but just re-inventions of the wheel, so to speak. Most agencies would find a niche and they would design in this fashion or that fashion for a while. You see that today, when someone will go off on a tangent and stay on that high for a while and when they feel they’re getting stale, they’ll go in another direction. It’s all about selling. If someone is good at selling and convinces you… you are buying top quality work… well, after it’s drummed into you enough, you start to believe it and a new super hero is born/crowned.
I’m not about to give it away, but when a logo and/or re-branding job comes our way, I do heavily weigh out if it’s worth my time…. worth the client’s time and will I get paid enough or just point them in another direction. I have a handful of designers that I will suggest, and all those designers know to hand them back over to me when they’re finished with them.
It’s tricky Pat, but don’t cut yourself short….. you’re as good as the next guy and probably far superior to the majority of local talent and even on the forum here.
You don’t have to have a knock-out piece each and every time. Sometimes the client’s budget prevents that and some days the pressure from other areas gets in the way. Take what you feel you can handle and treat your customers and potential new customers fairly.
Tell yourself…. YES I CAN !! :U Rock:
