You Get What You Pay For
February 19, 2009
You ever heard of the saying "you get what you pay for?" Of course you have! People repeat it because it's true.
Apparently, Forbes has published an article called "The Creativity of Crowds" which quotes CrowdSpring (an online graphic design competition for cheap company logos) saying that graphic design is a "snooty business" and that the costs of it should be slashed.
I'm all for mom and pop startups & entrepreneurs — that's how this country was created. And I've ranted about this in a past post. But, for some reason we have this illusion that anyone with Photoshop or Illustrator and some sort of knowledge on how to use them is a designer. And, more often than not businesses looking for a cost-effective solution will hire these types of people. Why? Well, maybe because it's hard for most people to appreciate the difference in the 2 types of work. Perhaps this is on the same level as why a client will always choose the design that a designer likes the least (if given more than 1 option). As designers, we'll never really fully understand this phenomenon.
Well, Jim Walls did an interesting experiment, called the 50 Dollar Logo Experiment where he hired 50DollarLogo.com to create a logo for his business, Cheeses of Nazareth. This article was written in light of the Forbes publication. And, it is a perfect illustration of the quote — seriously, check it out.
Jim mentions in his article that designers, like me, shouldn't worry because the designers on sites like CrowdSpring and 50DollarLogo.com aren't real designers. So, perhaps there will still be real jobs out there for real designers who's talents and design education are fully appreciated.
In the movie "Helvetica", the director, Gary Hustwit, tackles a similar issue with the publics access to digital fonts. Does this mean that "we [are] all graphic designers now?" Maybe, but like most things, you get what you pay for. That is talent.
Also, worthy of noting: in the current economics times, are you really wanting to send US dollars over seas to Sri Lanka based companies and designers like 50DollarLogo.com?
- You Get What You [...]
- February 19, 2009
- 4 comments
Comments
4 comments
noxieCreative said...
-Crowdsourcing is one of the things I hate most about the design community. On the one hand it does spark an interest in possibly younger designers, but it gives this false sense to anyone that has illustrator that they are a designer. A great alternative to crowdsourcing is Upstack.com and Brandstack.com I am a member of both. Definitely take a look. -MangelliMon, 24 May 2010 14:47:00 EST
Anon said...
People will get smarter with time...The perfect example of this is your yard... you can get the kid down the street to do it for $10, a guy with mower in his truck for 25$ or a professional for $50 on up . At first glance, sure it looks nice ... however, with closer inspection you quickly realize that all the kid down the street did was cut the grass and the guy with the mower in his truck.. well he cut it and blew off the driveway, where as the professional took the time to pay attention to the details and that is make the difference, but also takes time. The cheaper option always looks great at first, however to stand the test of time you really do want to pay for quality. The use of a dull blade resulted in torn grass and disease and eventually having to replace large portions of the yard... in the long run, far less costly than having paid the pro from the start. As in Helvetica, the designer of the American Airlines logo created something which has stood the test of time .. not one change, ever! Although those cheap logos and designs may look good now, wait several months for the excitement to wear off... It will once again be time to dig into your pocket and pay for something nicer. You truly do get what you pay for and it's a frustrating industry to work in when people who don't understand what goes into a design can't quantify the time and skill needed to do so. It's ok though ... there will always be a market for people who need to replace the grass the other guy killed ;)Mon, 5 Apr 2010 21:44:00 EST
Mark said...
Like I said...You get what you pay for. If you have a low budget, and you feel crowd sourcing is the way to go, then that's your choice. You might get lucky. You might not.Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:48:00 EST
web design for startups said...
crowdsourcing is a necessary evilI got my logo designed by www.shopfordesigns.com and got very very good results. crowdsourcing is great especially for startups looking for corporate identity at low budgets.Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:11:00 EST