The 50 Dollar Logo Experiment

February 17, 2009 • 5:51 pm • POSTED BY Jim Walls

A couple of weeks back, Forbes ran a little article deeming graphic design “a snooty business,” before profiling a site called CrowdSpring where clients go to throw spec logo projects to a pool of 13,000 Photoshop jockeys. The winning design gets about $200 or so, the rest go back to their day jobs. For some, apparently, the day job unfortunately involves designing more free logos for other contest sites—a career that likely ranks second in salary behind “Hopelessly Addicted Scratch-Off Lottery Ticket Entuhsiast.”

Of course, the design community went apoplectic in response to the article. “Ethics!” some lamented in the comments. I’m sure a few of them even dashed off another design manifesto or two or fifty.

Here’s the truth, though, and why all the good designers need to relax: the vast majority of the self-described designers on sites like CrowdSpring aren’t really designers. Sure, they may have a (likely pirated) version of Adobe CS4 and spent an hour or so on a few online tutorials. But owning a copy of Pet Sounds doesn’t make you Brian Freaking Wilson. And from the looks of things, most submitters are doing nothing more than manipulating a few drop-down menus to add type over top of some clip art and calling it a logo.

I think I’m pretty good with the computers and the Facebook, and I can do that clip art stuff too, but I’m not a designer by any stretch. I’ve worked alongside enough mind-blowingly great people to know the difference. The truly talented should never, ever have to work for free. And there will always be good clients who recognize the value of what they’re getting when they pay experts. Likewise, there will always be the pizza shop owners and recent MBA grads launching their next Basecamp rip-off who get what they pay for when they go for the lowest common denominator.

Oh, I saw this trend coming though. So, in the spirit of participation, I launched an experiment that lasted throughout much of 2008. Among my many online ventures lies CheesesOfNazareth.info, a URL purchased on my behalf by one of our aforementioned talented designers as a Secret Santa gift in 2007. From what I understand, all hangers-on in the agency business are ceremoniously slaughtered by interns on the day before their 40th birthday, which is why I’m making plans to have my online cheese and cheese product empire up, running, and thriving well before that day comes. But the first step was to get a logo for the cover of my business plan.

I turned to the cleverly named 50DollarLogo.com, a site based in Sri Lanka or somewhere promising six logo designs, unlimited revisions, and a 1-3 day turnaround. Who needs messy things like research, insight, or even a modicum of information about my business, when I can have unlimited revisions? I quickly gave them my information, credit card number, social security number, and bank account routing number, and we were off to the races.

Excerpted below is the actual yearlong conversation that followed between a hapless client (me) and a helpful Internet robot named “Abina.” I’ll leave it to you to decide whether the outcome was worth my 50 bones. I’ll let you know when my first round of VC funding rolls in.

—-

Me:

Dear 50dollarlogo.com—Help! I’m looking to launch my online cheese and cheese-food product distribution and fulfillment company, but I need a logo that can explain to buyers right away that I mean business! (And hopefully lots of it ha ha!) The name is cheesesofnazareth.info, so it should probably involve cheese(s) in some significant way. Also needs to have energy, speed, and pizzazz, which judging by your porfolio, you have in spades! The other direction I should give you is that it shouldn’t be something like Nike or Target, but more like a Web 2.0 company—think Flickr or eHarmony.com. Look forward to seeing the six designs your creative minds and hands come up with!

—

50DollarLogo:

Dear Jim Walls,

Thank You For your order.

Please ensure you have or about to make payment. We require the payment for the order before we can start working on you designs.
Note, you are entitled to a 100 percent money back guarantee on your order. Further, you are entitled to un limited and free revisions to your logo designs until you are fully satisfied.

Thank You Kindly,

Abina,
Customer Services
50dollarlogo.com

—

Me: [four days later]

Any update on my order?

—

50DollarLogo:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for the email.

We are very sorry for the delay.
We will send you the sample as soon as possible.

Thank You,
Abina

—

50DollarLogo:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your order.

Having studied your requirements we now provide you the low resolution samples of your logo in jpeg format meant for evaluation purpose. You will receive a high resolution format after you are fully satisfied with your final logo. Font files used in the corresponding logo will also be sent along with the source file so that the logo will be 100% resizable and editable.

You now have the opportunity to request unlimited revisions (free of charge) to one of the samples given here. This will allow you to fine-tune the sample so that you are fully happy. Note, many logo firms would only allow one round of revision.

Its practically impossible for any logo company to meet a customer’s imagination without some revisions. Thus, we are now open to your requests for revisions. This can be done by replying to this email and stating:

1. The sample you most prefer (we can also blend the design between more than one order sample if you desire).
2. The revisions you wish to be applied to this logo sample. i.e any alteration on colors, fonts, size of text, images or anything generally you wish to have altered.

If you do not desire any revisions then please simply state the logo sample you require. We will then send the files appropriate for high resolution and editing which will be helpful for you in the long term.

As soon as we here from you, we aim to meet your design requests within 2 business days.

Ultimately, we are here to receive your feedback so that we can strive to provide the exact logo you have in mind.

Thank you kindly,
Abina

—

Me:

So many good things about these logos! But I’m afraid they’re not quite there yet. Can you finesse them?

—

50DollarLogo:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for the email.

We have informed our designers about your request. We aim to send you the improved logos within 2 working days.

We are happy to provide you as many numbers of revisions as you want. We strive to make our customer fully satisfied.

Thank you,
Abina

—

Me:

HELP! It’s been two weeks since I last heard from you.

—

50DollarLogo:

Dear Sir,

Please receive the improved logo samples of your company enclosed herewith.

We have made improvements as asked by you. Hope they are like the one you have asked for. Please do let us know your view so that we can proceed further.

We are happy to provide you as many numbers of revisions as you want. We strive to make our customer fully satisfied.

Thank you, Abina

—

Me:

Abina—SOOOOOO creative. Where do get your ideas? From an idea well? Must be bottomless!

One major problem that my wife pointed out, however. The company name is CHEESES, not CHEESE. Can you please revise? Also, can you combine the cheese man with the woodcut styling of #4 from your original round?

—

50DollarLogo:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for the email.

We have informed our designers about your request. We aim to send you the improved logos within 2 working days.

We are happy to provide you as many numbers of revisions as you want. We strive to make our customer fully satisfied.

Thank you,
Abina

—

—

Me:

This version is definitely adorable, but my sales team is concerned that the smiling, gesturing Swiss cheese suggests we only sell Swiss—which is certainly not the case!!? Can you include a variety of anthropomorphic cheeses in the logo alongside the Swiss? Some of our biggest sellers include:

Cheddar
Mozzarella
Brie (doesn’t ship well)
Gouda
Philadelphia Brand(r) Cream Cheese
Havarti
Taco
Feta

We also carry a limited but delicious selection of gourmet dates.

Also, my warehouse is yellow (with large “holes” painted on it), so these logos will blend in too much. Consider other colors, like Target.

—

[several months pass]

—

Me:

Abina-

Upon further consideration, I feel that you guys have really missed the religious connotation in my company’s name, and we really want to play this up. Is there a way to emphasize this connection? Specifically, when you redesign the various cheeses, is there a way to approximate DaVinci’s “Last Supper”? I do think the Swiss cheese could be positioned roughly where Jesus is located, since Swiss is a very prominent cheese.

Thanks for your continued hard work. We’re close!

—

50DollarLogo:

Dear Jim,

Thank you for the email.

We have informed our designers about your request. We aim to send you the improved logos within 2 working days.

We are happy to provide you as many numbers of revisions as you want. We strive to make our customer fully satisfied.

Thank you,
Abina

—

Me:

How are the redesigns coming along? It’s been nearly three months since my last request!

—

50DollarLogo:

Dear Jim,

Thank you for the email.

We are very sorry for the delay.

We will send you the improved logo within 24 hours.

We apologies for the delay.

Thank You,
Abina

—

Me:

[still waiting]