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Designing in a vacuum: Spec Work hurts the client, too.

sparkyfirepants | September 27th, 2009

While adding awesome design people to my twitter stream (thanks Phoenix Design Week), I saw this tweet from Debbie Millman:

tweet-debbiemillmanIt’s about this new iStockphoto… thing… where you can now upload whatever logos you have “laying around the house” for small businesses to pick up and use (presumably because they can’t afford an original logo design).

I thought I was gonna hurl on my iPhone last night.

Deplorable? Yes. Heinous? Maybe. It’s not illegal and I’m sure there’s going to be a market for it. That doesn’t make it okay to perpetrate.

What’s even scarier is a comment I read:

heaps

Huh? This blew my mind.

Then the fabulous Reese and I had a short conversation about it:

reese @sparkyfirepants why are logos even included over at istock? ‘component’ artwork is fine. but logos? srsly? it’s bad for everyone.

sparkyfirepants “The real losers, however, will be clients who will not receive the strategic value inherent in a successful design or branding engagement” (this was actually a quote from an article on the AIGA web site)

reese @sparkyfirepants your quote was spot on. (the real losers..). the flip side? maybe a biz unwilling to engage doesn’t deserve success.

sparkyfirepants @reese exactly! And creating logos in a vacuum is all about vanity, not about real communication. Or, you know… people.

Can you tell? I feel strongly about the fact that design is centered around people. People! I feel like Charlton Heston, shouting in Soylent Green:

“SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!”

Great design is about people, not self-indulgent logo art.

On the flip side, what iStock is doing is okay with me.

It’s not only okay, it might be awesome. Why?

Because those of us who center our art businesses on people, who choose to work in a consultative way, will separate ourselves even further from those who sit alone, banging out “logos” that have no purpose and don’t communicate anything real.

Manipulating text and putting together shapes and colors is a skill.

Working with a person or a company to represent them in a way that brings the right customers to their door is an art.


Posted in: sparkyfirepants Comments
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  • Sounds like you've got a solid foundation, Aithene. It's great to not be phased by stuff like this and keep on keepin' on.

    I like iStockphoto, too - I use it and post my work there. I think their logo offering is misguided at best.

    It doesn't affect my business for the reasons I talk about above. The bigger concern is that some well-intentioned small business owners looking to save money on their logo design will be duped by this deal.

    I could let it roll off my back, but i feel I have a responsibility to educate small biz people who don't understand what the value they could be getting by working with a pro. They can't see the effects of a bargain bin logo in the long run, but I can.

    For my biz, I'll be fine. It's about helping someone else's business.
  • David,

    Honestly, I saw the same add (thrice, apparently they've got three of my email addresses in their system)and at no point did it jump out to me as anything that is new or isn't already out there. It did seem a bit odd for iStockPhoto (a place I really like, btw) but just didn't phase me.

    While I was reading your article, I was unsure why I wasn't feeling the same anger you had. I personally don't like any type of commercial 'contest' site or 'stock' logo site. (Pure contests just for fun or perhaps for humanitarian causes are another matter altogether). I think they hurt the artists, demean the clients, and put both artists and clients at risk for various reasons. Still, it didn't phase me.

    It wasn't until I got to the final paragraphs of your article that I realized why. I was already there with you in many ways. The key isn't to sell what everyone else sells, or in the cheapest way; the key is to differentiate yourself. As an artist, you ABSOLUTELY do NOT want the type of client that will pay for art like this. They aren't your market. I realized that a while ago. If you do end up landing a client like this, they tend to be absolutely horrible to work with, anyway. Sometimes real nightmares, impossible to please and hard fought to land in the first place, and to get to pay up at the end.

    So, I acknowledge that they aren't my market, this is not the sandbox I choose to play in, and so no skin off my nose. It actually makes finding my market easier, since they draw the clients I really don't want away from me in the first place.
    .-= Aithene´s last blog ..CI_2-5_Personal Influences & Business Models =-.
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