Comments on: Ode to the amateur logo

By: Richard C.

Richard C. — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:20:24 +0000

This is my first reply in ANY blog or discussion. And I feel compelled to comment: I am an illustrator by education; a graphic designer by trade; and mostly, a marketing professional for small- to medium-sized businesses. What’s missing in this discussion is proper marketing for the business at hand. John McWade touched on it, but a “successful” logo is one that works. It draws prospects in and captures interest. It then communicates essential emotional dialogue so that the consumer wants more information. We, as marketing professionals, are hired to perform, not just provide. Yes, we must educate our clients, unfortunately. But the education is to differentiate between a business’s features and benefits. What’s lacking in both of these examples are the benefits of this therapy. The client is focused on (her) features (horses, sunshine, kids, etc.). The designer is focused on her design’s features (clean, kerned, simple, well-crafted, etc.). What’s missing is the therapeutic benefits of horse riding for emotionally and/or physically handicapped children. Right? This is why, in the agency world, we have creative directors and account managers whose job it is to solve base communication issues with clients and then give the job to the art director, who in turn gives the job to a designer. Ask yourself, are you a designer who designs for the sake of design, or a marketing professional who sees (for their clients) the bigger picture and can communicate concepts? Maybe you’re a production artist following the misled client’s ideas but charging designer fees? I blame art (design) schools for neglecting the “communications” aspect of successful design.

My 2 cents plus $100,000 education plus 25 years’ experience.

By: cyndibrown

cyndibrown — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 19:52:13 +0000

i love your original concept. it is simple, evocative and beautiful. sweet.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:53:31 +0000

And here I was thinking that I was the only designer who went through this wretched process. I’ve designed so many logos that I thought were out of this world, only to have clients say, “I like this font I use in Word — can you use this? Oh, and there was a clip art that is incredible! Can you incorporate that, too?” UGH!

But, as mentioned before, their money spends the same no matter what the design looks like. So I’ve had to learn to try my best to be in their shoes and understand what it is they are trying to say, communicate and do. In the end, it’s their company and, therefore, their choice.

I’m an artist, a creative and a perfectionist, so I’ve realized that what I like is just that — what I like.

My 2¢.

By: Kam

Kam — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 14:16:19 +0000

I’m not a professional designer. As a member of the general public, the two blue logo designs are quite lovely, and make me certain they represent a horse rescue. Maybe a Mustang rescue in particular, given that the horse is running so freely in apparently open land.

Nothing in those pretty logos is even slightly tied to the mission of the client herself, nor even evocative of her activities.

Designers may feel they know best and all should follow their lead, but after reading these posts, it almost seems that they may not “get” how regular people make connections. Surely that can’t be true!

I know that this is an old post, but I was so struck by the reactions to it that I wanted to add an opinion from a layperson.

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:57:25 +0000

Came across this article when looking for “before and after” pictures of businesses that started with amateur logos and hired a professional designer to create a new look. Ended up here, which was the opposite, but I just had to put my two cents in.

I feel that both of these logos miss the mark for different reasons. I can completely and totally understand the idea that the client wants the logo to tell the complete and entire story — that’s what she did. Well, your logo hardly tells the story, unfortunately. I would definitely be willing to bet that you might have come to a compromise that still had a professional look but portrayed more of what she wanted.

See, the use of color psychology could have been used on her. She didn’t know why, but your logo wasn’t giving her the warm and fuzzy feeling she knew she wanted. If you had worked the colors and fonts to give that feeling (and I know that they can), you might have had a stronger concept for her and thus had a better compromise.

Also, to those who say that when you look in the Yellow Pages you won’t know what the other one is for! Are you kidding?! No logo tells the whole story — that’s why people take out ads and actually put content in those ads to tell the whole story. You can easily take a horse logo and make a beautifully designed ad that shows the horses with kids in wheelchairs.

Oh, and the font choice is just the kicker in all of that!

Obviously this is old . . . but really just wanted to put my little words in because I am on a logo-writing frenzy right now.

By: Cliff Wells

Cliff Wells — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:07:14 +0000

Professional isn’t always better. I do like Lori’s design better, but that’s only from a design perspective. If I had a child in a wheelchair, I’d much rather take that child to a personal mom-and-pop operation where they hand-drew their own “logo” than to some take-a-number corporate service. I think that’s the perspective that needs to be considered. It’s not about a pretty design, it’s about impressions.

By: Than Saffel

Than Saffel — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:39:45 +0000

I like the client’s original sketch a lot.

By: Craig Fraser

Craig Fraser — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:06:22 +0000

You have a responsibility to design a professional logo. It is better to lose a client than to lose your integrity as professional. Really, the brand comes first and the client second. You aren’t doing them a favour by creating an unprofessional brandmark, and you aren’t doing yourself a favour by lowering your standards. What a funny world we would live in if the patients hired the doctors, then told them how to treat them.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:55:09 +0000

I understand your frustration, but even your original logo isn’t professional when you consider how much detail you have in the hair and grass. That isn’t simple.

By: R

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:45:22 +0000

You should have gone with a sans-serif font and some warmer colors instead of blue.

I share your same pain with clients wanting ugly stuff. They need to be educated with what is bad and what is good.