The never-ending debate about how premium or unkempt a logo design is, that’s never going to end anytime soon given the subjective tastes of observers and professionals alike. This is not to say there isn’t some merit in this argument. After all, a client needs to pay a designer, and that’s where the costs become a debatable point. This is in addition to the debate we had previously on Professional vs. Mediocre Designers. Do you really need a cheap logo or a stellar professional one?
So we asked industry stalwarts and professionals about how to relate design by its cheapness and expensiveness, and whether costs of designing do determine the quality of the logo.
First up we had Aleksandar Topolac where he takes a stab at why the whole question of cost = quality is the wrong way to approach this debate. He cites examples of other famous logos and their designing costs:
In general you get what you paid for. However, the price tag itself doesn’t determine the value of a logo (or any other design for that matter).
- Coca Cola – $0
- Nike Swoosh – $35
- Gap rebrand disaster – $100 million
The question, as it appears, is not that cut-and-dried. What if a person is working for a non-profit? Here’s what Bruce Hudson, CEO at Enzman, had to say about such a scenario:
Correlation does not mean causality, particularly in the case of elegant logos.
When I have designed a logo for free or close to free for family, friends or a NGO, does the price make it less elegant? I think not.
But why connect costs with quality of work? What about a designer who does work because that’s their passion? Elzo Smid touched on this aspect of a designer here:
The big difference here is like in design, did you only slam some ingredients together, stir and serve? Or did you create something with love and respect for the ingredients, a passion to serve your customer not only a well made meal, but a complete experience.
So what do you think folks? Is the art of logo design in the danger of falling prey to commercialism or as long as there are designers par excellence, the logo as we know it still has the capability to subvert our thoughts and emotions with no heed paid to the money behind it?
