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I need help with wrap design

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Ha Ha! I knew you would recognize him! He's actually one of the top landscapers in the area and has several vehicles, trailers, etc. He has ADHD and changes his mind every year.


Actually, I was referring to the kick start guy in saying that. However, I think I do rememebr this one before, too.
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
Sign makers have traditionally (and significantly) undercharged for logo design work. It takes time, much thought, and much knowledge and experience to do this type of work with any degree of professionalism. Good graphic designers charge for the value of their work. I would figure $2k would be a realistic minimum for a thoughtful, well researched design. Add to that the cost of coming up with a name, tagline, and the application of the logo to a company's overall branding strategy and the costs can go much higher. When you consider the value of a competent branding identity package and how when properly applied it can leverage profits for the company now and well into the future, cheaping out at this formative stage can have significant negative consequences.

You wouldn't want to shop for the cheapest doctor or lawyer if your life is in their hands. Same with your company that you will spend your working life trying to build into an asset that you can live comfortably on both now and in retirement.

If for whatever reasons you insist on going the cheap route, companies like LogoMagic are competent and way better than using DALL•E or Fivver (or a friend's kid brother who has a copy of Canva).

Seems more like any other skill such as playing the guitar. Some are great at it, some are average and some suck but it's not inherently difficult if you have the ingrained skill. As for cost on these branding and logo packages, you are paying for a lot of fluff with all the fancy pages saying do this, don't do that, margin spacing, transparency usages etc etc. It's a lot of obvious design 101 things spelled out to make the customer feel like the $20k they spent on a $1000 logo and collateral concept was worthwhile. The worst part is, what you pay does not always guarantee a satisfactory result and I believe that is why a.i. logo creation is hot right now. Too many people are overcharging and underwhelming for this sort of thing. Not knocking anything here, I'm just saying it's a talent you have or you don't, it's not like building the space station.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Sign makers have traditionally (and significantly) undercharged for logo design work. It takes time, much thought, and much knowledge and experience to do this type of work with any degree of professionalism. Good graphic designers charge for the value of their work. I would figure $2k would be a realistic minimum for a thoughtful, well researched design. Add to that the cost of coming up with a name, tagline, and the application of the logo to a company's overall branding strategy and the costs can go much higher. When you consider the value of a competent branding identity package and how when properly applied it can leverage profits for the company now and well into the future, cheaping out at this formative stage can have significant negative consequences.

You wouldn't want to shop for the cheapest doctor or lawyer if your life is in their hands. Same with your company that you will spend your working life trying to build into an asset that you can live comfortably on both now and in retirement.

You said you're good and the other guys are better. Granted they use good snappy color combinations, make good use of positive and negative space, Weight of copy is pretty spot on and components are well placed for good viewership. However, their layouts and designs are using ideas from the 80s and 90s. It's not like a tuxedo never goes outta style, but subject matter and composition need to stay with the times. Long before the internet and instant knowledge of what's going on around the world in just about any subject, there was an old school of designing logos and branding packages. West coast vs. East coast. A good design agency would buy the books and stuff from the west coast while they did the opposite. No one ever saw what the other was doing and things remained mighty fresh for decades. Then, come along the internet and that all went down the tubes. Now, it's stuff from around the world and if you don't stay fresh, you're sunk in this business. Somebody trying to collect on 30 and 40 year old artwork, well, it's just like some sucker buying an old vector set of CDs. Worthless, that's all it is.

Granted, some things never go outta style, as you can see in the songs and stuff I post in the Boudica thread. Songs from 100 years ago are still great to listen to.
 

Stacey K

I like making signs
Well, to be honest, this guy has used the blue rectangle with white block letters and everyone in the area knows him simply by the blue rectangle on his trucks. Blue rectangle on all his apparel, etc. He is the only landscaper that doesn't have green. I think it's a smart move - he stands out. I'm not keen on this new river design but I'll see what happens. My other customer has only red trucks (except for one) and they have so much stuff on them it's insane but again, everyone knows from a distance who it is without reading a word.

No matter how cheesy the design or the logo, if everyone in the tri-county area recognizes you from a distance without having to read a single thing on your truck - you've done your job.
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
You said you're good and the other guys are better. Granted they use good snappy color combinations, make good use of positive and negative space, Weight of copy is pretty spot on and components are well placed for good viewership. However, their layouts and designs are using ideas from the 80s and 90s. It's not like a tuxedo never goes outta style, but subject matter and composition need to stay with the times. Long before the internet and instant knowledge of what's going on around the world in just about any subject, there was an old school of designing logos and branding packages. West coast vs. East coast. A good design agency would buy the books and stuff from the west coast while they did the opposite. No one ever saw what the other was doing and things remained mighty fresh for decades. Then, come along the internet and that all went down the tubes. Now, it's stuff from around the world and if you don't stay fresh, you're sunk in this business. Somebody trying to collect on 30 and 40 year old artwork, well, it's just like some sucker buying an old vector set of CDs. Worthless, that's all it is.

Granted, some things never go outta style, as you can see in the songs and stuff I post in the Boudica thread. Songs from 100 years ago are still great to listen to.
Some people like shitty music too, just like design.
 
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