Moze
Active Member
With someone posting yet another link to one of those crowd-sourcing logo design sites, it made me think of the transition the industry has taken from hand-painted signs to vinyl signs.
Hand-painted signs requires talent and years of practice and is obviously a SKILLED profession. It still exists but has largely been replaced with vinyl and other materials. While it's a given that hand-painted signs generally look better and have more class, people still by and large have gone the route of vinyl due to lower cost, faster results, the ability to duplicate, and it "gets the job done". Too often, quick and dirty and the bottom dollar is what it comes down to.
Is that where logo design is headed?
Logo's designed by professionals look better, but to the naive and to the mom and pop businesses, these logo design sites are essentially the "vinyl" of the logo design profession. They're quick and dirty, they get the job done, they're cheap and give the customer what they think is a great logo - just how vinyl gives people what they think is a great looking sign and essentially lowers the perceived value of the services offered by sign painters.
There will always be great designers, just like there will always (hopefully) be sign painters, but I wonder if these crowd sourcing sites will become so admired and popular that true designers will become the exception rather than the rule. Or is it already at that point?
Hand-painted signs requires talent and years of practice and is obviously a SKILLED profession. It still exists but has largely been replaced with vinyl and other materials. While it's a given that hand-painted signs generally look better and have more class, people still by and large have gone the route of vinyl due to lower cost, faster results, the ability to duplicate, and it "gets the job done". Too often, quick and dirty and the bottom dollar is what it comes down to.
Is that where logo design is headed?
Logo's designed by professionals look better, but to the naive and to the mom and pop businesses, these logo design sites are essentially the "vinyl" of the logo design profession. They're quick and dirty, they get the job done, they're cheap and give the customer what they think is a great logo - just how vinyl gives people what they think is a great looking sign and essentially lowers the perceived value of the services offered by sign painters.
There will always be great designers, just like there will always (hopefully) be sign painters, but I wonder if these crowd sourcing sites will become so admired and popular that true designers will become the exception rather than the rule. Or is it already at that point?
