My Idealistic Opinion on : iStock Selling Logos
As to be expected, a revolt of sorts, by creatives of all disciplines, ensued after news announced by iStock that they would be selling ‘ready made’ logo designs. The level of discourse created by such news was pretty intense, and will be going on for some time I am sure.
Idealistic and Philosophical
Rather than add too much fuel to the already blazing fire, thought I would chip in with a more sedate, idealistic and philosophical approach.
This is me taking time to digest all the comments on Twitter, on various Blogs like Design O’Blog, and David Aireys LogoDesignLove. These are all valid points raised by the respective authors. I highlight those two websites so that this post be put into context. This is more of a neutral, “oh well, shit happens.” kinda post. Yes, I do have my own thoughts and views on this subject, but the only ones I share today are as follows.
Thus…
Simply.
These things will happen. They will continue to happen. As designers and creatives, we need to stop throwing our dummies out of the pram everytime something comes along to take away our glory. Yes, it potentially sucks. But life in generally potentially sucks. Things do happen, things do come along in every walk of life to throw us a curveball, be it personal or professional.
Deal with it, have your moan, have a debate. But nothing will usually change from getting your knickers in a twist. Companies like iStock are there to make money, that’s fundamentally it. It may really piss us off, it may be such a travesty to our industry, but frankly we don’t own anything. We don’t own rights to creating or designing logos.
It’s up to us to promote ourselves and our business. To ride over decisions like iStock to sell logos. We can’t rest on our laurels, ever. So what, now you just have to work harder to get yourself known. That’s how it works. That’s how it will always be.
It’s called competition. That’s business. It’s not personal.
Rather than spend 20mins writing a rant on some blog, why not devote that time to marketing and branding your own business?
It means we must now raise the bar higher ourselves. It means we must now conduct our own business in a way to try and sway potential iStock logo customers away. It’s kinda up to you to get your hands dirty when things like this come along.
In summary
So there. :)
Article Posted On: September 25, 2009 at 12.12 pm
Written By
In Categories: Logo design
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17 Comments
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Yep! Agree 100%! Besides… When, as a designer was the last time you hired a photographer to shoot imagry for you last project? And when was the last time you bought a stock photo?
Great point… I haven’t used my photographer for this kind of work in years.
Great advice! Business is business.
It’s really down to how logos are perceived nowadays. They are a cool commodity, that’s always the danger when anything becomes ’so mainstream’ and popular. People will always want a portion of it.
Thanks, Graham.
I actually think there will be a lesson learned — maybe years from now — if we look at the “too big to fail” philosophy of the financial industry and even the global conglomerate ad agencies. The big fish eating the little fish and repackaging junk products to serve a market they “believe” exists.
I, for one, will continue to adhere to my inner voice that QUALITY WILL ALWAYS PREVAIL OVER QUANTITY. Sorry for the caps, but it’s something that I firmly believe.
Graham, funny + well written response. Your comments + advice are well taken. Though I do sympathize with other designers that wholesaling logos is just another stab in the back for our profession. The reality is that our profession of ‘art’ is not taken seriously by many. How many times have you seen posts like this: need logo, $50 good for your portfolio etc. As designers it’s our continual job to educate the benefits of good effective successful design to clients.
Sadly tho, it’s the same with a lot of professions. Logo designers don’t hold the sole right to having their work and profession cheapened by others.
It’s how things are. People will always want to have a bit of the action, even if they are not ideally suited, or offer incentives that totally undermine the qualified/experienced grafter.
Ultimately, one has to look after themselves in order to look after the industry. If you don’t educate your clients, then you have no right to bitch. If you do educate your clients, have an active role in the branding and marketing of your own business, then hats of to you.
:)
Graham:
Speaking as an old signguy, (or signwriter) I struggled with the same issue in my trade. With the advent of automated sign making tools and “sticky letter” franchises popping up everywhere, educating my customers became my nemesis.
After awhile, it became abundantly clear that my average customer just didn’t care that much.
If my price was $3500 for a handcarved gilded sign and the other shop was selling a computer routed one for half that price, the majority opted for mediocre. It’s just the way it is.
I always say, if it weren’t for customers, this line of work would be fun.
I see the same thing happening here. Eventually the marketplace will wonder why I want to charge $1500 for a website when they can buy one for $59. Or why I want to charge $450 for a logo when they can buy one online for $49.
Sure there will be those that still appreciate the talent and will pay, but the majority simply don’t care, and the pond these great customers live in will get much smaller for the amount of design guys angling for one of these prize fish.
I tried an experiment recently to drive traffic to my new site, offering to do custom blog headers for only $27. I discovered soon enough that it’s near impossible to compete with free and that I should go back to real design work in my local market. :)
Sorry for the long response.
Roy
I seen other template/stock sites selling logos and I think it is crap. While I will admit to using some to throw in to templates as examples I would never use one of them to design a logo without having someone put a gun to my head first.
I have to admit, I was one of the bloggers who ranted about this issue the day it came out. The more I think about it, the more I’m curious to see what kind of customer this model attracts. Will it even be the type of clients most designers are accustomed to working with? Or is it the guy off the street who decided to start an online drop-shipping store in need of a quick logo? Clearly, even if the iStock service wasn’t available, someone like that would be looking for a logo quick and cheap anyway.
As I see this unfold, I don’t think I’m going to end up worrying too much until the larger company down the street that I might be doing work for decides to ditch me in favor for iStock.
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Yeah,well, shot really happens. However
It’s up for us to create the quality work and show clients that when you pay for peanuts you sleep with the monkeys…
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I try not to worry about ready-made graphic design products. There are those that will want a custom designed, tricked out sports car and there will be those that simply want a car they can pick off the lot.
I will, however, continue to create custom sport cars for my clients :)
on the other hand…there may be some newly unemployed or underemployed; or generally fed up with the industry after many years of dedication only to be kicked out just short of retirement; financially compromised pros who are going to do what they can to survive. That’s just the way it is.