Forbes calls designers snooty?
Posted by Shawn Borsky - The Boss | Filed under Anthem, Around the Office, Logos & Branding
Forbes comments on the creative community.
Normally, I am pretty chill about magazines when reporting on subjects they do not understand. But, I feel like I need to comment on this article by Forbes, because
a) Forbes is a respected (and well branded) magazine.
b) They seem to have missed the point, since they take advantage of such creative services themselves!
I first saw this on David Airey’s blog, a fantastic logo designer in his own right. I am reiterating a lot of what he posted and most of the design community agrees with.
Essentially, this is not a new problem. Speculative work has been an issue in the design industry for sometime. see the NO!SPEC movement.
Forbes has posted a poorly researched and unbalanced look at the subject. Are we supposed to be okay, with people telling us that design and development is easy and that anyone can do it? As many have said similarly, having Microsoft Word does not make you a writer anymore than having Photoshop makes you a designer. The design business is an industry that requires expertise and skill to excel in, and it is highly valuable. Why is it ridiculous to ask a fair price for it?
Look at Forbes themselves, I guarantee that did not get their brand, commercials, and website for a couple hundred dollars or before they signed a contract and retainer. It’s almost a double standard.
This article states that
“Now if you live in India or Peoria you can buy a computer and sophisticated software for a little bit of money and compete with big agencies–and they don’t like that.”
That’s amazing, I would love to know how you can get sophisticated design software for “a little bit of money”.
We are not a “big agency”, but I can tell you that I don’t like it either. CrowdSpring is based on the concept of essentially hundreds of designers working and 1 getting paid. I apologize, agencies like us are definitley at a disadvantage because we pay our designers for their work.
I am mostly reiterating posts made by the design community but I think it is important that people realize that this is not an acceptable way to do business.
Here is a great post on the Logo Factory’s blog
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