There has always been negative opinions about every new school of thought, invention or innovation.
In the 16/17th century, Copernicus and Galileo were persecuted for purporting the universal truth that the Sun is the centre of our solar system but not the Earth. Some religious leaders condemned their heliocentric view of the universe, but by 18th century the Copernican view of the solar system was almost universally accepted.
Some skeptics avoided using locomotives when they first appeared, but now passengers need to book for places days in advance. There was the radio which was banned in most homes because it was feared as demonic — you wouldn’t see any person but hear only the voice and most of the voice was non-religious. And the telephone and the pandorabox, the TV, were condemned as the Devil’s incarnation.
Why am I ranting about the past, you might be wondering.
I happened to come across an article by Gareth Hardy, a brand identity designer and author, who in his The Dangers of Backward Designing which discussed the supposed ‘ill-effects’ of ready-made logo designing. (Source)
He may be true in some cases, but if we look closely at the ready-made designing scenario, we can clearly see that it is not all that dangerous. He drew parallels between a custom-made logo design with a custom-made wedding cake and a ready-made design with a stale doughnut. The comparison sounds good and almost makes us eat that cake.
However, the point here is that the comparison is made between an eatable which goes stale and a design which stays fresh for ages. There are people who get a seven-tier wedding cake for their wedding and there are also people who have only doughnuts for their wedding. It doesn’t necessarily mean that by having only doughnuts at a wedding, people stop the bridegroom and the bride from getting married, nor do they nullify the marriage.
Whether it is a cake or a doughnut, it has to be made by a baker depending on the customer’s budget and color preference, and before ordering a cake, the customers are usually shown a cataloge/brochure containing the best or the most prefered cakes, and more often than not, the customers buy the one most people have already chosen, with little changes, though.
Mona Lisa’s smile, painted about 1503/04, still adores our walls — the original, the duplicates and the fakes.
Art accepts changes but never goes stale:
And if you can’t afford a cake, you buy a doughnut; there is no point in going on an empty stomach just because you cannot afford a cake.
Furthermore, we have tailored suits, custom-made suits and ready-made suits, and there are people who buy and wear the different types of suits depending on the occasion and their affordability. Suppose you were an out of towner and you lost your suitcase, but you needed to attend a meeting the same evening, what would you do? Wait until you had a suit made or buy the best that’s available to serve the purpose? I believe anyone with the right mind would go for a ready-made suit to attend the meeting.
Whether it is the custom-made or the ready-made, the suit has to be made by a tailor; not the customer.
The traditional way of getting your logo and website is not going to die because of the backward designing. It all depends on the need and the budget of the clients. For example at our parent company, SpellBrand, which is a leading branding agency, we help startups and entrepreneurs wit custom branding and design services depending on the budget and requirements.
On our corporate blog over at SpellBrand, we wrote a lot of articles on plagiarism and the ill effects of crowdsourcing, which we recognize as an evil. But ready made designs do not fall in that category – at least if they are created with the right intention and regulated by keen and committed stake holders.
Thomas C. Frohlich and Alexander Kent, in their “The 10 oldest company logos in the world” on USA Today, have made it clear that the logos of certain companies which were custom-made have been changed overtime, keeping only the core visual elements, and also that there have been logos, very few designs, that have not changed all through the decades or even centuries. (Source)
I personally believe in the theory that in our world and in our universe, nothing is static; everything is expanding… moving forward, accepting changes and making changes. For example, the much lauded McDonald’s logo and tagline have had several changes over the decades. (Source)
Furthermore, seasoned designers are nothing but artists who know how to make a design depending on the environment they visualize in their mind, which they have got from their previous customers’ feedback.
On the other hand, not all startups or budding entrepreneurs have ‘deep’ knowledge in designing. Some of the companies may be budget-strapped or may be of three or four partners who cannot decide on one particular logo. In such cases, there is nothing wrong or harm in buying a ready-made logo which represents their company’s core values.
In the present global online marketing, most startups are owned by a single tech or a group of two or three techs, working mostly from their garages or studio apartments. They are techs who may not have enough time, knowledge and money to go for a name, logo and website created by an ace designing agency. Anyone who has had their marketing strategy designed by a professional knows very well that it takes more than just giving out their ideas, mission and target market. (We have seen even the most reputed companies fail at making decisions and policies that work wonders.)
On the contrary, we cannot totally ignore Gareth Hardy’s worrying about copyright violations and plagiarism in content marketing. With about 177 million active websites (about 935,817, *** million registered hostnames as of Sep. 30, 2015, with the clock ticking at the speed of light) and a thousand or more logos being created, sold or bought a day, there is bound to be some overlapping here and there, even after excluding the deliberate malpractices.
Coincidentally, a few weeks ago I happened to do a writeup on the issue of copyright violations and ripoff designs in the medical & health sector: “Healthcare & Medical Facilities: Awful ‘LOGO’ Practices” — Source, in which I pointed out the ripoffs and cautioned the potential buyers to be aware of such unethical practices.
Another important fact we cannot ignore is that even the multimillion dollar international companies which have their names, logos and brand strategies created and executed by expensive professionals are not totally free of the headaches of copyright violations which cost them millions and have their reputation tarnished.
For instance, Apple Corp., Apple Music and Apple Computers have been at loggerheads over copyright issues for a long time now. Apple and Samsung have been at legal battles over copyright violations for decades. The billion dollar companies, especially in the Fashion Industry, spend millions suing one another in courts of law, and, after experiencing the bitter taste of prolonged court procedures, shell out more millions in out-of-court settlements.
The Thin Line between imitation and inspiration:
Here at (Source) we see a number of ripoff logo designs by reputed designers created for top companies. The question of whether they are deliberate creations or unfortunate coincidences is left to the wisdom of the viewers.
“Every designer’s dirty little secret is that they copy other designer’s work. They see work they like, and they imitate it. Rather cheekily, they call this inspiration.” — Aaron Russell & “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” — Albert Einstein. These are the Quotes found in ‘Graphic Design Rips Offs or Inspiration’ by Joseph Cass, a freelance graphic designer & founder of Just Creative — Source.
We are given a different way of looking at copying or inspiring at: Source.
With ReadyBrands™, the clients/customers are assured of zero credibility gap. Each brand name is checked and cross-checked to ensure quality and uniqueness. There are unique names if you want only names, there are a number of genuine registered domain names and attractive website designs to choose from too.
