Today's post will be illustrated by examples of egregiously bad logo design.
Later this morning I'm off to LA to potentially pick up a freelance job. Even with my new, positive attitude, it's becoming increasingly difficult to work up much enthusiasm for my chosen profession. A hundred bucks here, a hundred bucks there, it's not so much a career anymore as it is a hobby.
The point was driven home a few months ago when I was working in-house for a local Bako agency. One day the receptionist came in and asked me if I could show her how to arrange type around a circle. I said sure and followed her back to her desk where up on her screen were the makings of an absolutely atrocious logo.
It was for "Western Pools, Inc." She had all the expected cliché icons - the curly, sky blue waves, a silhouette of a diver and... a cowboy hat (It said "western", after all). Everything was downloaded for free off the web. She had them placed randomly in a group and she was now going to encircle them all with swirly cursive type that looked like it came off Barbie packaging.
It was awful.
I assumed it must be for a relative or a friend, but when I asked her she said "No, it's for a client".
"It's just something I do on the side. You know, a hobby."
Like scrapbooking or canning peaches.
It was then the realization hit me. This girl isn't a wannabe graphic designer. She's my competition! And she has more clients than me!
I keep thinking that ultimately quality will win out, that my experience and skill have to count for something. A few weeks later she told me the pool client was thrilled and she'd actually gotten more work because of it. I wanted to go home and throw up.
But still I plug away, swimming upstream against the current. I really don't know what else to do.
(The logo at the top is generally considered one of the worst logos of all time. It's for an institute specializing in Asian studies, but it would appear to be... something else.)
