What is wrong with this picture? Design a logo with an online service

Is it possible to order a decent logo online?

A memorable and effective logo design is like ballet: it seems easy, but it represents thousands of hours of hard work and sweat, research and thought, plus an occasional dose of frustration, distilled in a small and beautiful moment. Within the field of graphic design, logo design is a sub-specialty that demands high prices and for good reason. However, now there are a lot of websites in which, for a nominal price, anyone can order a logo or create one by itself by selecting a set of icons and typographic options, combining and combining the content of their heart.

This development was inevitable, and many professional designers hate the idea that their years of training and experience are not valued by potential clients who think that design services are too expensive and that their children could do an equally good job designing a Logo. It is almost too easy to make fun of all this as a farce of design, etc.

But leaving aside the assumptions: is it possible to order a decent logo from one of the interactive places? We decided to find out.

Design a logo with an online service

I invented a company whose only product is called Cat Crunches and randomly selected a logo design website. He promised four separate logo concepts (although he will only receive one as a final) created by two dedicated designers, with a response time of 48 hours, unlimited reviews and a money-back guarantee. With a coupon offer, the most economical package costs $ 39 (normally $ 149).

In each round of comments, I gave deliberately ambiguous feedback. In an ideal world, when this happens, a graphic designer returns to the client for a quick conversation to clarify and learn what he really expected to see. Because my only option for telephone contact was with a project manager with a very nervous sound working in what looked like a telemarketing room, I never had the opportunity to communicate directly with the people responsible for making my vision come true.

WORKING SPECIFICATIONS

Look and feel: We want to convey the feeling of love for your cat and want to give you the best healthy treats.

Additional comments: Comes in six flavors, provides 12 essential vitamins and minerals, cleans teeth and promotes healthy gums, ingredients from responsible sources.

I added a random photo of my own cat, who unfortunately never appeared in any of the versions of the logo.

Brief description of the business.

Started in a garage in Brooklyn in the fall of 2017, Cat Crunches aims to provide cat owners with a healthy alternative to the highly processed sweets found in supermarkets. We give 15% of the profits to the animal shelters and sponsor the Adopt-A-Cat fairs on a quarterly basis. Each batch of Cat Crunches is baked by hand and packaged in our exclusive cans.

EXPECTATIONS

Based on the information I provided and on the above criteria, ideally, the logo would allude to a cat in some way, perhaps communicate the idea of ​​a crunchy treat instead of a daily meal, and also emphasize a healthy, small batch, socially sensitive environment. I ordered "modern", so I expected to see clean and contemporary looking solutions for the task.

Version one: The aristocrat

This solution was disconcerting from the beginning. Disney's quality of illustration does not fit with any part of the design summary.

Customer request after the first round: Can we try different colors and less, these look like cartoons and a more modern style of letters? Note: it is not only the colors that give this its animation style; It's the style of the illustration. The designer needed to read between the lines what I asked for and what he objected to, to solve the problem completely.

What have I returned? Salmon pink makes an appearance and the typeface has gone from a vaguely thorny serif to a square San. Not more modern, but definitely different. The cat is still the same.

Client's request after the second round: I like the colors more, but the cat looks very feminine. I'm worried that cat owners think that these treats are just for cats. Is there a way to fix that?

Resolution: The Disney cat is gone, replaced by Manikin Nero, the lucky cat amulet popular in Japanese and Chinese cultures. Eh Maybe less feminine, but not more appropriate, in fact, that came out of nowhere, and is not suitable for the brief. Many people associate the color pink with femininity, so the designer could have tried to solve it by presenting another color option.

Version Two: Corporate Cat

Navy blue and garnet are odd-colored options for this project, considering that they are seen more frequently in the conservative pallets used for banking and / or insurance companies. Nothing about the color choices feels organic or related to food, says "cat" or communicates anything about the use of natural and healthy ingredients.

Customer request after the first round: I would like to see what the "Vegan" and "Gluten-Free" looks like in this case, as this is important for our customers. Can colors look more like cat skin? [Note: this last comment was a deliberate attempt to be annoying.]

What have I returned? Vegan and gluten free are now red instead of blue. No other method of emphasis: change of scale, type of letter, position was sent. Comment on the colors of cat fur ignored.

Customer request after the second round: Can we place the "vegan / gluten free" in a small separate burst or bubble? Also, it would be good to try colors that look more like a cat.

Resolution: Bubble half drawn around existing words, with the addition of a background color that is the same value as the red type, so the type basically disappears from the lack of contrast. Second ask to try the ignored cat skin colors. The designer seems to have surrendered.

Version Three: Hello Amoeba Kitty

This was so depressing from the start (boring colors, nasty bobby cat) that I almost did not try to work with it. Even so, hope springs eternal.

Client's request after the first round: Could this one feel more exciting and show how owners love their cats? Maybe the letters are too simple, or the colors? [Note: this is a typically vague type of feedback from clients. Unhappiness is expressed, but no real solid direction is offered.]

What have I returned? I have no idea what happened here. I imagine the designer with six open YouTube windows, sending text messages and placing a hot Pocket in the microwave while talking through headphones.

Request after the second round: this still does not seem to show how you love your cat, maybe it's the color or maybe I need something that says love, like hearts or a hug?

Resolution: Holy crow. That heart is applied like a band-aid without trying to integrate it into the rest of the design. If the solution does not work, solve it in another way. Colors without changes.

Version Four: Peek A Boo

The initial attempt had a playful quality that I appreciated. Although the cat looked a bit like an insect, it seemed the most promising of the four design options.

Customer request after the first round: I think this would look good with funny colors and if the word crunches was not affecting the cat. Is it possible to say "cat" without showing a picture of one? [Note: this was not a direct request to remove the cat.]

What have I returned? The cat is gone, never to return. However, the colors are definitely more "fun". However, the word crunches is still superimposed on the word cat.

Client's request after the second round: the word crunches is still cutting the word cat; can you move it down? (Maybe I should have asked for the restoration of the cat drawing just to see what might have happened).

Decision: So, is this a good logo? Sadly not. The mere fact of filling out a client's requests is not a good design; A designer has to listen to the comments, then think about it and offer better solutions. Most clients do not speak the design language well enough to be able to say what they really want; A designer's job is partly to act as an interpreter, to define and solve the problem and to make suggestions on how to get there. This logo has some worthwhile qualities: the use of a textured typeface that jumps up and down from your baseline for the word Crunches communicates noise and activity, and in general the design feels cheerful, suitable for a pet treatment product. But keening in "cat" is terrible and the word cat is not centered correctly in the crisp.

Why it just did not work

In all four options, there were no actual explorations of other concepts or potential solutions in any version after feedback. Changing small details as a type color or adding a burst to an existing design that does not work tends not to solve the problem. If a client asks to put something in a bubble, it is likely that the designer has to reorganize things, play with the scale and perhaps with a different typeface. What I received were not really new versions, they were only rapid alterations in the first idea. I felt there was no opportunity for designers to play and experiment, try other options like what would happen if ... in other words, the fun part of their work seemed absent.

This is not intended to be a criticism of the talent or skills of the people assigned to my project. It is more an illustration of the basic fact that all the design, and the logo design in particular, is about communication and vision. The designers and I never spoke, but we made comments through an online form, through an intermediary who probably had a dozen other projects that he was doing at the same time. Even in the largest and busiest design agencies, a client always has the opportunity to meet with the people on the design team, hear what they have to say, participate and exchange ideas and collaborate. That's what was lacking in this experience, and that's how I ended up with a pink and lime green logo for my Vegan Crunchy Cakes, gluten-free and in small batches.