What is value?
Been having fun with the comments and all the uproar over at Chris Brogan’s blog, centered on the value of logo design. Precipitated by Brogan’s decision to work with 99Designs.com, a sort of designer sweatshop where graphic artists work for free until someone actually chooses their design, the discussion is all about the worth of things artful.
The Nike swoop, for example. When you understand the value that simple mark contains, the controversy is clear. Who can state unequivocally its worth?
A business doesn’t pay for the work it took to produce a logo; it pays for the years of practice it took the logo creator to be accepted as an artist. Just like we don’t pay for the sweat and muscle of a doctor or lawyer, but for their accumulated worth, their years of experience.
Funny thing, though. Every business needs a logo because every business must market itself and be quickly recognizable in the morass of commercial messages. So logos are a vestige of art that is firmly wedged into the fabric of practical concerns. And as Brogan’s post shows, we are extremely confused about how to live with it.
A solution such as that offered by 99Designs is brilliant on many levels. Nonetheless, it offends the professional designers who have worked so hard to achieve the recognition of decent pay for their labors. Art and expediency are mutually exclusive, as a rule.
To rail against the cheap alternative is a waste of breath, though. Whims of the market are no concern of the artist’s. The worth of artwork is entirely in the eye of the beholder; but that’s the case with the value we place on anything. In business, it’s always a question of what the market will pay, what the traffic will bear.
One commenter on Brogan’s blog made the comparison with job sites where writing is offered for a pittance, remarking that writers deal with this same cheapening of their skill that the logo designers deplore. But again, the purchaser sets the standard. As a writer, I don’t feel threatened by the $3 per article third world writers. I know there are enough discriminating buyers who prefer my brand of quality over the cheap imitation.
Perhaps your service or products will be rendered obsolete because the market for your excellence disappears. But when it comes to corporate logos and professional writing, there are still plenty of discerning customers. Will the lowest common denominator eventually prevail? My guess is no, simply because of our basic ambitious nature. Amongst the human race, there will always be those who seek distinction through excellence.
