Designers have been urged to boycott a competition to design an identity to mark the 21st anniversary of gay festival Manchester Pride.
The organisation had issued an open invitation to the industry to create a brand that can be used across all the festival’s promotional material including the main stage, which this year will feature artists like Chicane and Beverley Knight.
Festival director Jackie Crozier was quoted as saying the team were hoping to see a “distinctive design that captures the spirit and essence of Manchester Pride.”
In return for this effort the winning designer will receive £500 and two VIP tickets for the festival’s Big Weekend which takes place at the end of August.
But said one Manchester designer: “Please, fellow creatives, boycott this outrageous bun fight for scraps from the table. By any rules £500 is below a pittance for a rebrand. By these rules its plain offensive. If ever there was a misnomer then 'Pride' is it - don't devalue design!”
Said another: “Manchester Pride is based in the next office to Design Initiative, the body that promotes design in the North West. Perhaps they should pop next door for advice.”
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UPDATE
Manchester Pride festival director Jackie Crozier has replied, saying: "Manchester Pride is a registered charity and, as such, we have to use our very limited budget wisely. This includes spend on branding the event.
“We are a not-for-profit organisation and have donated £895,000 to local LGBT charities and groups across Greater Manchester since 2003.
“We ran a similar competition in 2008, which was very successful, with almost 100 entries. These ranged from amateur to professional designers. As a result, we then built a strong working relationship with the winning designer, who then delivered the concept for 2008, 2009 and 2010.
“The information provided on our website offers guidance to those wishing to enter the competition. It is hoped that we would build a longer term relationship with the successful designer and in turn we envisage that this individual/collaboration or design agency would then be contracted to deliver the design element for this year’s Manchester Pride, one of the UK’s most prominent and successful Pride events.”
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Outrageous hi-jacking of Iwo Jima conflict to promote a bloody festival.
There were six Flag Raisers from Easy Company who had been fighting for four days. And four of them (Bradley, Hayes, Sousley & Strank) would soon be among the dead.
Shame on you, Jackie Crozier.
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Submit a design or don't. It's a simple choice. If you are offended by the £500 prize, don't bother. If the money isn't the motivation, fill your boots. Sheesh.
The point is that if any of us were any good we wouldn't be on the Drum website.
The fact that they need to pay anything for the re-brand shows how little the work of the charity is appreciated.
Maybe they need some gay whales or puppies to stir the juices of the benevolent.
I'm up for it and I'll bung the money back to charity, but then I'm so decent I actually make my self sick some times.
Erhhmm Gordon please refer to your t&c's. Editor's Inbox content must be accurate and truthful. Obscene, offensive, defamatory, illegal or otherwise negative comments of people, companies, organisations or brands is strictly forbidden. This service is intended for press releases and news relevant to the readers of The Drum website and should not be used for excessive linking. Users and content found to be breaching these terms will removed and may be refused future access.
As much as I agree, people will still do it, out of work designers, graduates, etc.
Tight arseholes.
I know money is tight all around but this is disgraceful, I know how much they spend on 'VIP's' and the whole backstage so they can well afford to pay properly for a new brand.
Very poor indeed - trying to get something for next to nothing is a fucking disgrace.
Pay peanuts...
They're obviously aware that by browsing the web there are oodles of so called designers offering design and web services for 25 quid, so spending £500 may seem a good investment for them.
Unfortunately with so many devaluing design by offering a cheap and cheerful service its inevitable that many who don't understand that good design is an investment will start thinking that this sort of spend is the norm, particularly in the current climate. Good luck to them!
PS. I'm currently offering a full branding service including website with stationery and brochure thrown in for £499..... Bargain!
I've got a great idea..why not give the project to a gay design agency so they can do it for nowt and stop all this arsing around!
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Yeah, I agree with you all. Why don't we organize a campaign to try and put this charity out of business. That will teach them for not paying us greedy capitalist pigs an overinflated sum to help publicize their important cause. How else are we suppose to afford our iPads and Audi TT's?
You bunch of fucking idiots.
People who run charities are often paid six figure sums. They're paid lots of cash because of experience, ability and qualifications. To suggest that design professionals are 'greedy capitalist pigs' for wanting paid a fair rate for their work is naive and foolish. You fucking idiot.
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Horses for courses kids. If you think it devalues your work simply don't bid for theirs. Just don't be so blinkered as to presume that £500 for a logo and the profile mileage it generates for some, might actually represent good business. By the way, capitalism currently resides on a very delicate precipice - everything is devalued. Climb down and crack on.
May I recommend 99designs.com
There are over 80,000 totally exploitable Bangladeshis willing to peddle their design abilities for any cause. Even the homosexual community in a distant secondary city several thousand miles away.
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Horses for courses kids. If you think it devalues your work simply don't bid for theirs. Just don't be so blinkered as to presume that £500 for a logo and the profile mileage it generates for some, might actually represent good business. By the way, capitalism currently resides on a very delicate precipice - everything is devalued. Climb down and crack on.
why not just spend half an hour on shutterstock and bodge some shite together with a 'grade A' rationale and hey presto an olympic style logo will appear. £500 for half an hour work is pretty sweet for me. I'm off now... watch this space losers!!!!!
Would anyone like to enter a competition to see who gets the privilege of building me a new house? £500 to the winner. Great opportunity to showcase your work and 'develop your skills'. Sheesh.
I think it's a great idea. Designers work long hours and get paid peanuts by agencies (who usually get a big fee from the client). Why not design an identity and bag £500?
How ironic. A load of handbags over a Gay Pride logo.
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Has the Drum not moderated any of these comments? Offensive, homophobic, trash. Please sort it and next time do a better job.
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I agree with Michael Fraser that some of the comments here are offensive. However, I disagree they should be removed. I know Michael is not advocating we shoot the messenger here, but he seems to be saying the messenger should only tell him what he wants to hear - which is just as bad. The fact is the industry is still homophobic, as is society at large; and simply insisting the media does not reflect that reality, does not change that reality. That's why it is important organisations like Manchester Pride do a good job. And I would suggest they would do a better job if they invested in professional communications.
I fail to see Michael Frasers point regarding homophobic comments - or is he suggesting the use of 'arsehole' is by default homophobic.
Or is he saying, that it is wrong to criticise any minority group. So if it was a race relations charity which this was about, would all criticism automatically be bracketed as racist!
There are to many people in this world who get up in the morning determined to be as offended as possible, as often as possible, about as many things as possible - I think Michael is one of those.
By the way, I would imagine there are a number of people who find the stereotypical gay parodying of a war monument dedicated to the brave men who died at Ui Jimma fighting for the freedoms we all take for granted, somewhat offensive.
The comments here are criticism's of an organisation looking to get something for nothing - the fact it is a gay charity is irrelevant to those of us who's heads are not wedged up are own arses.
I wonder what Colonel Frank Fitz of the US Marine Corps would have to say about this?
His son would certainly have an opinion...
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