Design process defended in Sunday Herald by Drum editor
There have been calls for Marque to hand back some of the £95,000 it received for the Glasgow 2014 logo, but The Drum's editor Richard Draycott says in an article in today's Sunday Herald that it should keep every penny.
It is only when you spend time talking to designers, such as Mark Noe at Marque, that you get an insight into how deeply designers delve into every detail of a project and how much time and resources they invest researching a project, understanding the brief, defining what their work needs to communicate, developing initial concepts, rejecting others and re-working concepts, that you understand why design projects such as these often cost what they do. The finished logo is just one part of a long and often complex process – one that, in this case, began almost a year ago.
To even suggest that the logo itself cost £95,000 demonstrates the enormous lack of understanding. That £95,000 will most likely cover pretty much everything from brand guidelines to application of the brand. Margo MacDonald was quoted as saying: “I know that when the SNP designed their iconic logo back in the Sixties, it cost them about £12. That would seem to be about the right price.”
This is laughable. We need a more informed debate on topics like this, rather than one characterised by lazy journalists looking for a bit of sensationalism or soundbite politicians jumping on bandwagons.
Mark Noe himself admitted that the identity is static in its current form, but it comes alive in exciting, different ways, so perhaps we should consider judgement after the designs are in use?
Also, the allegation that the identity looks like a previous identity is not actually all that surprising. Why would anyone ever expect a design consultancy not to draw on work that has proved immensely successful for their clients in the past? Isn’t that what a client is actually paying a design specialist for? To draw on their own design experience and to apply that experience for them in new ways.
If not then, maybe the Commonwealth Games marketing committee could have paid a student £12 to tinker around with a Mac and crank out a logo. Surely good design adds to the value of a business or an event? I am confident that by the time the runners are under starters’ orders in 2014, that £95,000 will seem like a bargain.
To read Michael Kelly's arguments for a refund click here.