Thanks!

Your final solution–a typographic based one–is telling to me in as much as you did try a solution based on “clipart” (technically I see a webding as not quite clipart but it’s typically used as such, true observation). Your actual final product, however, did not use it, the typographic solution was, as you put it, “completely and totally original”…which is, I think, the way it ought to have been.

The webding probably did inform the final design, which I think reinforces one of the overall points indeed.

Thanks for the feedback.

Since I don’t do this professionally I’m not sure how much time other would want to spend on a job like this but 2-3 hours seems pretty reasonable even for the most budget squeezed customer.

I have to agree with this article. Clip-art may be good for inspiration but shouldn’t be used as a subsitute for custom design.

Not every designer can solve every problem for all clients. We can’t be all things to all people, no matter how much we want to.

It certainly does take generosity and a spirit of helping the little guy (which I endorse, being one of the “little guys”) of which I approve. But giving someone professional services at whilst cutting corners to do so might seem like a favor but in the end you’ve given a low-quality solution to someone who deserves better and you’re selling your services cheaply which does nobody any favors.

I have a car which may or may not develop problems. I don’t always have the money to spend to get those problems solved, because I can’t afford the top of the line mechanical service. That doesn’t oblige the mechanics to cut thier rates or cut corners so that I can afford them.

Given the notional client with a tiny budget I have the choice; consent to help them for the price they can afford or not. If I sincerely feel that I can’t help them, then I would pass on that client. If I did take the job, I suppose I’d do something simple and direct, maybe typographic or the simplest of sketches.

Nobody expects professionals like lawyers, doctors, or auto mechanics to cut thier prices and service quality to make them accesable to people with small budgets. Why are designers expected to give it away?

Moreover, if you adapt clip-art to create a solution for someone with a microscopic budget, you aren’t any more or less a designer necessarily. Being a designer requires a certain point of view and awareness of things. What you are, and sorry for the bluntness, is a not very good designer.

But the point is, never never use clipart. No matter how much they pay, they’re paying for our original thought, whether they know it or not. If we don’t give it to them, I think we’re not giving them a sweet deal, I think we’re stealing from them.

I was surprised at my own thoughts on the subject; after looking through what I looked through I was surprised to find some of my own attitudes about stock changing.