Can you have too much of a good thing? Eat too much cake and you might get sick. Exercise too much and you might hurt yourself. Listen to the same hit song over and over – you’ll never want to hear it again. The same goes for graphic design. The following article illustrates what NOT to do: these overdone and overused logos show that too much of a good thing can quickly become something awful.
If overdone design were a brand, its poster child would be the “V-Man.” This gender neutral humanoid comes back over and over again in different shapes and sizes. The notorious V-people come in packs, flocks, and families, child and adult sizes. Health, social media and other service oriented businesses are ripe for the V-man trap, but don’t be fooled – there are many ways to represent these businesses without giving into the clutches of the V-people.
Here are a few examples of designs that represent similar ideas in a different way:
Globes, both the 2-D and 3-D versions, are also dangerous territory. Used over and over again in different forms, with different letters, swooshes and arcs, the globe falls of short of giving a brand the unique feel that quality graphic design should.
These travel company logos avoid those pitfalls and show that the global theme can be implemented uniquely:
There is a host of other overdone and overused designs that should be avoided. The ones displayed here have a variety of characteristics but all share the same shortcoming: they simply do not have the individuality and emotional characteristic of excellent logo design.
Marketing and communications companies often are represented by some of those overdone designs. On the other hand, the two designs below show how a little bit of creativity can turn a boring concept into something unique:
Graphic design isn’t about using empty, overused symbols! It is about giving life to a client’s vision, creating something with a conceptual purpose – building a brand. It’s about applying your talents to create design that a client couldn’t get anywhere else. Before starting your next project, keep in mind that the more original your work is, the more value you give to the client and the more you stand out from your peers.
the sad true is that many contest holders choose these silly logos. So there’s a question: why work so hard when many designers are winning so many contests with those listed above?….:(
I can only agree..this should be primary intended for contest holders!!
We completely agree — this article was intended for both designers AND contest holders!
Cheers!
AMEN
long Discussion I have ever seen… ;)
I myself have noticed a lot of designers submitting the generic ones listed above (I say generic because they don’t go beyond this) and the weird part is CH’s actually like the designs…I wouldn’t be surprised if they came across a logo exactly like there’s and then blames the site. But then again even the site itself is slacking up because I was in a contest where the last minute designers came in and copied the basic concept and layout of another designers work and got to keep the design in the contest. whether or not it had less squares etc wasn’t really a factor, the fact that they came and took another designers hard work and gets away with is is beyond me. It’s really up to the site to pay more attention to these kind of designs and send those designers flagged warnings and removal of the designs. I say these post here should be for Ch’s upon signing up, to let them know that those kind of designs will be removed etc etc.
PLEASE paste this post somewhere where it can be seen by contest holders before they open a contest…
somewhere where they must see this prior contest opening…
thanks a million…
yeap… this right… CH must to know, that those logo has overdone and overused, so, they can pick a winner with a different logo.
thanks
yes agree!
this is what so sad about designers, sometimes they are forgot that they’re designers, using this overdone and overused logo and won contest is not making you a designers. modificators is the right path. pardon my English.
hope designers can be more original, is not about money that worth to make a briliant idea, it’s about passion in designing, and how we can respect art and design process.
i don’t care if my original design get eliminated, but it’s important for my portfolio, professional client will see a concept behind the design, not looking for overdone and overused logo, so i keep going even got eliminated million times. :)
it’s a happy feeling when you can make something special rather that won and see the porto full of overdone and overused designs.
yea, why not include it in “must see” before opening a contest…
I wish there was an agreement for the contest holder not to use those kind of logos before they start a contest..
We do provide a lot of educational material to contest holders throughout their contest…
Just as with everything else… some people read it it… some people don’t.
All we can do is keep pushing it on both sides of the market.
Cheers,
Jason
That is true!
And that is why talent should be more expensive, I guess. ;)
The worst part is trying to explain to contest holders (and clients elsewhere for that matter) how important it is to avoid representing themselves with a boring logo like these, only to be told it’s their money and they’ll do whatever they want with it. “Leave the contest or fall in line with the sheep…” sigh, humans.
UNFORTUNATELY, most of clients didn’t care about this. They didn’t see the ‘overdone n overused’ aspect because they only see this element for one time (when they held a contest). Not like us, saw these kind of logos many times. After got a logo, they didn’t care anymore about this issue.
——-
“What Not to Do: Overdone and Overused Logos”
Q: Is it really ‘what not to do’?
A: Not really. It needs more than $200 to make something brilliant. Do overdone and overused logos, make some variations (to avoid being suspended), then CH will pick you. CH love these kind of logos. Believe me.
Q: Is this article useful?
A: This article is overdone and overused.
Q: Why?
A: Look at the examples. The author can’t provide other samples of overdone and overused logos. This article is super re-post. If this website is 99authors.com, the author of this article will be successfully suspended.
Q: So could you rate this article in 1-5 stars if 99authors.com team didn’t suspend the author?
A: This article is eliminated.
Cheers!
:)
hahahahahaha… :D
Hi Twenty Nine,
Feedback1: Money doesn’t weigh the brilliance of design. $200 vs. $1200… your concept and design are the same. If money sparks your creativity, you aren’t a designer.
F2: This article showcases overdone and overused designs… so yes, I guess this article IS “overdone and overused.” Ironically, if this article is perceived as overdone then its purpose has been fulfilled — viewers angrily leave the page and banish all designs and content from their minds.
F3: Again… an overdone and overused article tends to look overdone and overused. The fact that you’ve compared the writing to 99authors.com proves that we’ve provoked the correct emotion… anger at ANYTHING that’s overused.
F4: Great… all overdone and overused sources have been eliminated.
Hopefully we won’t have to use the words “overdone” and “overused” again… it seems we are all OVER it.
Hi Allison Stuart,
F1: You are right. I am not a designer. I just love to collect money using my hobby. What is my hobby? Designing. And I have enjoyed my hobby for 6 years. And I feel it is okay at least till this moment. I have my own idealism. You have your own idealism. Mine and yours are different. Is it a problem for you?
F2: Maybe I have to tell you in detail that the “overdone and overused” things are not the article theme, but the samples. Can’t you provide the “overdone and overused” samples without those “red-black” logos?
F3: Great! Now you understand that I am not a fan of overdone and overused logos, too. I am in a neutral side.
F4: Not really great… I said I am in a neutral side. I also don’t agree if these things are eliminated from this world. These kinds of logos are beautiful things. They complete our world.
——————-
It seems we are all OVER it? I don’t think so.
Why do you (especially you who call yourself a designer) really HATE these overdone and overused logos? Why do you want these logos are over? You can’t beat them with your imagination and your creativity, designers?
Why? Why? Why?
Can’t you use your soul as a designer and beat down these overdone and overused logos?
Don’t punish them if they don’t break any rules.
They must STILL keep exist in this world at least until this moment. Why? Because these logo are great. Because the clients love these logos. Because these logo can make a hard competition. And the most important: Because these logos can PUSH the designer’s CREATIVITY over the limit.
If these overdone and overused logos can speak, they will say, ”Aloha designers, can’t you USE your CREATIVITY to beat us instead of REMOVING us from your planet?”
You (especially you who call yourself a designer) don’t need to worry. These overdone and overused logos will be disappear automatically when there is no client want them anymore. When the fashion is down. When the greater designs come up. When the natural selection is work. You really don’t need to worry and discuss it over and over and over. Now designers, please just focus on your talent and start designing instead of grumbling.
Well, I think I just found a new hobby. Writing.
Cheers!
:)
Hi again Twenty Nine,
Thank you for your response, I’m glad you have a lot to say and even more glad you found a “new hobby.” Writing is a good thing :)
Cheers,
Alli
One thing that gets me if your into money your not a designer part! So how do designers pay their rent, bills, make a living if it is not into the money part?
Hosts know what they want and don’t and can care less what you or I think is overdone and overused. And about the little money for great design work, have remember 90% of the designs here will make a huge profit for the host and not the designer that made it.
Also don’t pull out your rears the Nike logo for $70 as the woman who made it had been made rich after the fact from Nike. None of the designers here will ever be so lucky period.
Hi BombardierBob,
I did not mean designers can’t be into money. Of course designers deserve to be well paid, not only are they giving their technical skills (i.e. creating designs in design programs) but are also giving their creative skills (i.e. conceptual ideas that not everyone can do).
What I was commenting on was, “It needs more than $200 to make something brilliant.”
In my opinion, if a designer agrees to design for a company (even pro bono) they shouldn’t be any less creative with the designs just because of price. Once a designer agrees to a project, they should want to deliver an excellent design and service (you never know where that can lead. Maybe not like the Nike designer but you never know what other projects can spring from it).
Time is really the factor when it comes to price. A higher price usually leads to more time being spent on the project… thus better quality. So an argument can be that $200 for a design just isn’t worth enough of a designers time.
BUT, if you are going to take time to design for a company and have your name attached to the design… why not come up with something brilliant or at least original? I definitely think designers want to be well paid, and rightfully so, BUT they shouldn’t compromise their talents and skills.
Hope this clears up my comment a little more!
Alli
I think some of this is a question of ‘you get what you pay for’ or in this case, designers gauging how much value a CH places in their work by how much they offer. I’m one of those who like to give a project my best effort but honestly, when the bills start coming $100 is just not gonna motivate me as much. So while I might enter such a contest, if an obvious or overused concept will satisfy the brief, I’ll probably go for it. If inspiration strikes along the way great, but I’m not likely to invest more than what I hope to gain. I think that’s the reality for most professionals.
that’s true johnny many contest holders are choosing silly logos and hard workers are eliminated..
You forgot one of the holy grail of logo design: “Leaf”
“If money sparks your creativity, you aren’t a designer” Allison Stuart
Love it.
This is really crazy comments. But I do believe the argument is endless. But it is a fact that all designer love to design for 99 design. Whether the motive is not align to ideals of doing (art for art sake) it is still amendable to find beauty in so many ways. Yes some concept are overdone for others but some who are not into art would say it is still great. For me this article is quite helpful and I thank Reese for writing. It gets me to think of my design as well.
Logo for “BagEurope” is not unique. It is copy of http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/help-resfly-saas-app-design-logo-96189/entries/47
WOW! WOW! WOW!
Very nice dude!!
And I will give all of you another SURPRISE!
Logo for BAGEUROPE was created by Sony
–> http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/bageurope-needs-logo-communicate-travel-service-web-107868/entries/10859461
Now, please check the RESFLY logo contest where Lukeruk made the original design of Sony’s BAGEUROPE
–> http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/help-resfly-saas-app-design-logo-96189/entries
Now, what have you got?
YES!! Sony was in there, too! Sony and Lukeruk were in same contest!
And Sony was also a winner of RESFLY logo contest!
So we can say now that Sony just have took Lukeruk’s design and used it in another contest!
And it’s so ironic! Sony just got ‘an achievement’ through this article because of the design that he copied.
Hi Lukeruk,
Someone asked me to reply your comment. Let me explain. It is not a copy of yours. First, yes i was in Resfly contest (and you was there, too), but i just realize now that my design is similar with yours. it’s impossible for me to remember every single design from each designer in every contest i’ve entered, including your design. So when i made the bageurope logo, it’s totally not inspired by your logo. Then what’s inspiring me to create that? Let me explain. The CH of bageurope wanted a logo of bag/luggage (we can see in the brief, i hope the CH’s attachment is still there). Then in the brief we can see:
“bageurope specializes in luggage shipping and provides a door-to-door luggage (and sports equipment) delivery. bageurope assists you and makes your travel experience easier, relieving you from all worries and burdens of your transportation. How does this work? bageurope collects your luggage at home and delivers it to your required destination (hotel, house, business etc.), within the requested time and in line with your travel”
so we know it’s about bag delivery/transport/shipping. so my idea at that time was to combine the bag from CH with some stripe line in it to depict the keywords “delivery, shipping, fast, transportation”. so that’s how my logo was created. By this explanation i hope we can understand that similarity may happens, but the unique implementation and the meaning behind it may different.
i’m sorry if my design bother you. i see it’s similar, but i think it’s not a copy.
kind regards,
sony
Hi Sony,
You did not wrote this article and it is not your mistake why is copy of my work example for unique design in text above, so I except from author of article to replay, not from you . As you see I did not mention your name here so I had no intention to point that you was inspired with my work here on the blog, about that copyright issue I wrote to 99designs staff and I am sure that they can handle with it on a best possible way.
Anyway I appreciate your explanation so I’m wandering can you also explain me this…
My work: https://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/film-production-company-who-made-american-pie-needs-50767/entries/2
https://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/film-production-company-who-made-american-pie-needs-50767/entries/1
Your work:https://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/film-production-company-who-made-american-pie-needs-50767/entries/138
Again, I don’t want to say that you make identical concept as me, with power/thunder symbol made from film strip, I just want to hear your explanation because I am sure that it can help designers community to better understand designers code of conduct as well as this “overused and overdone logos” stuff.
I know my English is awful, I am sorry about that :(
Best Regards,
Lukeruk
When it comes down to it, the concepts in the two designs are essentially the same. At the same time, Sony gave an excellent explanation as to how he came up with it, and more importantly, the implementation for the two designs is very different. That being said, I was unaware of the history around this design and did not intend to create any controversy.
All of the overdone designs shown in this post were unique at some point. They lost meaning and originality after being used over and over again. Lets not let the same thing happen with the “flying bag” concept.
Hi Lukeruk,
thank you for your reply. Actually someone unknown asked me to write some responsibility about that case, and i’ve explained the story and thank you for your understanding. And again for the Thunderstrike logo, my answer is First, at that time the CH’s brief was about : film, thunderstrike, lightening, so all designers have right to develop that, right? including the “lightening film”. But unfortunately the earlier brief is now changed so we can’t see that. The brief is now “No more lightening! Already have great ones”. I think that means there was a lot of lightening in various way. Then second, i wish you can see my private conversation with CH. In there CH wrote me that he liked the film lightening and asked me to keep submitting and developing that. I hope you can understand this.
And Lukeruk, i’m so surprised that the Thunderstrike contest was in August 2010 and you come to me discussing this case now. If i may give you a suggestion, whenever you think your design get copied by other designers or even me, just tell them about that at that time, or you can use “report” button. If you come to someone and arguing about very old story, how can you solve the problem? just finish the case right at the time. Anyway, if people report me and their argument is strong, i will gently withdraw mine. And the last, if you still want to discuss something with me, you can reach me directly via private message :)
Good luck to us all,
By the way, thanks to Filip Reese for this great article :)
Kind regards,
sony
Seriously, if I see one more logo with than same damn curved line tooth in it I swear my head will explode.
No! don’t explode! you will missed a great contest here! :D cheers!
IJWTS wow! Why can’t I think of tihgns like that?
why don’t invent “Overdone & Overused” report button? under the “report design” button?
and have another page rules of this like Designer Code of Conduct? it’s more serious.
i believe people will more aware of this. just an idea :D
You cannot do this. These kind of overdone & overused logos are not violation, unless you find same illustration and implementation.
They are legal. They just…….. overused.
:)
You can’t really educate a client about overdone&overused logos in an online crowdsourcing contest situation.It’s also almost impossible to REALLY find out what their core strenghts and values as a business are as you would in a real world, one to one situation.It’s in the nature of these online contests.Don’t forget, clients coming to these kind of sites in hopes to get their new logo designed most times only pay a fraction of what it would normally cost if they would go to a real agency so its only natural these clients not always have a sense for whats best for them.And as said, it’s hard to educate them in an online contest situation – and why should you, if they only pay pennies in comparison anyway..
sign by history – history by sign, some times i think created new idea but in outside any same idea before my idea and i dont know that. But i agree with this articel :)
The fact is, the V-man has won so many contest on this site it is ridiculous. NOT THE CONCEPT OF THE V-MAN. THE EXACT SAME V-Men. Nothing added nothing original. The ONLY difference is the color. Which to me isn’t a difference. If it is not public domain (ie the wifi symbol), it IS STOLEN & it IS ILLEGAL. It’s no different than turning the McDonald’s arches upside down, changing the color to red and trying to sell it to Wendy’s as their “NEW” logo. The only people who rely on overdone and overused logos are those who lack talent and are only here for monetary gain.
I like this article, it wider my view on logo type which were “overused” however i personally agree with Twenty Nine, why would you so worried about those “overused” logo?if the clients loved them so much, so what?beside you with your creativity can make tons of variations on it, which could be more unique and timeless than the original one.
If i may correct the word of “overused”, i’d prefer said it “trend” just like fashion, hair style, gadget design, interior design etc. So in my opinion you can not blame the clients/Ch-s if they’re get into the “trend” more than other style nor designers to use those “trend” over and over again with their own modification and variations to gain the clients/CH-s award. It’s natural guys, that’s life though. You may check out this site to over view the “you so called overused logo” (which i prefer said “trend”) http://www.logolounge.com/article.asp?aid=nfT
Anyway “trend” will come and go or even recycled, time who will end those “trend” and replace it with new one which might be used over and over again. So just follow the flow while improve your creativity in thinking outside the box and no more grumbling mumbling on what is happening nowadays. Here is web which might inspired you of “thinking outside the box” http://identitydesigned.com/. Last thing i would say to all of you, IMPROVED YOURSELF AND BE THE TREND SETTER!!
Cheers guys,
edd
similar design why not? different people, different thought but same shape brain… thats diversity in unity… peace
As a CH, it would be great to be sent this once the contest is posted by automatic email. It was pointed out to me by a designer and I am very grateful!
Hi Kate,
YES! We agree and have discussed doing this. Maybe an email could be the first step! Thanks for your suggestion. :)
Maybe this article could be “brought back to life.” Many are still posting cookie-cutter humanoids, even when the CH has explicitly stated “read this article.” By the way, I commend the CH for doing so, and for having some design sense by encouraging submissions to be creative and artful. Something must be done about this clutter. The CHs who rate these high haven’t been shown much else, and don’t look at designs all day like us.
I would love to see some of the designers here commenting on how CH’s always choose overused designs to submit designs for my contest please! I would love to see your originality and interpretation of my logo! https://99designs.com.au/logo-design/contests/energetic-exciting-logo-wanted-gowork-117493/entries
Look at this contest being “attacked” by V People designs!!
http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/help-fit-life-logo-121853
Screw those pointy people… and screw those who love them…. and screw twice a day those who make them.
Truth is, regardless of how overused a symbol is, if the CH likes it, there is no way an original, creative design is going to be even noticed. The CH has eyes only for the overused element and nothing is going to change that. If you don’t do it, someone else will, and walk away with the contest prize. So what would you rather do?
Look at the number of entries on $500+ contests and compare them with the number of entries in the $150-200 range. I am sure you will notice the huge difference in numbers. So obviously, cost is a factor for both CH and designer. I can imagine the number of creative designers who will work on a $10 contest, if there was one!
The benefits of creativity are far and few between, while the tried and tested road of overused elements is more likely to hit the mark.
My work mode is to present the CH with a couple of interesting concepts. I wont say original, because almost everything you can think of, someone did it already. We just try to make it better and unique in someway. If the response is lukewarm, the CH WANTS V-men, I-men, X-men, globes, swooshes,leaves etc. I have withdrawn from more contests than I can count for the very same reasons, but then you learn the way of the jungle :) and survive.
Totally agree. 90% designers use these crap ‘ready to go’ logos adding a smoothy 2.0 font in orange, green or blue color. Sad but true.
Gotta love the “designers” who have more than 50% of their work based on orbs . I’ve seen almost all of them . They have allot of winning contests but when you look at the logos they have in the portofolio just do one thing . stripp the logos in your mind of all the gradients , shine , shadows and collor and what do you have ? A simple minded logo that doesnt say anything . And I am tired of seeing these guys calling themselfs designers . A designer should possess some qualities such as inovation , style , originality , fleur , CREATIVITY . These “designers” on the other hand only know one thing : repeating performance . Yes all their logos look the same , no inovation , no creativity , no originality . They will do this thing till the Orb concept will be replaced by another concept which will be attaked in the same way .
As a first time contest holder, I’m a CH now I guess, I came here to get interpretations of the idea in my head. I am not a designer and I’m not really sure that what I have in my head will translate well into a graphic that will “speak” to me when I see it with my eyes. That is exactly why I rely on your original designs and vision of what you think I am trying to portray. I’d love to see 50 different designer interpretations, and hopefully a couple will come close to my view in my noggin, or blow me away to the possibilities of what I hadn’t even dreamed of.
I almost wish that one all designs were hidden (without paying extra, on a tight budget) so that the ideas would be independent and without bias or influence from other designers.
Perhaps this has nothing to do with the thread topic, and I’m just thinking outloud.
There is just about 24 hours left in the preliminary round of my contest…If you are interested in giving it a go, please do. Read the brief and additional comments and try cover your screen so you aren’t swayed by the already submitted entries. Good Luck, in all your future design work.
Hi,
this doesn’t answer the question about generic design, the design that has been posted where character design or food design.
can you show us design which are not generic but regularly being held by the project holders
exmaples are:
real estate, leaf design, it computer, high tech logos, charity church, people icon
please give us samples at the blog which shows leaf design but it must be shown not generic and it must be shown in simple design
over design or over decorative design is usually not favorable by project holder
it’s hard to have a simple design which are not generic
and
please have a system, this still confuses many designers
sometimes a design is not generic for them but generic for others, give us a useful tip or something we could based, or a criteria of judgement if we have overuled the rules
give us specific rule, SPECIFIC, not generalise rule.
I think this link article should be posted automatically in general comment in every logo contest. Sounds stupid idea, i just want to see the respon from contest holder :D
agreeeeeee with this one,…
Há tempos que eu vejo que os logos hoje são todos parecidos, as pessoas pagam barato, por uma ideia que não valem isso, ai se torna caro, infelizmente
https://99designs.com.au/logo-design/contests/create-next-logo-infinity-wealth-solutions-147688
So many logo contest entries are repeats from other contests or variations of stock icons etc you can find on the net. 99designs should have open and frank conversations with CH, asking them what they like etc prior to taking their money.
If they like stock stuff online, then they should be told to go buy that stock logo.
I enter few logo contests simply for that reason and dont have the time to report 70% of the designs copied from the net or from losing contests entries.
As well CH should be told about feedback etc and sign the contract stating that they will provide timely feedback and ratings.
Sorry if I am just repeating the above.
Hi Frank,
Thanks for the feedback! We not only have a team dedicated to handling copyright issues but also a team of Customer Support Representatives who guide CHs throughout the whole process — this includes explaining the importance of feedback and their brief.
In regards to stock, as you can imagine, it’s hard to stop every single case — it’s great to have the community’s help. There are certainly future projects that will address this as well.
Cheers,
Alli
I agree completely! But, as a contest holder, how does one really give the right kind of pointers to the designer as feedback. Any tips? A lot of the designs I have received have these same images an I have even mentioned to the designers that I have seen these figures in circles, or triangles and so on before.
Hi TaranP,
Great communication is the key component when running a contest. First, stress to designers that you do not want generic images. You can do this by not only stating it in the comments and brief but by eliminating ANY designs that look generic.
Pushing concept is important and the more direction you give, like showing examples of designs you love, will help. You can also browse through all contests by going to 99designs.com/search and look for designers to invite to your contest. Once you find a designer you like, click on their name, then click on their profile link, and use the invite designer link to send a message with a link to your contest. If you have any other questions, want more tips or would like us to extend your contest, please call Customer Support at 1 800 513 1678.
Cheers!
Alli
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and the comments; and just when I was about to leave the page a logo caught my eye that I had just seen with a 4 star rating in a contest I was about to enter.
http://99designs.com/logo-business-card-design/contests/logo-wanted-cofounder-co-166433/entries/68
i want to know something,i don’t know good English.
last night i am report this design
http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/help-local-marketing-success-logo-167220/entries/23
this design have already win many contest,like this :
http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/logo-wanted-king-william-capital-158094/entries/16311742
http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/rsl-venture-partners-needs-logo-152552/entries/15833122
http://99designs.com/logo-business-card-design/contests/smart-building-group-needs-logo-152996/entries/15783246
but 99 said its to generic design.many time i show some designer use this box design and win many contest,but its have any problem ? i really wont to know,when i am avout this type design then others designer use same style logo,and winning.can anyone help me please ?
many thnx
Hi Arif,
The designer’s account has been put on hold. He has been warned for submitting generic work in the past and I see he is not trying to improve it. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Cheers,
Alli
Thank you for your reply . @allison stuart
This situation was a lot like v-man. I think it’s reasonable to say that the CHs who are rating this “work” highly are getting ripped off. If I go to Etsy, for example, and buy something prefab that I believe is original art, that’s widely considered a scam, or ripoff at the very least. V-man isn’t much different.
If the site is called “99 Designs,” it’s about design. Using v-man and slapping a shiny gradient logo next to it isn’t design. It ceases to be design when it’s regurgitated over and over. It’s almost as if there is a “v-man design app.”
I do understand that no creative work is ever “original” in the truest sense. Great artists in painting, drawing, music, film, etc. pull from what they’ve liked. V-man most certainly does not apply there.
Sorry for the 3 comments, but many of us designers are growing tired of this prefab crapola.
hiThank you for your interest
Funny article! All this talk and education for users about practicing good-non-generic designing is a utterly wrong. This article needs to be posted on the customer blog instead. Because apparently THEY are the chaseers/choosers.
Solution: Lets see if the authore really believes in what he/she says. Instead of telling people what to design the author(as a 99d rep) should take ownership and start removing all such generic designs from any contest that has them, weather the CH likes it or not. This would prove the creative holiness his highness uttered in this article.
Result: Would the business model keep running smoothly for 99d if they remove these crappy designs from every contest to bring some quality control in play and finally live up to what the author is preaching in this article?…. NoOo!. Its a low cost model, and “the client is right” in such a model. Thus nobody wants to make life difficult for their clients. If cl likes caca over gold, then a smart business is selling caca.
Reality: These designs are loved by design-illiterate CH, and if anything they need a lot more education than designers here who compete for POSSIBLE earnings by any means.
Conclusion: These designs would exist even though they are generic but as long as their are buyers, there would be sellers. This article was a fair attempt for motivational purpose, but from a business sense it has more to do with those who buy such stuff than those who make it.
PS: I personally puke when I see such designs… but I had to swallow it sometimes too because the buyer liked the filth.
Peace!
I just found out this article and I use the above types with fixed change it, I think it’s like a habit, if we use the design of the type we would have trouble finding a CH type with us, or may only be able to follow one or two contests, I think it can not be applied to all the designers, perhaps because that’s what there are more specific golddesigner pick contest. While I also feel challenged to tame the various types of CH. it just did not seem the type that plagued classical types as well and why not listed?. Maybe if there should be a fixed rule all designers should be notified. Thank you
regards bagus *
One word: Harabara
you do what your client tells you to do period.
About the V-man logo, I must say I designed this logo in 1993 http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/logo/cendiatra-ltda when no was internet, and now I see a lot of similar logos, of course, I’m not saying somebody copy me, but it’s very interesting the topic.
it’s already two years since this article created, and the victory man keep winning the contest.
http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/logo-bright-retirement-206591
again and again, maybe 99 should have portfolio of all winning designs for the contest holder so they know which designs is original.
I hate to say it, but if I’m competing against 100 designers and getting paid $200 and I’m seeing that the CH is giving generic designs 4-5 star ratings, I am not going to rack my brains and spend hours (which I do on my designs) trying to come up with something really original. I’m trying to pay my bills and if the CH loves generic, then that’s what I’ll give him. Reluctantly, but let’s get real. I’ve been frustrated over and over again when I get eliminated and I know my design is better than the winning design. The same goes for other designers. I look at some contests and see really cool stuff and the artists get eliminated and I feel sorry for them because I know they created some great stuff. Another frustration is that the CH will say something in the designs brief and the winning entry is completely different. That’s okay, but feedback would be helpful in a case like that. Another thing I’ve noticed is that many CH seem to choose the winner from the first 10 entries and basically ignore the 200 entries after that. Very frustrating.
I think this is becoming a major issue for actual designers who are applying theire own ideas and embracing the art of design.
Frankly, I’m tired of seeing these “designs” (I use that word loosely), and I’m confident that the many great designers here feel the same way. Quite simply, they are cluttering up what should be a competition of ideas.
I recently submitted to a contest where the contest holder explicitly posted “read this article”,” and people still submitted horrible, generic humanoid logos.
It’s watering down the site, and it seems some are so hellbent on getting A design into a contest, they don’t even read the briefs.
This needs to be weeded out. Sorry.
these overdone and overused logos often win in the competition, it makes me lose direction, we can not change the Match Holder idea, but as a designer, we should reflect on
I have been using 99 Designs for only one week and have seen the same logos repeatedly used in multiple contests. The 3D globe has been used and selected.
Another overused logo is the V with an arrow on one end or V used as a checkmark.
I think all contests should be blind.
Hi Sheila,
Yes – unfortunately clients and designers alike get hung up on these sorts of designs too often.
For you it is only an opportunity to design something with real meaning and set yourself apart from the pack.
As far as blind… it might seem like a good idea to make all contests blind by default but unfortunately it is not that simple. One solution we are considering is to make blind something that is earned… just like trust.
Cheers,
Jason