An interesting exchange.

Here is something i would imagine some people can relate to.

A job from last year that went sour. Things were very heated by this point.

The job started as a small redesign of an exisitng logo. The client had been quote £100 and paid a £40.00 deposit for a redesign of their current logo. this then turned into a whole logo conception and the brief changed twice completely. After reaching the quoted time i contacted the client to explain that in fact what i had quote for wasnt what we were now doing and would need to reassess the work

Client name is confidential.

(My replies are in italic)




I find you email very aggressive. You may have misunderstood me.



Please see below:


first off, are you sure if i reconsider the budget you will do an amazing logo that im happy with? because im not sure about that now.

uve been repeating the budgets in every email instead of actually showing me some work. so far i havent seen anything amazing. i just wonder, does the creativy really depends on the money invested, is that how it works?

You have misunderstood how design costing works. Budgets rely on time spent not on level of creativity. I am merely letting you know that we are close to breaking the budget as over 5 hours having been spent.
There is no guarantee that we will get design you want for a while. I feel the briefs i have been given compared with the feedback and examples given all contradict each other.
My hourly rate is approx £20.00. for clients will smaller budgets. Its not a case of pay more get a better design but budgets do dictate time spent.


i did all you wanted. ive paid deposit. ive competed the form. ive been waiting for LITERALLY a month to do a redesign. so far ive seen only 5 variations and no i dont like any of them. what do u want me to do now? ive expressed all i want and all i dont want. and tried to explain it in more detail. now since i dont like and i can clearly see it turns out its all my fault i dont like anything i have to spend more money now for you to express your creativity in full? what if it doesnt happen?

cus from my side, and my partner's and my fellow designers', i feel my logo isnt really on your priorities list and ur not really looking into providing me some interesting ideas.

I apologise for the delay but feel i have kept you informed on progress. You have never expressed any urgency.
Again its not level of creativity but time spent you are paying for. I dont work at set rates. If you dont feel i am fullfilling the brief then you need to clarify what you want better.

what drastic change are you saying? as of now it looks to me it would look pretty much the same as my old logo but with a new font and a new headphones. exactly what i wanted.
but problem is i dont like the headphones uve been drawing and i dont like some of the letters in the font ive chosen. i dont think it had to be such a big deal. to redesign some of the letters to fit hew logo. and twist some of the headphone so they look unique and not just taken online. is that so much work?? sounds exactly like a quick redesign (if it wouldnt have taken you a month to come to)

Its not quite as simple as slapping down a new headphones design and font. It takes time to get it right. You may not realise quite how much effort goes in. The drastic change i refer to would be a customised font. again this takes time.

and in the end of the day the last quote is 100 gbp. its an ok price for a logo. its not like im paying 20 gbp and asking for huge results. if it has to be more for doing those changes i express in last email tell me how much more.
but honesly im not really keen on the idea to increasing the fees every time u send me some crap idea and i dont like it and ur saying ok dont like i need more time so more money. thats not a reasonable business. and just bullshit.

Thats fair enough. £100.00 is very cheap for a professional logo design and judging by your initial brief you wanted a slight redesign rather than full new logo project.
My designs are not crap, i find this very offensive. They are just not what you have in your head. Your original logo screams of amateur design and i feel what i have given you is a professionally desigend version.
I am finding you very unprofessional to be honest. Portraying that i am trying to rip you off! I am a professional designer with a host of very satisfied clients all who are prepared to spend proper money on design.
For you to suggest this is ridiculous. I am merely letting you know that the time i have spent on it so far will exceed your budget. Did you just want me to keep quiet and give you a big bill at the end? Surely that would have been trying to rip you off!


i have no idea how much time youve spent so far, but no, i do not feel youve been trying way too hard or spent too much time on my logos, on top of it, i feel you're treating me like an idiot.

I am not treating you like an idiot and find this email very aggressive. There is no need to be like this. I have tried to give you what you want and you have exceeded the budget in terms of how much time i can spend on it. Its quite simple.
Being a professional I have informed you of that and pre warned you that further work will incur a larger cost.


From your feedback its very hard to understand what you want. And i have tried to do what i think you have asked for. These new font styles were never in your original brief or any examples you sent me.
I am struggling against a contradictory brief and unclear feedback. I have attempted to get it right but despite my efforts feel that this may be an impossible task.
 
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Sounds like the guy is just making excuses so he doesn't have to pay any more money, I also hate text lingo it does not look very professional. Well done for sticking to your guns on this. Last thing I like the logos that you have on your portfolio you truly are a professional.
 
Just a suggestion - I can see that the guy is being tremendously unprofessional, etc., and I think it might be a good idea for you to take a little more care to mark the difference. Your texts are not as dreadful as his, of course, but they're a bit sloppy, and that puts you in his terrain: if you take a little time to proof-read them before sending, or better still get someone else to do it, you'll be on your ground, instead.
 
Clearly your 'customer is quite unprofessional and his language and grammar perhaps reflects this. It always amazes me that companies are not prepared to pay the rate for the job and show little conception of what is involved especially when their logo will appear everywhere, letterheads, compliment slips, business cards and so on so surely the most important thing is to convey a professional image with a professionally designed logo!

Regarding the letter, personally, I would always try and maintain my decorum and not rise to the emotive language of the letter writer, as hard as that may be. Almost ignore the stupidity of some of the points and continue to get your across professionally.
 
Sorry if this offends but I don't think either party handled this as professionally as they could :icon_dunno:
 
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