Fresh Thinking from the $5 Logo
I recently stumbled upon a website for a designer offering logos designed in five minutes for $5. He presents this service in a tongue-in-cheek manner, billing it as “a purposely absurd” timeline and budget. Sites like these draw plenty of criticism from the design community for devaluing our services, but this site in particular reminded me of an often overlooked commodity: a freelance designer’s time. Although this individual is only selling extremely small morsels of time and ideas, the principle behind his approach is a good one. Purchasing a block of time from an independent designer is a great way to inject a project with a fresh perspective and renewed creativity.
For a long time design studios have preferred to promote themselves as full-service agencies, offering clients a top-to-bottom approach to marketing that encompasses conceptualization through to final execution and deployment. There are many that do an outstanding job at this, but the freelancer can offer something that a big agency cannot. In fact, it’s something those agencies might need themselves. A creative freelancer can contribute to smaller, isolated portions of any given creative project. They can be hired to provide creative insight and new ideas at the outset of a project; to participate in brainstorming sessions and development meetings; to evaluate, refine or edit existing concepts, brands, campaigns, etc.
I have worked in this capacity a few times, but it surprises me that there isn’t more demand for this kind of creative support. For example, I was hired by a design agency a couple of years ago to contribute to a brand campaign presentation. They had been working for this particular client for many years, and the client wanted to break new grounded with a revitalized corporate brand campaign. Having had some prior experience with the client myself, the agency asked for my assistance. I brainstormed and worked through the design challenges with their team of creative directors and designers, then was went away to develop a concept that would be one of three presented to the client. It was a great collaborative experience for both the agency and myself.
When it comes time to “think outside the box,” sometimes that requires stepping outside the office (or studio) walls. A outside perspective is always invaluable whether you’re part of a marketing department, in-house design team, marketing/advertising agency or design studio. Freelance help can be a great support and influx of ideas. By carefully defining the level of involvement, expectations and timelines, freelance help can be tailored to your budget — even if that happens to be $5.
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