Looking into a non-CoH comission - need advice

Hestis · 11-03-2009 10:15 PM

I'm looking to possibly get some art done, and I thought I would turn to the people in this forum for advice.

Here is the situation: A friend of mine makes jewelry. She is looking to set up a website, get business cards, etc... I had come up with an idea for a logo for her, and I was thinking that as a Christmas present I would have somebody create it for her. My question is, what would be the best way to go about this? Would there be "extra" things to worry about since she would be using this for a business? Also, she wouldn't know that I am doing this, so the possibility exists that she might not want to use the final design. I had mentioned my idea to her, and she liked the concept, but you never know. I guess I'm thinking that there would be more involved in this than just commissioning someone for some artwork. And to be honest, with the work I've seen here, it is more than likely that I will try to use someone from these forums if I end up doing this.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and thanks in advance for any advice.

Arc 180901: Flight of the Dreadnought

LadyJudgement · 11-03-2009 10:22 PM

This is your friend's business, while your sentiment is nice, and I'm sure would be appreciated. It would be a waste of your money to have something done and then possible rejected by her. Why not give her a "commission" -ish gift certificate, asking which ever artist you intend to hire, to consider working with your friend on the final piece, instead of presenting her with a finished work for her own business that she had no say in. It's kind of like being stuck with the logo your mom bought for you to start kindergarten with, if logos were required in kindergarten. Do you get my meaning, she's stuck with your nice gesture, unless she doesn't mind offending you.

But if you work it out with the artist, then she gets the work of a professional, on your dime, and the input on her own finished logo. I hope that made some kind of sense.

EDIT: also, you will have to okay full rights for your friend from the artist. Logos are NOT cheap. In fact they usually cost 3 figures in the real world. However, you may find an artist with a kind heart, a generous spirit and a lot of time on their hands who will do it for waaaay less than they should get paid. And you have to consider, your friend may tire of the logo eventually, so it should be a pretty good fit. You will want an artist willing to do changes... those changes should be included in the price, and have them aware, that you are not paying for a finished piece of art without some kind of "quality input".

Good luck to you and your friend. I am curious why you would ask a bunch of comic artists to design a logo for a jewelry artist. Kind of a stretch... though I'm sure a good artist can do most anything. Don't forget to consider how the reduced logo will look on business cards.

Hestis · 11-04-2009 08:26 AM

Thanks for the reply. I do understand that this really isn't probably the most logical way to go about it. One of the main reasons I'm thinking of doing this as a surprise for her is that she's kind of in a slump right now, and not very motivated to get things done. I have a friend that will put together a basic website for her, and I thought if I could get that and this as well it might motivate her a little bit.

As for why I'm looking here, I guess I didn't really explain what I was looking for very well. The actual logo itself can just be whatever random font looks good to her. But I had a concept for an image to go with it, and that's what I was looking for. I've looked at a lot of the pages for people's work here, and not only is it pretty impressive, but a lot of them have (at least what I consider) pretty reasonable prices. I just wasn't sure what other issues might pop up since she could end up using this for a website, business cards, etc...

Arc 180901: Flight of the Dreadnought

Caemgen · 11-04-2009 08:38 AM

I'd suggest hitting up whichever artist you decide upon with details of the logo you're looking to get made and the fact you want to purchase all rights to the final image...

(All rights is VERY important as you don't want them selling it elsewhere later, making their own products with it, etc etc etc...)

If you like what they have to say in response great. If not maybe come back here with your concerns and maybe we could help...

But I do have to agree with LJ a bit on that maybe you should buy the commission and set up the details but include the giftee in the final workings of it. I really think it best they have some say on the final look of it if it's going to represent them and their business.

Starwind · 11-04-2009 02:06 PM

LJ outlined it perfectly. I'm sure the gift will have just as much value if you include her in the process. In fact having her go through the process with you might be beneficial to get her juices flowing and break her out of her slump as well.

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LadyJudgement · 11-04-2009 03:03 PM

I think that your orchestration of the website and a possible logo, will get you the kudos such a gesture deserves. As for getting your friend motivated, Starwind is correct, having her input will force her to get things going. Just giving her it all, keeps her out of the loop. A website isn't something unless she has that type of background, she may want to devote time to... but the logo can inspire any number of ideas.

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syrusbLiz · 11-04-2009 03:34 PM

Rights are important because she'll be making money off this logo and will need the full, legal rights to the design to get products made.

Without the full rights, not only can the artist use the design, but they can stop her from making money with it. Which is why logo design work is expensive; the artist loses the right to that piece.

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Hestis · 11-05-2009 10:24 AM

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think that gives me a pretty clear idea of how to proceed from here.

Arc 180901: Flight of the Dreadnought

Toxic_Shia · 11-12-2009 03:29 PM

To further clear things up, you don't want to commission an artist. You want to commission a Graphic Designer. (Or perhaps a Graphic designer who's also an artist - I've seen quite a few designers who couldn't draw worth spit, but that were pretty darn good with colors and designs)

And yes, you deffinitely want to purchase the commission um... like, for her, like the people before said. Logo design has a lot more going on with it than most people think. Doing simple designs that are eye-catching, that can tell a person who glances at it things about the business that they'd have to read up on and actually meet them to figure out, all these things a good logo will do. So, whoever you get to do this should be working directly with her, as it's her business, and should be looking very closely at what she does, who she hopes to do business with, and what she's going to be using the logo for.

I think a typical artist would probably end up just drawing something and giving you an image that was bitmaped, but what you really want is a vector based design, and that's what graphic designers study and practice with and work with. Vector designs can be enlarged, shrunk, and used and pretty much any size without them getting the choppy, unprofessional pixels you might see if you pull an image off the web and try to print it. A good graphic designer would also have to consider the colors used in the logo and the sort of messages those give when a person sees them, the font (which is very important as well, of course), and would have to know exactly what the person who's going to use it is going to do with it. If it's something she's going to slap on letterheads for faxing, it would have to be something that worked well in simple black and white, without a lot of colors and greys in it.

Ahem. Anyway, yada yada yada, I rant, those are my thoughts on it.