Hey HN, I'm starting a small business. For $50, I'll design a logo for you

I love design. I have for a long time. I went to school for it, read countless books, attended confrences, interned, learned the theory and execution and paid my dues. I just want to help small businesses and startups have great design while being able to put food on the table for my wife and kids. I'm not asking for fame or fortune and I'm willing to work my ass off for everything I get.

Shit like this is killing me. Don't get me wrong, there is still an industry around. Corporations are still paying. What it's killing is my soul. It really bothers me to see this called 'design' because I don't believe it is. You can't tell me what you're providing is anything like what I'm providing. But it doesn't matter. The word 'design' has been diluted so much that small business can't tell the different between us. And that bothers me because I really care about the success of innovative small companies and I believe good design is an important factor. It's more than a logo — it's communication, it's the difference between you and the other guy and it's the face of your company.

Edit

Okay cool, I like your portfolio. One thing I immediately noticed is the background color of your site...and maybe the design of your site in general. I know that you design logos and not web sites, but I think they are somehow related. If you improve your site's design it should be more effective.

Other than that some more criticisms:

- Why do you only offer a png for the logo (instead of psd or vector svg) - What are suggestions? (Revisions or something else)

You need to proofread some more (if English isn't your first language maybe you can find a proofreader):

> Every name suggested have a not registered domain.

Every name suggested has an unregistered domain. (Probably could be better) There are more but I don't really have the time.

Best of luck some of the logos look promising.

http://www.160over90.com/blog/2009/02/17/the-50-dollar-logo-...

I would not hire someone to do a quick glance of my business, push around some pixels and sling me a response based on our (quick) conversation. The resulting identity wouldn't have the depth needed to last, it wouldn't have the insight needed to resonate with my customers. And, Mr. $50 logo guy, by some chance if you are in fact giving each and every job due diligence you are seriously selling yourself short because the work would be worth substantially more.

Sorry, not trying to rain on parades just trying to educate. (I love HN for what I learn here...)

Respectfully, since English is not your first language - you should revise some of the page so it flows better. For example:

domains Every name suggested have a not registered domain. We registered for you for U$ 20.00, also we sugges a cheap host service called TrackHost.com.br

Should be something like:

We Find Domains for You!

We can suggest domain names based around your business or marketing campaign. Every domain name we suggest will be available for registration, which we can do for you for US$20. We also recommend using trackhost.com.br for inexpensive domain registrations.

I hope this doesn't sound too negative! Your design work is really good, but you need to put something into the words on the page as well :)

All the best with your endeavour.

... You do realize that lots of people pay thousands of dollars for logos, right?

Respectfully, HN is not the place to solicit for clients.