After reviewing the site a bit, it seems like there are some quality logos on this site. Obviously there are some weak ones as well.

So the question can these people be considered professionals? I think that this may be more of a creative outlet to do some fun things that clients may not be willing to do. I have seen some of the logos that, hired by a client or not, are highly creative and professional looking. So the question in my mind is professional talking about the quality of work or being paid for the project by a client.

If my company, Brandwise, was short staffed and needed some help with logos, I would give some of these people a try and see what kind of results we would get. I bet some of them would do a great job.

Question 2: Will a customer get the same kind of logo as a fake logo? Well this is partly the responsibility of the client to give the business goals, objectives, audience and vision and then let the creative run with that. If the logo designers here can manage clients and ask the questions to get all this previously mentioned items, I’m sure these people could do a good job. The downside is that often times designers can be more focused on creativity and the cool factor and less about a businesses success. So I agree it takes a certain kind of person to be both creative and business savvy.

Question 3: Should a client know the truth about fake logos? Well since I am owner of my company, I would suggest always being honest and up front. If I was hiring someone to help us out with a logo I would ask questions about the logos and know instantly if these people were lying about it being a client job. If a logo designer had a several great “fake logos” and very few great “professional logos”, I would ask why. For me I develop marketing and brand strategies so we know the direction we want logos to go. We direct the designers we use that these are the requirements that need to be met. As long as they are able to meet our requirements stated before the job was started, I think you’d be ok. But we know design and marketing so it is easy for us to manage. It may be tough for someone untrained in the industry.

Question 4: What are benefits and disadvantages of fake logos. As I mentioned earlier the advantages are keeping the designer thinking creatively and using design to try out new ideas. This is a great opportunity for designer to keep their pencil sharp and ready to go on the next project. It is very rewarding doing work you are proud of so this may be a great way for designers in a non creative job to move into a better more creative position. The disadvantages would be if the designers a lying about the logo and their work with clients. This will come out eventually and could ruin the designers reputation. And since people only do business with people they know, like and trust you may lose a lot of business if you are no longer liked or trusted.

This is a very interesting article. I hope to see more.

If you do mock/fake work, a good thing to do might be to get a finished work you are showing off and then put the client hat on and say “I don’t like it” or “I really want this element in the design” (said element being the graphical “screwdriver tossed into the engine”)

My logos are much more illustrative than most graphic designers. I consider myself an illustrator who just happens to create in a style that is iconic enough to render my work highly appropriate for logo design. I take serious exception to anyone (Mark Dudlick) who would suggest that all of my work on incspring is garbage, simply because i have made it available for instant purchase. We don’t know what the end use for this work will be. Who is to even say that my work will in fact be used as a logo? It could be used as an icon, as a poster, as a label art, etc. If we are to denegrate all ready made logo design as unbecoming of the craft, then one has to include stock illustration as well. Stock illustration, and yes gasp stock logo design is the reality end point for a marketplace that is cutting costs and speeding up at a ravenous pace. If someone wants to use my artwork as a logo design, so be it, if they want to use it as an illustration, thats great to. The point is that i am filling a need in our society, and as a benefit to all in the industry, i am IMPROVING the visual landscape that exists out there. I am getting sick and tired of hearing so called professional designers with mediocre portfolios, whining about how this and that is undercutting the marketplace. Have these high horse designers every considered that the more good work we as a group put out there, the more demand there will be for good work? As it stands now, most quality designers have shut their doors and secluded themselves to their ivory imac to produce only a few pieces a year for top dollar. good for you, but realize that while you do that, out there is a world where the bar is being lowered by thousands of hungry designers who are doing terrible work for very little money. This means that in the grand scheme of things, the overall visual graphic landscape is in decline and the bar is being lowered ever more. I consider myself someone who is putting out very good looking work for a reasonable price. It is getting me a lot of attention, decent money, and its keeping my skills sharp as a tack. The bottom line is that there are 2 dozen of the best designers in the world on logo pond and a few on incspring. It is a essential for all our sake that good design is accessible and visible to the masses. For the record i despise and DO NOT endorse contest/spec work. Contests are the real criminal to the design process and to our respect and livelihoods. It is absolutely ludicrous to spend time questioning the validity of fake logos, when they represent nothing more than a gnat on the back of an elephant in terms of their influence on the direction of our industry. contest sites are the poachers.

You can see my work on incspring at http://www.incspring.com/users/veep

But if they are used in a portfolio then the designer better have something else that backs up their business and communication sense because that’s what fake work lacks–the real world give and take relationship with a client.

It’s hard to say if a client should expect the same level of creativity from a fake logo. It depends on what the client is like, really. They can’t ask for something creative and then turn around and dictate the design every step of the way! (Believe me, on the exact same project I’ve had a client tell me “you’re not very creative” and “why didn’t you do exactly what I told you?” !!!!)

As for your first question, Jacob, fake work does not make a professional. A professional can do fake work from time to time, but they’re a professional because of the paid work they do. Someone who ONLY has fake work is not a professional.

It makes a huge difference whether the logo is designed for a real client or simply made up. One can basically play around in Illustrator, come up with an interesting shape that just happen to resemble something, and according to the shape create the client.

With an actual job, the logo must represent the client, not the other way around.

If you can create an equally successful logo for an actual client, great, though I doubt it will be that easy.

Good post

Every designer has to start somewhere. Every designer is asked to prove his skills before he gets his first project.

So, personally I do not think that there is any problem is starting your career with a Portfolio that has Fake Logos.

The clients want to see your skills and capabilities and a portfolio like this can surely achieve this for you.

The only thing that such a portfolio will not be able to portray is your skill with communication and your skill in understanding client vision and thoughts.

So, as and when you grow with more and more live and original projects, you should keep on changing your portfolio. Offcourse in this journey from a Student/Amateur/Startup to Professional you add several additional skills to yourself.

Although on the other hand, I myself wouldn’t hire a designer who has just done “fake” logos. They wouldn’t have the same approach as a designer who has done the yards with clients before.

Just my 2c. Great read though.

I can’t believe you just compared “fake logos” to “fake breasts”, I think this is why we have to educate clients about good logo design.

If everyone had your “who cares” attitude, graphic design would be a completely different world

The most successful artists are those who practice their craft. Is an artist who creates nothing still an artist? I believe that one must practice in order to master what you do. If a blacksmith only worked metal when a paying project came into the forge, he might physically be incapable of completing the job. So when there is no paying logo design contract in the studio, it could be considered imperative for the designer to “create” a hypothetical creative brief and keep their skills sharp. Now if that same designer tried to pass those designs off as anything but personal projects that would be fraud in my books.

I like Joann’s analogy of the student portfolio. Design school projects still have validity in a portfolio and most of the creative briefs were conjured. Some of the best creative work I have seen has been personal projects or work for non-profit groups, free of client constraints and expectations.

Be true to one’s self and one’s clients and don’t sweat what others may or may not be doing. I teach my commercial art students that there shouldn’t be a big difference between fine art and commercial art as far as creativity goes. Saying one shouldn’t design unless related to a legitimate client is folly. Cheers!

I definitely would not put a ‘fake’ logo in my websites portfolio. I think that would be somewhat deceitful to a client.

It’s a whole different story and takes a lot more creativity to come up with a solution for an identity than it is to find an identity for a solution.

That being said, in my spare time I often like to come up with ‘fake’ logos. It keeps the creative juices flowing and builds up an arsenal of ideas that have the possibility of being used in some form later on. Oh, and occasionally I’ll put them on logopond for the community to see.

What is the point of a portfolio anyway? To display the work you’ve done in the past as a means to guide prospective clients as to the quality and style of work you’ll do for them in the future. Seems to me “fake” logos and whatnot pull this off just as well as paid work.

Besides, only having “real” work on display tells you nothing of if the designer handled the client well, only that they survived the process.

Regardless, it was a thought provoking post. Hope to read more brain-building posts in the future.