iStock seems hell-bent on their quest to become the Wal-Mart of the graphic design industry, by offering the cheapest quality at the cheapest price. They have recently turned their hungry, hungry eyes on logo design, and are seeking clientless, meaningless logo art to stock the shelves of their store in hell before launching it to an unsuspecting public. For your trouble, you will be paid $5.

Five. Dollars.

Last week I got bent all out of wack over two kids charging $200 for a logo, so I’m sure you know how I feel about this. Design, and the good that comes from it, is not a commodity. That is why Wal-Mart is not Target, why Microsoft and IBM are not Apple. You cannot prepackage design. Even in this uncertain economy, even with a crunched and desolate job market, $5 for a logo is beyond the pale. Even Hobos have standards.

Just in case anyone thinks I’m unfairly maligning old, stale designers, today’s comic was actually meant to follow this one. Then Bierut had to go and redesign Guitar Hero and throw my shit off track, but here we are again.

It’s been a while since anyone’s accused me of “not getting it,” but I can admit that last week’s strip about DriftCreate went over about as well as ordering a hamburger at a Hindu wedding (try it sometime). The only thing I really want to say here is: let’s not confuse searching for a punch-line with not getting a thing. Believe me, I get the thing. I do. But the thing has a bit of a dark side to it, even though it may not be immediately apparent. Anyone who reasonably thinks that $200 is a good price for a logo design is either a.) Playing Graphic Designer the way children play House, because they obviously aren’t running a full-time business, or b.) a part of the fabric of everything that is wrong with our industry.

I do not think those guys fall into the “B” category, for the record. And the flip-side of “A” is that, by-and-large, most designers running full-time businesses don’t want to work with clients who only want to pay $200 for a company logo. Most of those clients don’t respect what we do as a profession. So, in a way, doing that kind of work quickly and then hitting the open road may be the perfect way to deal with them. If you’ve moved on to a new city or town, you certainly won’t be around to deal with them next week when they want a website for $50.

The very specific point where the thing becomes dark is in the offhand situation where a small, local designer would lose a paying job that he or she made a reasonable bid on because someone showed up and offered to do it for way, way less.

That being said, I present you with the work of the very two guys who totally get the thing, in response to the previous comic:

Well played, Drift. Cheers.

Before we begin, do check out our latest, news-heavy episode of the Reflex Blue Show. I’ve listened to it, it’s a gas.

I have found that, now that Debbie is indeed the President of AIGA, I am experiencing some guilt about not being an active member. There’s not a whole lot to be done about it today, as today’s strip suggests it would take some draconian plans to work the colossal cost of membership into my current professional budget. It would be nice if that number could come down somewhat — maybe chill out on expenditures of supporting design in China for a while — or that (and I’m just throwing this out there) qualified sole-proprietors/independent designers could merit a softer point of entry during the current economic climate.

I won’t hold my breath if you don’t.

I don’t have a lot to say about today’s strip other than you will see this story continuing next week. Also, that’s maybe my favorite middle-panel of all time. What luscious, amber-hued locks that mofo must’ve had in college! All the ladies swooned during critiques, of this I am certain.

Be sure to check out yesterday’s amazing Reflex Blue Show, too. Talking about critiques and the very Tip of Mig himself.

Monday should also bring a Supporter-Goodies update (by the end of the day) and a more in-depth look at how those work in conjunction with our store and donations to the site. WORD/..

Hello! Welcome back from Memorial Day, I guess. As a working man, 4-day weeks always mess up my clock. Let’s pretend it’s Monday and call it comic day. We’re still going to pretend tomorrow is Wednesday, which it is, so we’ll have a comic then, too. Then Thursday is podcast day, and everyone will live happily ever after.

I want you guys to check out The Brads, if you haven’t yet, and add it to your bookmarks in a folder called “Awesome Webcomics Based Around Design” right after 1PT.Rule. It’s a weekly, but creator Brad Colbow makes up for fewer updates with full-color and an ability to weave the very structure of comics in a web-based format into the humor of his strip that I find myself very jealous of. Check it out.