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Report: #1391547

Complaint Review: Karen Marten design - Internet

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  • Reported By: Vago — Palmdale California USA
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  • Karen Marten design Internet USA

Karen Marten design graphic designer Asked for logo for active wear company. Created something that resembles doodle scribbling or princess cruises logo. Portland Internet

*REBUTTAL Owner of company: Response

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ASKED FOR LOGO DESIGN FOR ECOMMERCE SITE DEALING WITH SALES OF ACTIVEWEAR, PRIMARLIY SOCKS, SLEEVES, T SHIRTS, AND CAPS. FILLED OIT THE QUESTIONNAIRE TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITIES AND PROVIDED COMPETITORS WEBSITES, LOGOS AND PRODUCTS FOR REFERENCE POINT IN DEVELOPING OUR LOGO. ALSO PROVID SEVERAL EXAMPLES OF LOGOS THAT WE LIKED TO ASSIST IN CREATING SIMILAR FEEL AND LOOK. SHE WAS VERY RESPONSIVE WITH OUR COMMMUNICATIONS UNTIL AFTER SHE RECEIVED DOWN PAYMENT OF $240, 60% OF $499 FOR COMPLETIONS WHICH INCLUDED 3 DIFFERENT CONCEPTS OR MOCK UPS OF LOGOS. AFTER THAT SHE TOOK HER TIME .WE FIRST CONTACTED KAREN ON JUN 30, 2017, PAID THE DOWN PAYMENT ON JUL 3, 2017 AND RECEIVED THE CONCEPTS ON JUL 10, 2017.WHAT WE GOT WAS SOMETHING A 10 YEAR OLD COULD'VE DONE WITH AN ETCH A SKETCH. AS A MATTER OF FACT ONE OF THE DOODLES CLOSELY PLAGIARIZES THE PRINCESS CRUISES LOGO. I ASKED WHY WE GOT THIS TYPE OF "DESIGN" SINCE I SENT HER SOME VERY EXCELLENT EXAMPLES OF WHAT WE WANTED. SHE SIMPLY CAME BACK AND STATED THAT WE WERE VAGUE IN FILLING OUT THE QUESTIONNAIRE. NOW TO CONTINUE TO COMPLETE OUR WORK SHE WANTS ANOTHER $240 DOWN PAYMENT TO FIX WHAT SHE DID NOT DO CORRECTLY ACCORDIND TO OUR INSTRUCTIONS. AVOID KARENMARTEN.COM ALTOGETHER, SHE'S A CON ARTIST!

 

 

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 08/09/2017 11:47 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/karen-marten-design/internet/karen-marten-design-graphic-designer-asked-for-logo-for-active-wear-company-created-somet-1391547. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
0Consumer
1Employee/Owner

#1 REBUTTAL Owner of company

Response

AUTHOR: - (United States)

POSTED: Tuesday, November 21, 2017

I am very sorry to see that you felt it was necessary to file a report on this, considering everything we have discussed. I am also sorry to see that you feel it was such a bad experience. As we discussed, in depth, here are the reasons I was not able to complete the project requested.

  1. You requested a name change after I finished the initial concept. 

Email from Client:

"Karen,

Thank you.

After some deep thought and careful scrutiny the name "Avenue p12" is problematic for most designers, we have gone through 4 already and it poses many challenges because it is an odd name and a long one at that, it has too many syllables in it.

We are in the process of renaming our business to fit either 2 or 3 syllables.

This time we are laser focused on the name and logo design.

If you could accommodate us with that, it would help a lot.

I apologize for putting you through this whirlwind.

Pls let us know

Thank you,"

After that, you requested a completely new direction. You filled out the questionnaire again, this time with more thorough  answers about what you want, explaining that you did research and no longer wanted to go in the direction I was originally asked to work in.

I do want to mention again what I told you about my process. The initial logo concepts I sent were concepts. I made my process clear to you both, multiple times over the phone and in email. These were not meant to be finalized logos, just concepts-so that you could let me know which one most closely aligned with your vision. The next step would have to do two rounds of revision to get a chosen concept to final logo quality.

2 In my initial request you did not complete the Questionnaire. My questionnaire is easy to understand and extremely straightforward. In your report you said you filled it out to the best of your ability, but when I received this I did not even have a note for how you wanted the name to be spelled out. I have copy and pasted my email that I responded to you with, requesting more information from you.

Email to Client from KMD:

"Hey Cxxxx,

I was just looking over everything and no where is your company spelled out. I definitely need the spelling of your company regardless if I go with using acronyms/full name/ graphic icon etc. 

Beyond that, if you care to elaborate more on what you like, who your primary clientele is, etc. I would like to have more info. The answers you gave me are quite vague. I know that you guys are hesitant to be specific since others have basically done copy-paste jobs and called it design, but I can guarantee that it will not hinder my creative abilities to have more info about what you like! I will still be providing you with three DIFFERENT logo mockups to start. As you can see on my online portfolio I am fully capable of delivering very unique designs depending on the business I am designing for. I know that you guys do have opinions, since you have gone through other designers already, so I am hesitant to sort of "design from scratch" when you guys do know what you like! Does that make sense?

Knowing your ideal clients is helpful and knowing how you guys perceive your business and how you want to be perceived in return will help a lot in my initial designs :) I don't want to deliver you ideas straight from my mind and be way off, leaving you guys both disappointed and thinking that I cannot deliver a logo that you will love. My client's happiness is super important to me and this is the best way I know how to provide that.

I have also attached the contract and the invoice for the downpayment. Do let me know if any questions come up for you on this. "

After asking multiple times you explained the questions I outlined in the email above, but in my questionnaire I request information on what styles you like. This is very important in design because one person says flashy and means something entirely different than another person who wants that style. I told you multiple times on the phone that giving me stylistic direction would not hinder my work-only help me come up with concepts you like. You refused multiple times saying that other designers you've worked with copied other logos. 

3. I usually charge a premium fee for the quick turnaround you requested on top of my regular fee, but let that go since you were already having issues with other designers.

4. A 7 day turn around time is extremely quick, unless you are working with sub par companies that just use premade clip art. You told me here that the 5 day turnaround time you wanted was no longer necessary, so I took 5 extra days. If I had been plagiarizing I would have been able to turnaround work the same day.

5. After you mentioned that none of the initial concepts were to your liking, I agreed to do a 100% free extra concept for you. My goal as a designer is to help new businesses, not hinder so I agreed in order to make this working relationship a good one. This must be where the real miscommunication happened. You then refilled out the questionnaire and asked for three very specific new concepts. I told you I could not start completely over for free, now that you decided to answer my questions, so I asked for a new down payment. From there the relationship turned very sour and you threatened to sue me if I did not return your money, even though I had already worked hours over the amount you paid.

Another thing I should mention about my communication. Once I received the downpayment my communication was still top notch. After I received the questionnaire I use to create a quality logo, I still emailed you multiple times to try to get more information about your project. You declined, as shown in emails, and so I set to work. I do not offer day by day updates for my clients on my work. I have many clients at once so it is important that I take time to design, instead of spending hours a day reiterating my process on each project.

Lastly, I want to say that it makes sense there are other similar logos out there. The designs I came up with are all minimal in design style. Using geometric shapes and minimal design means that yes, other logos may look similar. I didn’t look for inspiration anywhere online and I definitely did not copy a tech company for the map logo I designed for you. They are both squares, yes, but one shows tablets/computers when mine would clearly be a map to show off where the product would take you. The concepts are quite different.

Please do a quick Google of Kelty and Adidas logos. They are quite similar-they even sell similar products. Adidas has not sued Kelty for plagiarism.

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