Graphic Design about.com members against lowball advertisements

We, the undersigned Graphic Designers, and Graphic Design supporters, wish to express our disappointment with About.com for its continued acceptance of advertising which promotes "low ball" design pricing.

Graphic Design has proven itself to be an important, if not vital, element in business branding, marketing communication and corporate identity. Beyond simply creating "pretty pictures," our discipline requires a diverse knowledge of many areas including our client's business and their marketing environment, sales, psychology, research, marketing, computer systems, color theory and design history to name a few.

Accepting advertising which touts logo designs for $69 US (just one example) undermines our industry by promoting the idea that anyone with a computer and some software can create an effective logo, brochure, annual report and other visual communication mediums. It also promotes the idea that graphic design has little worth.

While we understand the need to generate revenue, we believe it would be in the best interest of About.com to post advertising on the Graphic Design forum that is truly of interest to Graphic Designers. Frankly, odds are we are not going to buy logo design from cheap logo designers. However, we would be interested in hearing from paper companies, stock photography, font foundries and the like. Wouldn't you agree it makes sense to target advertising to your audience, rather than post advertising that only alienates your audience?

The About.com Graphic Design forum is one of the most lively in the About network and on the internet as a whole. The moderator, Judy Litt, works hard and does an excellent job, in our opinion. We ask that you respect our request to exchange this type of advertising with others more suitable, allowing the forum to thrive without advertising that undermines the bedrock of an industry. About.com will be better for it, as will we.