Hello tumblers,
I’ve been gone for some time, life has caught up with me, and I haven’t had time for any tumblr fun. But I’ve taken to the site, since I know there are many talented graphic designers and artists hang out here, with some questions, as I need advice. Here’s the story:
My family has a restaurant, and we needed a new menu made. We contacted a company who specializes in menu designs, and they came in to meet us to see what we wanted. I sat down with the “print coordinator” and explained that we wanted something simple and clean looking, that represents our image and the feel of our restaurant. That description is somewhat vague, and I was not expecting anything perfect for the first draft, and what they sent us was relatively simple, but did not convey anything specific to our restaurant. Needless to say, we were not particularly happy with it, and we told them the changes we wanted made. The second draft they came back with was almost identical to the first, with a few slight changes to the original based on the comments we made. We were still unhappy, as we thought we had made it clear that we did not like the first draft at all. So I took it upon myself to design a new menu, a little bit less simple, but with the theme of our restaurant, and a clean, friendly organization. I told the “print coordinator” that we were not happy, and attached a copy of the menu I had made, explaining that we would rather go with my design, or perhaps they could find some way of working together. They sent back their version, which was basically a bastardized version of mine, it was awful. So we asked the “print coordinator” to come in to meet us, which she did, and I explained that we really just wanted her to go with my design, the same fonts, photos, etc., I even sent her links to the fonts that I used (since they are licensed for commercial use). So in the end, the menu that we are having printed is my own design.
If you are still with me, here is my question:
Should we be obligated to pay this company for the menu art, when I designed the thing myself? Or, is it ethical to give them a small amount of money for the small amount of original work that they supplied, and then pay just for the cost of the printing?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
If anyone would like to see the art I’m talking about, just shoot me a message and I will be happy to send it your way.
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