Spent $600 on a brand refresh and got nothing but gray boxes

I hired a freelance brand designer last year to redo my whole visual identity. Paid $600 upfront based on their portfolio which looked amazing. They sent me back a logo that was literally three gray rectangles stacked on top of each other. No color theory, no typography guide, just... gray boxes. When I asked about the reasoning, they said it represented 'foundational growth' or something. I had to pay another $300 to a different person to fix it into something people actually recognize. Has anyone else paid for branding work that felt like it skipped the entire strategy part?

2 comments

2 Comments

amy_reed7919d ago

Ugh that sucks. $600 for literal boxes is nuts.

the_jenny19d ago

Ugh, tell me about it! I had a friend who ordered what she thought was a high end storage set from some boutique place... turned out to be just plain cardboard boxes wrapped in fancy paper. She spent like $400 and they fell apart after a month. She was so mad she cried when she saw them, especially because the website photos made them look so nice. The worst part is she couldn't even return them because the store had some dumb no refund policy. Boxes are boxes, you know? Just get them from a moving supply place or something.