![a-web-of-lies](https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/cdn-origin/uploads/2011/08/a-web-of-lies.gif)
The truth and the legend
Comedian Robert Wuhl, in his HBO show “Assume The Position,” teaches the difference between true history and the legend that became the truth. As he often repeats, “when the legend becomes more famous than the truth, print the legend!” Frightening but true… or is it legend? Paul Revere only road a few miles before being seized by the British and soiling his britches while other riders traveled from Boston to as far as New York. Revere was released while other riders were imprisoned. Thanks to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Revere is famous and no one else knows the name of the other men (“he deliberately skewed the facts in the poem for poetic effect—it's not at all historically accurate. I think that should be pointed out in the post,” as the editor of WDD pointed out to me when I sent over the draft of this article).![revere](https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/cdn-origin/uploads/2011/08/revere.gif)
![aliens](https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/cdn-origin/uploads/2011/08/aliens.gif)
The average designer has to be on guard
“How can I get into trouble if I don’t steal anything or research thoroughly?” you may ask. Your research may depend on false sources. No matter how many sources you use, they may all be an ever-widening ripple in a pond, started from the untrue pebble dropped in the middle. My article, for example, pushed every other source many pages into Google responses. So far in, in fact, that many sources will never be viewed again. What if people use my article as a source for their own research? Would books and publications have helped me stay on the narrow path of truth? Perhaps. The printed word tends to be under greater scrutiny. In my days of publishing, magazines and book publishers had fact-checkers on staff. Their sole responsibility was to research and officially authenticate claims of truths in every printed word. The economy has, of course, cut fact-checkers from staffs, apparently in greater numbers than proofreaders and competent management. Why worry about truth anymore when the public eats up the legend if it sounds better than the truth?![elvis](https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/cdn-origin/uploads/2011/08/elvis.gif)
Why fight it? We’ve all heard clients tell us to “just leave it that way!”
Because it’s wrong. Because when the truth is too easily pushed aside, our very existence as a society dies. Anarchy sounds fun but try shopping for food or eating out when everyone runs amok with a sense of entitlement to their own rules, which have little or no respect for you. Imagine packaging that omits certain ingredients like rat droppings and machine part shavings or a child’s toy that fails to mention, “broken glass and rusty razor blades may protrude from the Hug-Me-Betsy doll.” The big difference of doing the right thing is what keeps our society afloat. The “truth in advertising” law is only a few decades old, which explains why ineffective medication and highly flammable pajamas were sold to hapless consumers for so many years.This is why crowdsourcing fails
There are many complaints about crowdsourcing but one of the biggest is that the designs supplied to clients looking for cheap solutions are not thoroughly researched. Normally, when a designer is engaged to do a company’s branding, logo, or collateral material, he or she will research the design direction to make sure the material doesn’t infringe on existing designs. With crowdsourcing, it has long been known that there is a problem with “inspiration” from existing designs. What can one expect when someone is paid $99 to provide designs worth thousands? Naturally the designers who participate in crowdsourcing or contest want to do the work quickly by cutting corners. Research is the first step to be cut. It happens, sometimes by accident. Years ago, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) had their logo redesigned from the ubiquitous peacock into a graphic “N.” A small station, somewhere in Nebraska, was using the very same logo. Well, small or not, they had it first and NBC was looking at major embarrassment, redesigning the logo and reprinting a million dollars worth of stationery, envelopes, signage, etc. With some negotiations and a large donation to the small TV station, NBC was able to keep their new logo and the tiny station redesigned their logo. Whew! It has happened before and will keep on happening because people use the quick solution–look it up on the web! The web does not contain all the knowledge of the universe and judging from all the conspiracy theory and racial hate sites, much of the information is not true.What Can You Do?
First responses on Google are not the best basis for research. You have to dig down through the layers and keep digging. Even with that, I’ve fallen into the same mistake a couple of times. Being spanked publicly for this blunder is embarrassing, albeit deserved. You don’t want it happening to you AND your client! If you use the internet for research, dig, dig, and dig some more. When in doubt–don’t use what you find.![moonlanding](https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/cdn-origin/uploads/2011/08/moonlanding.gif)
Speider Schneider
Speider Schneider is a former member of The Usual Gang of Idiots at MAD Magazine and has designed products for Disney/Pixar, Warner Bros., Harley-Davidson, ESPN, Mattel, DC and Marvel Comics, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon among other notable companies. Speider is a former member of the board for the Graphic Artists Guild, co-chair of the GAG Professional Practices Committee and a former board member of the Society of Illustrators. Follow him on Twitter @speider or add him on Google+
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