A startup founder once called at 6 PM asking for a logo by 9 AM. Investor pitch. Forgot about branding. Classic.
"That's impossible," I said.
"I'll pay double," he replied.
I did it. Took three hours. Clean wordmark. Simple. Professional. Nothing revolutionary. Exactly what a startup needed to look legitimate in a pitch.
He loved it. Used it for three years. Eventually rebranded as the company matured, but the quick logo served its purpose: it stopped investors from thinking "these people are disorganized."
This taught me something crucial about design: sometimes good enough, on time is better than perfect, late. Not always. But sometimes.
The design world treats speed as compromise. "Good work takes time," we say. And it's true. But it's not the whole truth. Sometimes time is the luxury you don't have. Sometimes the perfect logo six months from now is worthless compared to the decent logo tomorrow morning.
Sometimes the right logo isn't the perfect logo. It's the logo that exists when you need it.