Quality v. Value

I started reading a book yesterday by Leslie Cabarga called the Logo, Font and Lettering Bible. Not sure about the term bible but it's a great book so far, mainly focusing on the holistic creation of logos.

In the first chapter the author quickly jumps on soap box about the art of hand lettering. She makes a statement (my paraphrase) that today the contribution that many designers bring to the table amounts to nothing more than font selection.

I thought about that a while. On the surface it appeared to be a royal smack down to me. However, I went on to read that custom fonts for new logos often go for around $20,000. Boy, am I in the wrong field.

As I thought I began to consider should I be creating custom fonts and lettering for my clients. Am I cheating them by not? But most of my clients couldn't afford a fraction of that for a complete identity package, and in some cases my work is pro bono.

Does the use of existing fonts cheat my clients out of a truly unique mark or am I providing them value that they couldn't otherwise afford.

At first glance it seems to be a question of quality or value.

I would love to get some input from anyone passing through, designer or not. Actually, even better if not a designer. That gives the designers that read a client's perspective.

~sl