Many small business owners come to a point in their project when they have to ask to themselves: “Do I need a logo designed for this?”
Lets begin by saying YES! you do.
In fact the first mistake you could probably do as part of your start-up business is to not contacting an experienced designer to help you set straight your initial marketing material, and that includes your company’s identity.
You have a budget to follow, and guess what?
Designers will not design for free. You will not get a nice methodological design for $5. Designers have to pay for groceries, electricity bill, gas, insurance and all those nice things we call confort. But don’t worry, here is a series to get you started.
Back to the budget dilema.
When it comes to a logo design you won’t need $15,000 but surely will need at least $300-$1000 to make it happen. If you are on a tight budget, I encourage you to hold on to your idea and develop it when you have the correct resources to properly represent the product and not missing on the “WOW” opportunity that a brand new product has to offer to its public.
This is having in mind that you are not looking to use any crowdsourcing website available out there all by yourself. You might get a $25 logo and you will be facing more than just a clip-art or stock-image design as your logo. Crowdsourcing will be my next article and will definitely target the major houses in the industry and see how they conduct business.
Lets say you hired someone to create your logo and things don’t work too well with that designer.
Well, you still have to pay your designer if you are both bind by a written contract that say it. Usually the term used is “Kill Fee” where the customer is not happy and won’t get the final files, but the designer will not get the entire pay of the job. Perhaps a 25% to 60% or whatever was stipulated in the written contract ends up being paid to the designer. So make sure you do read your contract to avoid significant loopholes and protect yourself.
Try and do it yourself! Really… Try it!
But the reality of the case is that you need to research and come up with an effective concept that represents your product and that takes time. Or you could use a $50 software DIY Logo maker with a bunch of pre-made clipart’s and call that unique artwork. If you do not have the time to spend you will most likely do what many people do, put it to the side as a side project and perhaps not even complete the task. Squeeze time to create a logo or hire a logo designer, graphic designer, pixel designer an agency… whomever is going to start and finish the task so that you can have a proper product identity.
Ideas come and go… and so do designer.
This one is very interesting. Creating a logo needs inspirations and like any other muse, the creative rhythm comes and go and is rarely in-tune with anyones intertwine feelings. So when is time to start your logo, make sure you are in the mood for it, so that you can get the best out of your perception and the vision entangled within the creation of the logo. Challenge your creative assets and ensure you describe the problem to the best of your abilities. Creative people unlike logical individual find “outside the box” to be an actual playground. Therefore, challenge your mind and the mind of your designer and make things happen within a minimal timeframe so the muse stays vibrant through the entire creative process.
What is your field?
That is what people are looking at. So you decided to create a logo yourself and find out that your logo does not appeal to your target audience. You are selling bananas but the monkeys are eating yogurt. This is a case where the logo does not got alongside the customer base/clientele. If your logo is sending the wrong message i.e. a banana peel instead of a fresh banana for our example, the monkeys will not buy your “rotten” – “outdated” product. Perception is reality for many and if at first impression they do not understand the purpose of your marketing material you have found yourself in the missing sailing boat in the middle of the Bermudas triangle. Make sure you speak with an expert and in case of doubts, double check and triple check your research.
Take advice from others...
Sound alright! Well, if you have read all the way here, I’m sure you do very well with taking advices from others. Designers are opinionated, but not all. This is a misconception, not all designers are opinionated. Some are more than others but often are more egocentric individuals very proud of whatever they create.
What does a designers ego means to your product and how does it translate? Well, typical designers will ensure they create the best and most unique element they can craft. Their notion for recognition that sums-up their internal competitive ego, will not allow a competent designer to create something cheap or obsolete, they are always aware of pointing fingers and brands hiccups.
Therefore, to summarize, I recommend you hire an entity such as Redxel Studios that knows what is going on in the industry first and foremost. Challenge them, ask your future designer something about “branding in the current year”. Research about your industry and try to have a basic idea of what you want. It always helps. Be open minded and share your thoughts. Stay positive with a clear sight of the envisioned design and for all you do, do not hire a $5 freelancer to complete your logo design or you might end-up selling bananas out of date.
This has been an article written by Alex Solano, for alexsolano.me. I hope you enjoy the reading and best of all help you decide your next course of action. I tried not to be bias towards “do it yourself logo-makers kit” (but thats the same as saying stock imagery or clipart’s) and I’m 100% against the usage of those in any logo material.
Like the material? Want me to write about anything in specific? Just leave a comment below and don’t forget to share! Knowledge is power.
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This is my first article in a very long time!