The $100 vs. the $1,000,0000 logo
I felt the need to address the logo development process and what you should be on the lookout for when hiring a designer to develop your company logo. One thing I notice constantly on the internet are so called graphic design companies that can develop your logo for an inexpensive price when you purchase your hosting, or website plan through them. Please use caution here. When looking at a lot of these companies, once you unwrap the shiny sticker price, they are a lot of flash and bang, but not substance. They are a hosting company looking to get you under a monthly contract, or a yearly rate for hosting your website with them. They probably will do a great job with hosting your site and any web development questions you have, but they may not have your best interests in mind when signing you up. They may not care what your 1 year, 5 year or 10 year plan is for company.
So, how do you differentiate between a REAL graphic designer and a hosting company POSING as a graphic designer? A lot of times the PRICE is a key indicator. Everyone has heard in life you get what you pay for. A hosting company will do your logo for cheap money. They will probably include your logo in the PACKAGE. So that is an indicator.
Another way to figure out if your dealing with a hosting company is LOOK AT THE PORTFOLIO!! Guess what? Do you know how many logos I’ve had to RE-DESIGN because a hosting company may have created it? I’m not trying to start a firestorm here, but logos should be simple. Let’s not put gradient’s, drop shadows, and stroke the design to death. Many times, they will use a bitmapped image as part of the design. Well unfortunately that won’t cut it. Again, that type of artwork will end up coming to me to re-create.
Hosting companies aren’t the enemy, but you have to think about how serious you are about the business you are about to begin or re-design. Are you only semi-serious or do you really want this business to boom to its potential? It can’t get there if you don’t take the correct first steps to your marketing.
Cheap logos are just that and people know it. They will not only cause you a headache in the long run, but probably a LOT more money too so take the time to get to know what you’re getting into. A true graphic designer should be getting to know you, and your company. What is it that you do? What do you want to do? Where do you want to go? Who is your competition? How would you describe your business? What strategies have you already put in place to GET to where you want to go? What do you currently do to advertise? What benefits does your company provide to it’s target market? These are just SOME of the questions I try to pull from a new client when developing their logo.
It takes time to develop a quality logo, NOT flash and bang. Simplicity is the key. Think of all the decent logos of the world. They aren’t flash and bang. They are simple. Check out some examples here.
http://www.historyofbranding.comI made a presentation to an 8th grade class last month and I wasn’t sure at first what to do. A good friend of mine who is also a designer and whose opinion I have come to admire and respect gave me a great idea. She was RIGHT on with the result and the kids participated and were amazing. We did the alphabet, and we only showed them ONE LETTER from corporate logos. So we took the “A” from Apple Computers and the “B” from Banana Boat and the “C” from Coke and so on. Did you know they managed to get every single logo? This just goes to show you the importance of BRANDING your logo. These companies didn’t pay $100 to have their logo developed. They spent lots of money trying to figure out just what the perfect logo was to brand them. What would be the perfect image to represent their company?
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of starting your company’s logo off right. Don’t be misled by the cheap logo companies trying to promise you it all for nothing, and try to avoid the hosting companies posing as marketing companies or graphic companies. You will only end up spending more money in the long run trying to fix problems or getting a logo that doesn’t clearly get your message across. Do you want to stand out in the crowd or be another Tom, Dick or Harry? This is your chance to get your message out the right way. Don’t cut the corner. Do you have to spend a million dollars? Absolutely not, I just titled the article to get attention, but don’t plan on spending a couple hundred dollars, because that’s the type of logo you’ll get.