You’re building a company and an important part of that is your brand! The most iconic part of your brand is your logo! Designing a striking logo is tough so I’m going to share some best practices to help you out.
First you need to figure out what kind of logo you want.
Is it a wordmark like Coca-cola where you are literally spelling out your name in print?
Is it going to be abstract like Apple where you just have a picture of a unique apple that represents you?
You could also use the mascot for your business. These usually work well for a younger audience. There is a ton of great clip art for mascot logos If you have a business that caters to children to preteens.
And finally you could use an emblem. Think of something like Harley Davidson Motorcycles. They have build an amazing loyal brand following with that logo.
Once you decide what type of logo you are thinking about then you can start thinking about what kind of colors you want to include in your branding. This is a very powerful tool to portray what kind of theme your want your brand to say from the first reaction. For example, if you have a health food store, you most likely want to go with a green or maybe even a yellow. Heck, maybe even green and yellow but you do not want to go with red and black. Think about what color shirts your want to put your front line employees in, what colors you are going to use on your signage.
Once you have and idea on what style and what colors your going to start with then you need to find a freelancer. Here is where you have a few options.
Fivver is going to be most peoples first stop for a logo. Fivver has great branding, you can get what you need for just $5. Anyone who has used the service know better, you aren’t going to get a quality logo for $5. You will probably have to use 5-10 designers and they will most likely get you on upsells such as revisions. By time you’re happy with you logo from Fivver you’ve most likely spent over $200.
Upwork is another place where you can find freelancers sort of like Fivver. Usually you’re going to find better designers than Fivver but you’re also going to pay a bit more for their expertise.
Now on to my favorite option, logotournament.com. What’s cool about Logo tournament is they have multiple designers compete for your logo budget. Sort of like a crowdsourced logo. You’ll set a budget of multiple options between $275 and $875. Then you’ll go through a few prompts to choose similar logos out of a lineup that you want your design to look like. Finally you’ll write out a paragraph with your ideas for the designers to work off, then, you let them do what they do best! In a few days you will be able to see all the designs from multiple people. Once the first round of designs are submitted you will choose a few you like and the designers again go to revise their ideas to meet your needs. Then finally you will choose one design and award the winner with the prize money. The idea is brilliant, you get exactly what you want, and the best designers are incentivized to give you their best work, I give logo tournament 10 out of 10.
Another similar idea to Logo Tournament is 99 Designs. 99 Designs has a very similar contest process and their pricing starts at $299 with and option called the platinum level for $1299. One cool option that 99 Designs has is what they call a “blind contest” which is where designers can’t see what other designers are making. This option makes the designers use their talents to come up with really unique designs that match your prompts, rather than seeing other ideas and just one upping those designers to win the contest.
Whatever route you go I recommend keeping your options open. Letting your designers work and being flexible with them will allow you to come up with something really cool for your branding needs. Another perspective could be exactly what you need.
