Get a good logo without spending too much money.

I recently approached my favorite local graphic artist to give her the news: I was going to use crowdSPRING for a client logo rather than her. Her response? (paraphrased)“Good idea. I’m going to check in to using it myself.” Whew! I was relieved. We have a good relationship that I didn’t want to damage. But not everyone feels the way she does.

Some big-name designers are up in arms about crowdSPRING, the crowd-sourced graphic design website. That’s no surprise given that designers generally charge too much money for logo creation, relative to its importance in the brand picture. While a logo can be an important part of your brand identity, always remember that the business defines the logo, not the other way around.

I’m not opposed to using a professional designer. You should form a relationship with a local designer to handle most of your design work, but not necessarily logos. Why? Designers like to charge a lot of money for logos. There is no need for a small business to pay $2000 or more to have a professional designer develop a logo when it can be done for as little as $230 on crowdSPRING and as little as $139 on 99designs.

During the logo process businesses want lots of ideas. It can be a lengthy process to find a direction on which both the client and designer agree. The choices are usually limited. Thus the beauty of crowdSPRING. It’s quick and you get an abundance of choices. The average project receives around 70 entries and the maximum time allowed for each project is two weeks.

I have personally been involved with four logo projects on crowdSPRING:

Sheehy Team – For local Investment Real Estate Broker
Montgomery Chiropractic – Central Texas Chiropractor
The Marketing Spot – Small Business Marketing (my new logo)
Home Abstract & Title – Local title company (in progress)

So don’t overthink your logo design. Use a service like crowdSPRING and get it done quickly without spending too much money.

TIPS FOR USING CROWDSPRING

1. Before you begin, take some time to answer the questions: Who am I? Why do I exist? The answers for the foundation of your brand identity. Get some help here: The Brand Promise
2. Prepare a creative brief. Give as much information as you can to the designers working on your project. Detail your brand promise and what it means. Clearly identify your typical customer, how the logo will be used and your geographic location. Are you a local brick & mortar business or do you exist exclusively on the internet?
3. Pay special attention to the font in your new logo. Request that the designer use a font not widely available. Much attention is paid to the iconography of a logo, but I think the font presentation is more important. This may mean you need to purchase a special font at the end of the design process from a service such as MyFonts.
4. Provide feedback during the design process. Rate each entry that you receive and provide feedback. crowdSPRING allows you to award from 1-5 stars for each entry and write a note of feedback. All designers participating in the project see this feedback and adjust their designs accordingly.
5. Engage the designers. In the feedback process, you can communicate directly with each designer. Ask them to change something in the design, suggest a different direction. Most will accommodate.
6. Recruit other designers to participate. Cruise through other design projects and look for stuff you like. Then send a message to that designer and ask them to submit an entry to your project. It will draw attention to your project and many of the designers are flattered that you noticed their work.

Resources:
crowdSPRING
99Designs

Related articles on logos and branding:
The Importance of a Logo in Branding
Logo Overthink: Branding doesn’t have to be this hard
Designing Brand Identity