Last year’s post about Visual Identity explained that branding involves more than just the logo design. Although it’s just part of the bigger picture, much care should be given to creating the visual symbol for your business.
What is a Logo Design?
A logo is a symbol for your organization therefore, much care and consideration is necessary to create a logo that reflects your ideals and speaks to your customers values. A quick Google search will put numerous design options at your finger tips. Many of which, appear to be more affordable options for small businesses. However, in the long term, it may be more costly because leaving marketing research out of logo design can create inconsistency in your marketing efforts which negatively impacts sales growth. To put it simply, all logo designs are not created equal.
Crowdsourcing Logo Design is Bad for Everyone
When you hire a studio, agency or a dedicated freelance designer, you are paying for more than just the time to design a logo. Branding is essential to a well designed logo. It requires time, research, testing and thoughtfulness to arrive at a design that communicates your brand ideals that differentiate you from your competitors. Most importantly, brand consistency builds trust with your customers. Our brains are wired to make connections and when the visual identity is not well thought out there is a higher likelihood for inconsistent marketing efforts in the future. Crowdsourced logo design, while affordable, immediately puts your business at a disadvantage. Oddly enough, it also puts the designer at a disadvantage as well.
Logo Factory vs. Handcrafted
When a logo is crowdsourced, the designer isn’t provided the opportunity to get to know your business well. A logo designer must understand your customers and brand ideals in order to create an effective logo. Without this understanding, the logo design will most certainly be a shot in the dark. For this reason, many of the top designers on crowdsourcing sites must design several average logos instead of focusing on a few quality concepts. From the clients perspective, receiving hundreds of concepts without any guidance is overwhelming. And the sprinkles on top of this poop cake, the crowdsourced designers that are not selected just spent many hours creating a logo for no pay. Not cool! Hiring a dedicated designer supports fair work and pay in the graphic design industry. Investing in them is an investment in your business success and your local community. No more poop cakes.
In closing, dedicated logo designers eat, sleep and breathe branding. This creative process is a journey which is important for small businesses to experience. When you go through that process, it transforms how you view your business. There is an observable shift in perspective from sales tactics to an emotional connection with your customers. This shift in marketing perspective can be a game changer for any small business especially when competing with larger businesses in your industry.
