During tough economic times, many businesses big and small have tough choices to make. Often some of the first programs to be cut are marketing and design services, despite proven research to the contrary. Call it "protecting the core," if you will; focusing on your key business practices while stripping away excess in order to sustain a viable company. While this can be a sound economic strategy in some cases (cutting back on office supplies and employee perks, for example), it can be disastrous in the case of marketing and visual branding. (If no one
knows about your company's products or services, no one can
pay you for them!)
This line of thinking has been gaining traction in American businesses for the past several months after studies have shown companies who promote their way through a recession often come out the other side in a stronger market position than they went in with. But this still raises the question: "How do I pay for this work when money is so tight?"
Problem One: Your business needs a new logo or an updated look to attract new customers.
This problem surfaces a lot with startups and relatively new businesses who have been struggling to make it to the next level. It is not uncommon in these cases to put together a temporary company logo — something like a placeholder — to get the job done until you can afford to do it right. But now that time has arrived, and you've read enough articles to understand your need for better brand positioning, but there's no money to hire a design firm.
Problematic Solution: Hold a logo-design contest or utilize a "crowdsourcing" website.
Guaranteed to always sound like a good idea at the time, logo-design contests can seem like a low-risk, low-cost way to solve your identity crisis. They're ubiquitous enough that everyone knows the drill: You put out a call for entries and entice them with a snazzy prize, usually a couple hundred bucks in cash or services that your company provides (own a mall or a store? how about gift-certificates?). Then local artists go to work and send you tens if not hundreds of options to choose from. You pick your favorite, trade the prize for the artwork, and off you go! What problems could there possibly be?
First, thank you for continuing to read the article despite the last paragraph's glowing picture. Logo contests and crowdsourcing, although different in their approach, both yield similar enough results that we can look at them as a singular problem. The potential downsides are clear-cut, and some can even be devastating to your business:
- Craftsmanship: Anyone entering a contest knows they are working only for a chance at winning, not for a guaranteed paycheck. As such, the Risk vs. Reward ratio on the project is high on risk, low on reward. So it does not make sense for them to spend a lot of time on it — and the same goes for crowdsourcing. At the end of the day, this leaves you and your business with an identifying mark that was rushed through the design process. Even if you have a hard time distinguishing between a polished and a rushed logo, your customers' subconscious reaction will pick up on the missed cues and lack of attention to detail in your logo, and begin to associate them with how you do business.
- Craftsmanship Part 2: Professionals vs. Amateurs. The vast majority of professional designers wouldn't touch what they call "Spec" (speculative) work with a 20-foot pole. For them it is a professional discourtesy to ask them to give away for free a process of design that they have built a viable business upon. Many see the very thought of it as damaging to their profession. But who cares? If you can get the same quality product, let's say pencils or other office supplies, for a cheaper rate, why not? Simply put, because your company's main identifying face — its logo — is not a commodity. There is a big difference in both quality and longevity between professional and amateur design that comes from a learned process, not to mention the hours and hours of research and planning that generally come with hiring a professional. So in the end, if all the professionals are staying away from your contest, who do you think is going to be left applying to create your logo?
- Originality: Designers who frequent crowdsourcing websites know the only way to turn a profit is to enter as many Call-for-Submissions as possible in hopes of striking gold. As even a halfway decent mark can take hours to create, it doesn't make sense to them to create something wholly new and original for each contest. From their perspective, entering the same design several (possibly hundred) times with a different company's name attached gives them more chances to win. The end result here is that your company's logo has nothing at all to do with your company, your goals, or your position in the competitive market. A logo shouldn't be a brochure for your company, but if it doesn't pay attention to those three key factors, it's a waste of your money and could potential sink your business.
- Originality Part 2: Image Theft. A somewhat new phenomenon in this game is the advent of cheap, affordable stock art and illustrations from websites like iStock. The problem for you is that legally many, if not most of these websites do not allow the artwork on sale to be used in company logos. Problem is, this can be very difficult to identify, and if you accidentally pick a winner based on a royalty-free stock image you're going to wind up in legal hot water when the owners of the image come knocking. Some crowdsourcing websites have policies against this, but again, it can be a very difficult thing to police, and the policy is in place more to protect them than to protect you.
Beneficial Solution: Find an experienced professional designer to work through your logo with you.
By working with a designer or design firm with experience in company identity design you can avoid all of the potential pitfalls listed above. If you don't know anyone with more than three-to-five years of experience, find local companies with great logos, whether they are in your industry or not, and ask them who they hired. Or, visit a
local AIGA chapter's website and ask them.
Be sure to contact at least two or three designers either by phone or by e-mail and let them know the basic particulars of you logo project, and ask them about their pricing structure. If their prices turn out too high, ask either about ways to reduce the cost, or if they would recommend someone in your price range — most designers would be happy to do so. Be sure whoever you choose to work with has an established professional reputation and samples of their previous work available for you to see on their website. Meet with them in person at least once, if possible, before beginning the project.
Do be aware that asking to "see some ideas" before committing to the project can turn a lot of designers off. In their business, their creativity is their product, so asking to get it for free is basically against their business model. Instead, use their past work examples to get a feel for what they can create for you, and be sure to ask a lot of questions until you feel comfortable.
Most logo-only projects will take a short few weeks to complete and you should see a few rounds of in-progress work along the way. In the end you can be confident that you have paid a fair price for the perfect logo for your new company, one that will be attuned to your business's goals and future, and built to last for years to come.
