Do you have a Logo?

[mzone]

I know you being sarcastic, but on the start of your business you can start with cheap logo, does make any change. If you pay 100 pounds for logo, you still get same customers as with 5 pound logo. If your business growing then is a time to pay for better logo design.

At website I gave a link is lot of people from another countries, 5 pound for them is same as 100 pounds for you, so different market, different view.

 

[fisicx]

Or better still, don't bother with a logo and save a fiver.

 

[moo-tique]

Getting yourself a logo will add value to your business/brand. You can spend as much or as little as you like, and there are some great resources out there. If it helps, we used fivesquid as suggested by @mzone for our very first logo and found them very good!

 

[Dmitri Fantastic]

A logo can be pretty much everything from a circle to a square you know.. Yes, in my humble opinion it is a must and yes, it should be more than a circle and a square. There are some companies that make it because of a logo....

 

[ethical PR]

No company is going to make it because of a 'mark' i.e. a logo it will be because they have a strong brand that it's target audiences engage with.

 

[fisicx]

There are some companies that make it because of a logo....

For example?

 

[japancool]

No company is going to make it because of a 'mark' i.e. a logo it will be because they have a strong brand that it's target audiences engage with.

Agree, but IMHO, the logo forms part of that brand.

 

[Bruno Domingues]

Why not simply attribute a % of impact to the logo? It is not 0% or 100%, the logo will have some impact but I don't think it has more than a small percentage (2% maybe). With a quick google search you can probably find statistics showing how important the logo is, per industry and target audiences. Search Engine Power!

 

[arnydnxluk]

A logo will give your business a more professional look. Having some kind of logo on your website, business cards and other stationary is usually better than plain text in my opinion.

As for these places where you can pick up a cheap logo, the result can be reasonable depending on who you go to - especially for a start up with absolute minimal budgets. Logo's aren't everything (you will succeed on other strengths) and not every business needs an expert marketing team meticulously planning every detail of their logo and branding.

 

[Bruno Domingues]

I think the discussion wasn't about if having a logo is good as that everyone here knows it is. The question was if you can build a strong brand without a good logo.

Just like everything in business it is all a game of percentages, there's no 100% or 0% therefore a logo will have an impact on the overall brand. Even without any logo you can still build a strong worldwide brand. A good logo just makes it easier but it is not necessarily mandatory as people go for a brand for its products, not for the logo.

Like Coca-Cola logo just says "Coca-Cola" even if they had no symbols near the letters, it would still be a success anyway. In the end it is all about having good marketing.

 

[fisicx]

A logo will give your business a more professional look. Having some kind of logo on your website, business cards and other stationary is usually better than plain text in my opinion.

Look up an down the high street and on the website of many brands and you will see a preponderance of plain text:

http://www.lauraashley.com/
http://www.marksandspencer.com/
http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/
https://www.etsy.com/
http://www.east.co.uk/

Even ebay is just coloured letters.

Yes you need to identify the brand with some kind of branding but that branding does not need to be some sort of imagery.

Other large brands may have a symbol but in most cases it is attached to a plain text brand name:

http://www.blacks.co.uk/
http://www.poundland.co.uk/

And yes I know there are lots of brands who do have a graphical logo but the point I trying to make is it's not necessary as a lot of businesses manage OK without one.

 

[Bruno Domingues]

Totally agree, the logo is good for visual brand recognition and this applies mostly for large companies as small businesses rely more on personal contact rather than branding.

Having a logo, a mascot, etc.. all those things can help but aren't vital for success. In the end every bit helps so if you can do a nice logo, that's better than not having one.

Be aware that the low cost logos I seen around in freelancing sites are not original, the people on those sites basically go to Google images, snatch a few logos and show them as their own work. Then they modify the original logo to meet your specs but normally it stays very close to the original which means you could potentially have a lawsuit in your hands for using someone else's logo.

I spoke with a few people from India and Pakistan who explained me how PPH / Fiverr and other sites work, most of the work is stolen from somewhere else which is why the prices are cheap.

I bought a logo for £10 just to see how it is, went on Google images and found the same exact logo being used in another company, after that I reported the person who did it, he got banned from the freelancing site and I didn't pay anything.

Just no point as they create multiple accounts and buy from each other to get great reviews, all fake.

 

[Dmitri Fantastic]

For example?

the first that came to my mind is a local company for t-shirts, hoodies and etc www tim-scapes com/usa-hoodies/ptown-1-hoodie (sorry but I can't post the link) I love the one I got

 

[Kyle Holmes]

Agree with having a logo, having a logo can allow potential customers, quickly identify you.

We created our own logo ourselves and display it outside our office. Many of the customers we ask, say the recognized the logo from previous marketing areas.

Its not a massive marketing strategy but if they see the logo in reliable places and possible in a lot of places.

This gives them a subliminal "sign of trust" every time they see it.

 

[fisicx]

the first that came to my mind is a local company for t-shirts, hoodies and etc www tim-scapes com/usa-hoodies/ptown-1-hoodie (sorry but I can't post the link) I love the one I got

How is that an example of a company that made it because of their logo?

 

[japancool]

A text only logo is still a logo.

 

[fisicx]

Many of the customers we ask, say the recognized the logo from previous marketing areas.

Was it the logo or was it the business name within the logo they remembered?

 

[fisicx]

A text only logo is still a logo.

Only if you define a logo as being 'some words'. If I write the word Tesco in a document that doesn't mean it's a logo.

If you had the word in a particular font and colour with defined kerning and so on then I agree it would be a logo.

 

[Kyle Holmes]

Was it the logo or was it the business name within the logo they remembered?

We have two sections to the logo, a image logo and "text logo" afterwards and it was our distinctive image part they recognized.

 

[japancool]

Only if you define a logo as being 'some words'. If I write the word Tesco in a document that doesn't mean it's a logo.

If you had the word in a particular font and colour with defined kerning and so on then I agree it would be a logo.

The latter. And Tesco do indeed have the word in a particular font and colour.

 

[ProfessionalPainters]

The logo says a lot about the company. It makes it more recognizable and it is easier for people to remember it.

 

[Career Guidance Charts]

Logo plays an important role in the successful business.It represents your company identity with it's company name and make your company memorable.If you have a knowledge about designing than design by yourself.If not then you can give to expert designer for designing a logo.

 

[VIS1BLE]

Everybody talks how important is to have a proper Identity for your business to be successor. Yes, it's really important and it's one of the necessary bullet points to do if you're serious about the business.
But what about the designer? Identity doesn't create itself, it's brought by a designer.
So we would like to discuss few main reasons why it's so critical to hire a professional identity designer.

As we all know, design market is one of the most competitive markets and we could find any kind of designer (or people who loves to call themselves like that), but however, if you thought about saving some cash and hired a cheap designer (let's call him "maker") that's what you could expect in outcome:

• He's not gonna spend time doing a research about your business or competitors.
• Maker is charging less because of lack of knowledge and experience about Identity design. For him it's just another way to get some extra after his main work.
  
• He's taking lots of small projects and working on "conveyor" principle so don't expect your project to be priority. Would you spend 40 hours of work for £20/total?
  
• If you chose a cheap design option don't expect that maker will treat you and your business otherwise.
• 99% that you will need to do a rebranding on a long run. Even with a logo you might have issues straight away.
  
• He'll provide you with an average Logo based on his luck but not a research, his degree or knowledge.
• Usually he'll provides you with JPEG or PNG file, which won't be correct type for all your future needs. So another designer will need to spend his time and your money to re-do your logo to proper (vector) type file.
  
• Don't be surprised when you find out that 'brand new' Logo design was plagiarism and you might be sue for a fine.
• Maker can't provide you with a proper advertising strategy for your brand.

Now, let's see the bright side - professional Identity designer and what he could bring you in outcome:

• Does research to understand your business, plans and your needs.
  
• Spends long hours doing research about competition, so he'll know how to lead you to top, what works and what's not.
  
• Takes only a few projects at a time to ensure that each client gets their deserved attention and amount of time.
  
• Charges more than a maker, but in exchange brings all the skills + experience on a table. You can be sure that he got earned his degree/s and he's focus on this field, it's not just a spare money.
  
• Provides you with a marketing strategy.
  
• Respects you and your business, as it's serious about the job.
  
• Generates original ideas and adapts them to create unique Identity, so you can be sure it's all about you.
  
• Provides you with all necessary files. It's not a cheep service where you must pay hidden extra to get proper files.
  
• You probably will get some extra like eye catching spice, which will help be noticeable in a good way, of-course!

OK, that was a long post, but hope we clarified the main differences.

Now you got a clear image of what you could expect when hiring maker or professional identity designer.

Regards,
VIS1BLE