Handling a business is no easy task. You have to manage a plethora of affairs, from getting the product right and finding customers, to paying employees and keeping up the momentum. Amidst all this, the worth of a meaningful and memorable logo is often questioned. It’s at this point, you awaken your inner Thanos and say “Fine! I’ll do it myself”. But if you don’t want to end up like Thanos, maybe don’t do it yourself. Why you ask? Does a logo really make a difference?
Yes, it absolutely does.
A good logo enables your customers to recognize and remember you. It may not be the sole identity of your brand, but it definitely makes a difference between accelerating upward momentum and stagnant growth. After all, “Design is the silent ambassador of your brand.”
Designing your logo by yourself might seem like the cheaper option on the surface, but it is a path laced with hidden red flags. In the long run, you might end up paying much more for intangible losses due to customers failing to remember you. A professional logo designer has invested a lot of time and resources in perfecting their craft and understands the nuances of effective communication through visual elements. They are experts at creating logos that will subconsciously leave a lasting impression on your target audience. By designing your logo yourself, you not only risk miscommunicating your vision to the audience but also make your company look like it’s cutting costs and is incapable of delivering quality products or services. Moreover, a DIY logo might not make you stand apart from your competition, but a professionally designed logo can pay for itself with increased sales over a very short period of time. So in conclusion, this is one department where a DIY hack might not be such a great idea!
Hiring a professional designer to create your logo might go over your budget, but in the end, you’ll be glad you invested the time and money in this ever-important element of your business. Logo designing is a collaborative process. With a streamlined design process coupled with transparent two-way communication, to ensure a successful outcome that makes you proud. The following are a few pointers to consider before hiring a designer. This list has the power to flip your anxiety about working with a designer into a feeling of excitement!
MIND PICKINGS
A good logo enables your customers to recognize and remember you.
Pick a designer who will be able to fulfil your requirements.
Logo must represent a clear vision of your business. and the direction where it is heading in the future.
Express yourself clearly and give honest feedback to the designer.
1. How to select a designer for your brand? – Do your homework
You need to start with knowing your designers’ past projects. There’s a chance you may find some designs similar on paper, however, examining their portfolios will give you an idea about their unique styles. Do they use multiple elements, or are they minimalistic? Do they follow a similar pattern in their designs, or are there distinct differences in each project? Don’t hesitate to read reviews from their past clients either. Are there any specific traits that clients mention? Are they bold or are they conservative about their design choices?
Pick the person who appeals to you the most. You do not have to like every single design in their portfolio, but you should be able to trust their skills to bring your vision to life.
2. Prep Work
Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. A thorough introspection beforehand will save you time while working on the design process with the designer.
Start by asking yourself, what is my timeline? Do I have a specific launch date for my new logo? Be sure to account for the production time needed to apply your logo to new materials, i.e. business cards and letterheads. If they’re essential, then start counting backward from your launch date.
Before hiring a logo designer, you must have a clear vision of your business. What is the mission of your brand? Who is your target audience? What sets you apart from your competition? By knowing these answers, you can ensure that the design created caters specifically to your brand, and represents both its present identity, as well as the direction where it is headed in the future.
If you are unsure about your vision, look up for other brands or websites from your field and note down what you like about their logos, what you dislike about them as well as an element that seems missing, which you may want in your logo. The information you gather will give your designer an insight into your overall concept, and sharpen it to represent your brand uniquely.
Now, it’s time to address the green elephant in the room, Money! While money is a sensitive subject, you need to have an idea about your budget before hiring a designer. The designers you contact will have different levels of experience, and different prices for their services. The pricing also depends upon your needs. So, reviewing your needs and selecting a designer accordingly, to make sure that you remain within your budget while getting the design that you require would be a good idea.
Finally, prepare yourself to be specific about your feedback. Instead of saying “I don’t like this option”, you might want to mention the elements that you dislike in the design, or the things you think are missing. Is the font not to your liking? Do you not like color schemes? Or is it just the overall vibe of the design? Expressing yourself clearly and being honest and open is the key to getting the best results. Don’t feel like you are hurting a designer’s feelings by telling them that you don’t like a certain design. Be courteous and open with them about your thoughts, and they can take the feedback to modify the design according to your needs. A great designer will take your feedback and use their professional opinion and experience to get you the best design.
3. Expectations and deliverables. What logo designers should provide (What an ideal logo designer is like)-
Now that you have done your homework and zeroed down on a logo designer, it is time for you to reap the benefits of your hard work. At this point, you must know what you can expect from your designer. We wouldn’t want you to settle for anything less now, would we?
First and foremost, remember, your business is an extension of your psyche and your logo is going to be the face of it. A discrepancy in the understanding of your vision might lead to you being dissatisfied with this face. A professional designer would provide you with a unique set of questionnaires custom made specifically for your business, that ensures comprehension of your vision, as well as, your requirements and expectations.
But communication has to be two-way. Conveying your brand vision to the designer, and your designer understanding your vision is just as important as it is for the designer to be able to communicate their ideas with non-artists. Efficient designers do this by providing the questionnaires and conveying their ideas and design choices without the use of fancy jargons.
Secondly, your logo designer should be efficient and adaptable. In a designing context, being efficient would be the ability of a designer to present your vision in the form of a logo in a minimum number of attempts. Of course, this comes with experience, and fortunately for you, we provide exactly that with our in-house expert and experienced professional designer. Having said that, a client’s desire for tweaks or changes in the logo is inevitable, and to incorporate these changes, you need your designer to be adaptable. Not just that, a certain amount of flexibility concerning your timeline should be expected from your designer. In addition to this, your designer should also be able to scale and translate the digital logo design onto flyers, signages, business cards, etc.
Lastly, your designer should at the most provide suggestions with proper explanation to you but whether or not to implement those suggestions, should entirely be up to you. This also means that your designer should be receptive to your ideas instead of forcing their vision onto yours.
And there you have it, the perfect recipe to find the perfect designer for you.
If you’re still with us but not sure about working with a completely new designer, then rest easy because we are to help you once again.
Contact us to experience ingenious logo designing at a Whole New Level!
About The Author
Nirmayee Rode is a product designer turned graphic designer because of her enthusiasm for visual design. She has been serving the industry as a logo designer and graphic designer for more than two years. She graduated as a designer from MIT Institute of Design, Pune, and went on to pursue a master’s degree in Design Management from Coventry University, UK. She believes good design should be simple and self-explanatory.
About The Author
Neha Neelam is a social media marketing freelancer and a Content Strategist for Social Shiksha. When she’s not creating content, she’s usually found pitching people to watch films.