Logo/Website/Business Card Design

[andrewsejlv]

Hey all,

I'm looking for suggestions/leads on sources for the following work:

-Logo touch up: I like the logo I have developed, but I'd like to have someone with an eye for marketing/industrial design find a way to incorporate my business name into the logo, develop a nicer color scheme, and incorporate a nicer border than the square that I have.

-Business card design: Looking to get something original designed, so people aren't throwing away generic black/white cards that just have my logo and plain text.

-Website design: This one will be in the near future, but I'd like to have someone design a simple sales site for me. Doesn't have to be complex, but when I try this myself it just always seems to be lacking that cohesive feel that a quality website should have.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I don't have a fortune to spend on these tasks, but I could stomach a couple hundred for the first few tasks, and haven't set my budget yet for the website.

Thanks,
Jon

Edited July 31, 2017 by andrewsejlv

[Ferg]

Jon,

My daughter is a professional designer. She does this kind of work all the time. 

I have contacted her to see if she is interested in giving you a quote.

Will get back to you if her answer is yes.

Ferg

[andrewsejlv]

8 minutes ago, Ferg said:

Jon,

My daughter is a professional designer. She does this kind of work all the time. 

I have contacted her to see if she is interested in giving you a quote.

Will get back to you if her answer is yes.

Ferg

Much appreciated!

[garypl]

Jon - I have used a site called logotournament.com to develop a new company logo.  You set the price you want to pay and graphic designers all over the world submit designs to you.  If you see any you like, you select several designers and then tweak the design until you finally award the design to the winner.  Its a novel idea and you receive many types of design concepts - I was very pleased with the final design that I selected.  Only downside is the award you offer must be attractive enough to make it worthwhile for designers to want to work with you.  I think I set my award at $500 and I received many creative designs to consider. 

Gary

[Ferg]

Jon,

Daughter told me she is so busy with other accounts she wouldn't be able to help you.

Sorry!

Ferg

[andrewsejlv]

21 hours ago, garypl said:

Jon - I have used a site called logotournament.com to develop a new company logo.  You set the price you want to pay and graphic designers all over the world submit designs to you.  If you see any you like, you select several designers and then tweak the design until you finally award the design to the winner.  Its a novel idea and you receive many types of design concepts - I was very pleased with the final design that I selected.  Only downside is the award you offer must be attractive enough to make it worthwhile for designers to want to work with you.  I think I set my award at $500 and I received many creative designs to consider. 

Gary

This actually looks like an awesome option. It looks like awards in the $300 dollar range are still getting a few hundred responses, and that's well within my budget for this work. I think I'm gonna give this a shot.

 

9 minutes ago, Ferg said:

Jon,

Daughter told me she is so busy with other accounts she wouldn't be able to help you.

Sorry!

Ferg

 

It's all good. Thanks again for asking!

[garypl]

Good luck Jon - I will be interested in seeing your results if you go this route.  I actually enjoyed the process of looking at all of the different designs that came in.  Once I awarded the job for the best concept, I tweaked the design a bit until it was just what I wanted.  You are welcome to PM me if you have any specific questions or want to chat on the phone about it.

Gary

[CourtneyLynn]

Hey there! If you're still looking, I'm a website developer in Canada. I specialize in websites, but have my hands in all aspects of digital design, including logos and print items. Please feel free to PM me for my portfolio (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post it here).

 

Not to discourage you from LogoTournament, Fivver and other similar websites, but please be careful when it comes to logos and stuff using these methods. There have been many instances of the designers taking a copyrighted design, tweaking it a bit and submitting it. Then the registered owner catches wind of it, sends you a cease and desist letter and suddenly, you're out your money and reputation. Be very careful when you use services like this, just because you never, ever know what you're getting. This is not me trying to snuff out the competition; I just don't like seeing anyone get screwed. I spend a lot of time working with clients who have been screwed out of time and money by designers with less integrity and I hate to see it happen to honest, hardworking people.

[garypl]

6 hours ago, CourtneyLynn said:

Hey there! If you're still looking, I'm a website developer in Canada. I specialize in websites, but have my hands in all aspects of digital design, including logos and print items. Please feel free to PM me for my portfolio (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post it here).

 

Not to discourage you from LogoTournament, Fivver and other similar websites, but please be careful when it comes to logos and stuff using these methods. There have been many instances of the designers taking a copyrighted design, tweaking it a bit and submitting it. Then the registered owner catches wind of it, sends you a cease and desist letter and suddenly, you're out your money and reputation. Be very careful when you use services like this, just because you never, ever know what you're getting. This is not me trying to snuff out the competition; I just don't like seeing anyone get screwed. I spend a lot of time working with clients who have been screwed out of time and money by designers with less integrity and I hate to see it happen to honest, hardworking people.

Your comments are very valid and it does happen that designers pull stock images and reuse them.  I think you have to check with the service on how they will help you if you find yourself in this situation.  By the same token, an individual contractor could do the same thing  - grab a copyrighted stock image and use it in their design.  I considered both routes and I liked the idea of getting multiple concepts from different designers.  

At the end of the day, regardless of where you obtain your final design, if you want to protect it you will need to register it for copyright protection.   

[CourtneyLynn]

5 hours ago, garypl said:

Your comments are very valid and it does happen that designers pull stock images and reuse them.  I think you have to check with the service on how they will help you if you find yourself in this situation.  By the same token, an individual contractor could do the same thing  - grab a copyrighted stock image and use it in their design.  I considered both routes and I liked the idea of getting multiple concepts from different designers.  

At the end of the day, regardless of where you obtain your final design, if you want to protect it you will need to register it for copyright protection.   

That's very true, that anyone could steal a logo. But when you consider the sources, you have a lesser chance of a reputable, professional designer doing so. Much of these design bidding sites are comprised of people from India who bid low to secure a job, but turn out a high volume of subpar work (it's kind of like Indian made saddles - at first glance, it looks okay... but then you start uncovering problems). And you'd be surprised at how many of these indian designers will tell you they're in the States, only to find out after the fact that they are not. I used to work with a company who outsourced their web work to India. The designers could turn out an entire website for $100 or so, but it would be riddled with coding errors and when I started digging, I found out that every single design was copied from somewhere else, including content. The company initially hired these people because they didn't want to pay my rates, but ended up spending more than intended when I had to go in and fix all the problems these Indian designers created. As for logos, I'm not talking about stealing a simple stock image. I'm talking about these designers making minor changes to BIG NAME logos and passing them off as their own. For example, there was one designer who "borrowed" the Nike swoosh, reversed it and thought it was a new logo.  No, no it is not.

 

But as a consumer and business owner, it's entirely your choice in the end. As a designer with morals and integrity, it's my job to try and educate business owners why it is a better decision for their business to interview designers before the project and work solely with one. You'll get a better result in the end, with a designer that is invested in your company. In the end, design is exactly like everything else - you get what you pay for. And again, this is not me trying to win a job or edge out the competition... I just take this industry very seriously and I hate to see anyone get screwed over. I've attached a couple links below for education purposes. The very first link is one I would ask you to please read, because it explains the crowd sourcing dilemma better than I ever could.

 

http://www.thelogofactory.com/logo-design-contests-behind-the-hype/

http://thedeependdesign.com/why-crowdsourcing-is-bad-for-design/

http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/creative-business/opinion-why-entering-design-competitions-is-often-really-working-for-free/

http://www.logodesignlove.com/logo-design-contests

 

[garypl]

I guess I was lucky - I had a good experience, but you certainly raise valid concerns!

[Garyspruill]

This is funny to read due to the fact, I too am starting to look for a logo designer.

I have a person that normally does it for me, but is tied up for the next year. Goodness

Gary

[SolarLeatherMachines]

I've used 99design several times for this.  

[ntipp1]

I believe that the logo is the most important factor in a brand because that is the first thing you see! Most branding is clear and consise. This gives the audience a taste of what your product is. A too complicated logo tells me that they're trying to hard to impress.

[SheilaOrikawaAtelier]

Hello.

I think myself to the logo, and I asked to an artist to make the definitive design, an anko (japanese stamp) in my case. In your case, maybe you need to ask to a graphic. 

Personally, I want to make myself my cards and packaging using hot foil stamping. And for the websites I would to use wix. 

[HudsonR]

I have thought of few minimalist logo designs for my startup. I intend to convert my rough sketches into digital finishing. From where can I get a designer who can also give good advice on the color scheme? Is fiverr or upwork reliable?