Creating a Logo

Business, Startups by Dave Naffziger on February 6, 2008 at 3:09 pm

Companies can easily spend $10K+ on identity and brand consultants while creating the company’s logo and related identity materials (letterhead, business cards, etc.). However, you typically only have access to the ideas and creativity of a handful of designers. Logo creation is much more art than science, so there is a good chance that you actually limit the process by working with an expensive consultant.

I spent $200 on a Sitepoint Design Contest to produce a logo for a new venture I’m working on. I received over 50 entries from ~20 designers. Some of the entries were definitely amateurish, however others were really well done.

The diverse ideas submitted by the designers were extraordinarily useful. I was able to look at many different ideas and would reinforce themes that I liked.


Logos are personal decisions

I solicited input from a handful of friends and colleagues. There was zero overlap on the designs - each person selected a completely different design or two as their favorites. The selection of a logo is always going to be a highly personal decision that reflects the unique likes/dislikes of the person running the process.

Which leads me to my final point:

The exact logo you use is one of the least important aspects of your business and you don’t want to spend a lot of time or money creating it. Find something that works and get back to creating value.

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2 Comments

  1. Rahul Pathak — February 6, 2008 @ 6:21 pm

    Amen, Dave. So much damn money gets spent on inane crap. If your company creates value, it’s logo will become iconic. End of story. Having said that, I’d like to introduce you to a good naming consultant…

  2. mathew — February 8, 2008 @ 10:09 am

    “each person selected a completely different design or two as their favorites”

    - but some people are right & some people are wrong, right?

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