I have written before why I think a logo design is worth investing a little time and money on, but a friend told me something a little while ago that shed a whole new light on cheap logo design.
My friend another freelance designer had recently started working with a new client who unfortunately had already had their logo design done by a cheap logo designer. He had now approached my friend to help with some design work after the problems they had had with the cheap logo. They had basically commissioned someone to do a really cheap logo, they were happy with the design and so had it printed on they stationery, literature and vans. The problem began when they found another local company in the same line of work had a very similar logo. I don’t know whether both logos were done by the same designer, or perhaps two different designers used some logo clip art, or the designer copied the other logo, but either way it was an expensive mistake. The cost of van graphics, literature and stationery could easily outweigh the costs of using a reputable graphic designer who charges realistic prices because they spend time thinking about and designing a logo and not just using clip art or copying designs.
Its a pretty embarrassing thing to be driving a van which looks very similar to your competitor too.
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It is really good to know about graphic designs. Your blog is great with beneficial content that is helpful to everyone. Here I came to the point’s that I am not aware of.
Hi Tara,
I think the problem is that people do not know enough about graphic design and logo design. And if you do not know the difference between a cheap designer and a skilled graphic designer, why would they pay more. Unfortunately, it takes something like the situation above for clients to realise the difference. We have worked for clients before who want to rebrand but do not want their logo changed as it would be too expensive to reprint stationary and vehicle graphics. This makes rebranding very hard as no matter what you do, you are still stuck with the badly designed logo. So although they know they need to change the cheap logo they had designed, they simply can not afford to do so.
This is a big problem actually. There are a lot of businesses doing very cheap logo design – mass producing it! And with such low costs – they also gets a lot of clients, because as Steve Eightyone Design said, not everyone know enough about graphic design.
I think that Steve’s right – it can be very tricky for a prospective client who doesn’t understand the ins and outs of commercial design, especially if faced with a cut-rate operator who’s promising a professional standard job.
It’s important to educate your prospective clients as they’re embarking upon a design job with you: give them an outline of what you will be doing for them, the reasons for the cost involved and why it will be of value for them in the long run. For example, with logo design, the work and time involved doing research into the client’s industry and competition in order to make the client stand out (thus avoiding the look-alike logos).
I believe it also due to the cookie cutter sites that come up ranked #1 on google with $99 logo design… people don’t know what they are getting.
I actually wrote a post on why logo design does not cost $5.00 which relates to this very much so.
I’m a designer who I suspect lets the side down and play my part in de-valuing logo design, I regularly advertise logo designs on ebay for £35. The reason I can afford to do this is because I am currently registered disabled due to mental health problems and receive incapacity benefit and I am very limited in the amount I can charge before it starts to affect benefits. All my clients so far have been small businesses, usually sole traders and small non-profits who can not justify paying the same price for logo design as a larger business with their bigger budgets. I take pride in my work and never use clip art or copy other designs, I used to work for a small design firm before getting ill, they charge £250 for a logo design for small businesses and £500 for a large business. I think there is a place in the market for bottom feeders like me, I see what I do as a service for small businesses which keeps my portfolio fresh and keeps my skills sharp whilst I am unable to work, I typically spend 6 to 10 hours on design and always get a detailed brief off clients before starting work.
The Nike swoosh logo was designed by an art student friend of the founder for $20, she was rewarded years later with a massive amount of shares in Nike, remember cheap doesn’t always mean nasty
Hi Jackson, thanks for your comment, I am glad the information was useful.
Hi Steve and Tracey, I am sure this is the case with some clients and I appreciate every one likes a bargain. I just want to bring to the forefront that that “cheap logo” can in fact cost far more than anticipated. I think I would advise anyone with a limited design budget to spend more on the logo, any other peice of literature can be short lived a logo sticks around for a long time and as you say is aplied to everything which is costly to replace.
Hi Jacob, thanks for the link
Hi Rob, while I appreciate that you want to keep your hand in with design and that you are in a difficult situation, you may find it difficult should you in the future want to freelance full time. It would be difficult to change your charges from such a low fee (that you could not support yourself on) to a real wage. If you spend 10 hours on a logo at £35 you are in fact charging less than UK minimum wage.
Regarding the Nike swoosh, there are always situations when designers create logos/designs for friends and charities as favours, this is not the same situation as buying a logo online at a very low rate.
I have always remained disciplined with my starting cost for logos. Yet, I also try to gauge it’s value to the client’s business in relation to their product or service. If a high profile, international company comes to me for a quotation, the estimate could be up to ten and even a fifty times the starting fee I note to most of my small-business clients. This is because the value, function and travel of that logo would be very significant to the company’s identity and brand initiation within their undoubtedly vast marketplace. Also, if I didn’t come in with a higher, albeit reasonable and justifiable price (this is where researching the client can pay off), these clients may tend to question my quality of work or expertise, as they tend to [usually] understand the get-what-you-pay-for principle. They also be educated about our skills and our field when we present concepts based on actual research and process.
I agree with the lack of education some clients may have in regard to the value of what we do and how it can significantly effect (+ or -) their business. However, most businesses expecting to operate with a currency perspective such as a 100.00 logo, likely don’t understand the value of their other suppliers and even their own product (they probably err on the high side for their own). In turn, they likely won’t be turning into a high-revenue or repeat client. In my experience, they also tend to be the least trusting in our skills and quickly become a nightmare client.
I recommend setting your minimum relative to the value of our field and what we do, maintain it, adjust upwards relative to the client’s use of and return on the logo’s exposure and know that you’ll be attracting quality clients who understand the value of what you’ll provide. Remaining worth your hire will draw the kind of clients that will lend to the growth of your business as well as the subsequent value of the design industry on the whole.
I think
Yikes! Good reminder and I hope that most businesses don’t have to learn the hard way like this.
A situation I’m running into a lot recently is those internet startups that say they only need a logo design at screen res, so they hire someone who designs logos in Photoshop. Well, when we want to promote our affiliation with this now fairly well-known internet site, we can’t use their logo in our print materials!
A warning to designers, too: check logos you receive for various jobs in Illustrator (or similar graphics program) because I’m finding a lot of companies/”designers” don’t understand exactly what EPS means (vector!!) and simply throw a JPG in an Illustrator file and export to EPS. It’s infinitely resizable that way, right? Or they will have a texture/gradient that is a JPG as part of the logo with a clipping mask. It’s a very bizarre thing I’m coming across more and more and a reason trained, professional designers need to be hired to create this important part of the company identity.
Sorry for such a long winded comment… it’s an aggravating situation I’m dealing with at the moment!
As a designer i’m always annoyed when a customer. Sees a competitors logo and wants thier logo to be very similar.
Annoyed!
I think that this is a problem rife within all aspects of the industry. The client wants something as cheap as possible and doesn’t consider that the saying ‘you get what you pay for’ even stretches to the lowly designers.
The amount of web design companies out there offering generic template designs at dirt-cheap prices is testament to this. It’s only when the client sees their new site looks and handles like a sack of bricks that they see realise the false economy they’ve invested in, and even then a lot of them can’t see it.
You know I don’t know why it never occurred to me that a nightmare scenario like that could take place as a result of getting a cheap logo. It makes a great selling point for pricier logos.
I agree with Gareth that this is a common problem with the customer who want cut cost and speedy logo, want to have their logo just like their customer if the designer kept out exactly the same, they yell out, this the Xerox copy, and if we deliver with little bit a difference they go opposed all over, that this is a totally different what they want! What is this? Very annoyed! How to coup up from this situation?
Some great comments here on this subject. I’ve heard this debate a fair few times now and it is a problem. But I think only a problem if your clients are all small sole trade business’s. Those slightly larger business will have someone who is responsible for the marketing budget and they can usually spot quality as well as price. I know this isn’t always the case and there most definately is a problem, but you just have to stick to the way you work eg: quality for a fair price and as long as the work is good you will get clients who are prepared to pay for that quality work.
But getting back to Tara’s original subject, you get what you pay for! Although admittedly you don’t usually pay for a logo that someone else is using and that is disgusting to say the least!
When has cost got anything to do with somebody replicating somebody else’s work?
A cheap logo does not mean it’s been stolen! Plus an expensive logo does not make it original! Take for example Quark’s logo which is as derivative as it comes… I can’t imaging they paid £35.00 for that! I do agree that those $99.00 logo sites are not doing anyone any favours but this argument hold no water at all…
I think I got abit off track I was commenting more on cheap logo designs rather than stolen ones.
“A cheap logo does not mean it’s been stolen! Plus an expensive logo does not make it original! ” Yes your right Rick.
A cheap logo will usually mean that its been thought about very little and will usually be a generic symbol, shape etc which fair more likely to have been used previously and not reflect the values that that company has. Your really paying for time and thought, or should be when you purchase logo design.
That is amazing. Logo design is extremely important. If your company takes off this is what people will remember you by so it is worth taking the extra time to pay a bit more and have it done right.
Great Blog, That’s quite a painful story! Shame you couldn’t upload a photo or something but that is quite common problem.
One of my colleagues sat and made a logo for an electrical company, and without realising it, completely copied the logo of a air conditioning manufacturer.
Like all these things, it’s impossible to work out whether it really is a coicedence, melicious or a blatant copy!
Yeah it comes down to the old saying “you get what you pay for” there are no free/cheap things – the difference will always be in the quality and the deliverables.
yea i think so many people underestimate the importance of a good icon. It’s what defines you and what sets you apart from others. It a way of being recognized and many people will make judgements and/or form opinions just by looking at someones logo.
-Mike
We have come across this kind of scenario many times. In this case, the client who has invested in printed material and signage using the “similar” logo will get off lightly for having to redisgn and replace what has been done.
Serious cases arise when someone files a law suit against you for trading as/passing off as them by having a similar looking logo.
Save in the long run by hiring a professional branding company that will design exactly and unique to your needs.
We transfer full copyrights to our clients upon completion which is something that people should consider before hiring a company to design for them.
Good article!
Pay Cheap – Pay Twice. I’ve heard that sentiment more than once, and it’s entirely accurate.
I’m sure we’ve all had enough customers come to us with tail between legs admitting that they tried the cheap option first only to regret it and have to use someone decent (and more expensive) in the end after all anyway.
yea i learned alot about logo design last semester i really am glad i did it because its a college class that i will accually use in my life
Yup, I fully agree.
Wow.. What a great article. Comprehensive, informative and to the point. Yes i 100% agree with you that cheap log designs cost more.
Great blog , its really very nice . i am going to subscribe for this , i can know many things from your blog that i am not aware of , thanx
Awesome info thanks. im gonna get a logo
We so often have to work with companies whose logo’s are aweful because of exactly what you have said, people go cheap and then they cannot understand why they are not taken seriously. Digg your post.
I’ve never been good at logo design but I’ve tried to design a few for small companies I do work for and they have all been very simple. This is some very helpful information and I will have to read the related posts. Thanks.
A company I work for always writes their name in Times New Roman. I’ve tried to change it but they insist that it’s not a logo and that they don’t have a logo. BUT, they put it on all their products and business cards! It’s embarrassing more than anything.
It’s never a good idea for a company to scrimp on their identity. Not only can problems like the ones described above (LaurenMarie in particular has a point) but employing a cheap/inexperienced graphic designer can lead to extra problems. One company, for example, who contacted me recently, had actually lost the details of the designer who did their logo originally and now they wanted the identity augmented to include several sub brands, so I had to painstakingly re-create another designer’s work! If they’d employed a good designer or design company they would have been able to track them down again easily and saved a bit of money!
If you get a good customer who like your work it will really not be cheap but nowadays graphic making becomes cheaper because of the competition.
Having a good logo is the first step to a big and successful business!!
Tara: Your post bring to the table a very “problematic” issue. (I apologize in advance because English is not my mother language. In my country what you say about some designers, charging too little for a logo design I think happens all around the globe. In my country (Uruguay, south of the world, between the colossal Argentina and Brazil), competition for the work is ruthless.
I personally think that (like in other orders of life) you receive what you deserve, so if a client wants to buy a “BMW” but wants to pay for a “Ford T”… it is most probable he will be deserved.
I am a Freelance designer too, and there had been times I decided to say no to cheap work. The most important thing for working (I think) is to have our budget very clear, how much we charge for hour, for work, in order not to find ourselves feeling like slaves. Finally clients could not know about our work, but we should not underestimate them. Most of the times, an open and honest explanation is enough. I like this blog, and will be visiting.
I forgot!. It is also important not to charge too much.
We have worked with a couple of clients that have had their logo designed on the cheap and we find that quite often they havent sufficiently been tested to ensure they work at different scales and in different formats etc.
I’m just surprised that people believe that for something so important and custom made you can pay so little. If you have a leak in your plumbing you are going to call a plumber and pay him for one hour of work 10 times more than you are ready to pay to a designer who had to go to college and get years of experience to master his skill and who is supposed to get to know your company and design a logo not in one hour. What’s wrong with those people? I think they deserve it.
This is a big problem actually. There are a lot of businesses doing very cheap logo design – mass producing it! And with such low costs – they also gets a lot of clients, because as Steve Eightyone Design said, not everyone know enough about graphic design.
Its really good to know about designing from you blog… and too agree with you Labelle
I have to disagree somewhat with this argument. Although a cheap logo may be more risky because the designer uses more generic symbols, etc. This can happen to any designer no matter how much they charge. The only way a business can be absolutely sure that they have all rights to a design for their product/service is to have a trademark search done, which is too costly for many businesses. Just because you hire a pricey designer who puts a lot of thought into their work, it doesn’t mean someone else out there hasn’t already had that idea first.
Having a quality logo design is really important for a business, recently I’ve found that few realise that.
Hi,
The collection is great and I hope you have worked hard to do all these. Thanks for your interest.
This extends out into the graphic design world beyond just on logo design, I’ve made the mistake too many times of hiring someone on the cheap for a website layout and have paid dearly for it.
They should be aware of the competitor in the first place and know that their logo looks similar to theirs.
I find it very annoying when I request a client’s logo to go on a design I’m working on, and they have used a cheap logo designer or web designer that has not designed the logo in Illustrator or other vector software, and I get a too small to use bitmap image from them. Then they don’t understand why I can’t use the logo without me trying to re-draw it as vector artwork. Thanks for sharing this.
I so agree with what you say, a logo is the brand of a business and should be treated as that. Spend the extra money and ensure that its credible and can build respect.
actually anybody can create a logo design there are softwares that offers easy logo design but when you say expert then i guess they should be a master and besides should be payed more than just a cheap logo designer.
I never actually like the idea of just doing a logo, it should be part of a much bigger picture in creating a brand.
You pay cheap… you get cheap.
You are so right. Logo is extremely important and should not be outsourced to the cheapest bidder. Most of the time, the cheapest designer is the worst. It will cost you money and time.
Peter
i wouldnt want a cheap looking logo… that says a lot about your company, and im sure no one wants people to think that their company is cheap :/
-jason