I get asked questions regularly about design with logos being the top service category I get asked about. There’s a lot to know when it comes to creating a logo and lot of information out there! Today I thought I would share the 3 questions that I get asked the most about logos!
Question: I want to do my own logo using an online design editor. What do I need to do to ensure I am not unknowingly copying someone else’s logo?
Answer: This is where using templated logos can be tricky! I highly recommend you research what you want vs what other companies are doing to make sure no one else is using the same templated logo. You don’t want to look like everyone else & your logo is the spokesperson for your business. It’s the visual piece that everyone will associate with your business. If people figure out it’s not original, they may assume the rest of your work might not be original also, which may or may not matter to you. If original or creative content/products/services matters to you then stick to the investment of a custom-made logo.
However, if you do go the DIY or template route, you need to read the license agreement on the website you find the logo on to make sure of a couple of things:
a) they can legally sell it to you
b) that you can buy the rights to the logo.
This is important because sometimes with templated logos the company or artist holds the rights & you are just buying a license that gives you permission to use it. You don’t always get a copy of the editable original file. They sometimes only sell you png or jpg files.
Question: If I find a templated logo design I love online, is that something I take it to a Graphic Designer to make some changes/tweaks/fixes to it?
Answer: Possibly. It will depend on a few things:
a) if you have the rights to the artwork
b) if you have the editable files like a PDF EPS or AI file
c) if the designer is willing to do the work. Some designers won’t work on existing files even if you have easy to edit files due to concerns of plagiarism or personal preference. If you have a designer in mind or a specific budget, I’d make some calls to the designers you want to work with and see if they would do that type of work.
I do want to let you know that it can potentially cost you just as much money to have it fixed/tweaked as it does to have them create a logo from scratch
Question: Let’s say I safely created my own logo. What do I do if my business expands further than I thought it would? What happens then?
Answer: I’ve seen clients who used a templated/DIY logos and had their business expand. In one case, they worked from home and expected to be working out of the forever and figured a DIY logo with no editable files just a JPG would be good enough, but the business exploded a year later to where they needed a small building. Luckily, they had purchased the rights to the logo from the original designer. This meant, even though they didn’t have editable files they owned their logo and could have a designer recreate it for them in a scalable format for the building signage and the promo products they wanted.
In another case, they figured their DIY logo would be something they could replace when they got bigger, but every time they tried to get away from it their business dropped off and they would go back to it. Now they feel stuck with a logo that was “good enough” in year 1, but they don’t really like nor does it fit their vision anymore. (& I think it is part of the reason they can’t break their income ceiling, but I don’t have all the facts so can’t be sure)
Question: If I decide to have a logo custom-created what do I need to know?
If you decide you want a logo that is custom created. Make sure that is a vector logo. Vector, in this sense, is made up of points that use math to change the size and can be scaled up to very large & down to very small. You don’t want a logo that is raster or bitmap which is made up of little squares doesn’t scale well, in fact, most of the time it only looks good at whatever size it was created in.
Also, interview a few different designers, make sure you click with them as a person, you like the type of work you see on their website portfolio and you are willing to invest in the work. Custom logo prices can range from $50 into the thousands. This means, to me, that you really need to do your homework when interviewing the designers, you are thinking of working with!
Curious about working with me on your logo? Check out the Logo Design section of the website for all the basic info.