Why should a logo cost more than your dinner?

1. A logo is the very first impression people get of your company. It can make a company appear large, small (whether it really is or not) fun, serious, professional…
2. A logo needs a long life span. Once a logo is designed it will represent your company for many years. A great example is the long standing solid GE (General Electric Company) company logo. General Electric has the fourth most recognized brand in the world, worth almost $49 billion. The GE logo was designed over 100 years ago.
3. A logo needs to be original and genuine. A logo should be designed specifically for your company. A cheap “generic logo” may not reflect your company’s values, beliefs and services. A cheap logo may also use clip art which could end up being used by another company and you losing the uniqueness that visually sets you apart.
4. A logo should be professional regardless of your industry. You would not take a potential new client to Burger King for dinner, in effect this is what is being done with a cheap logo. A logo should give your company a high-end professional image - the WOW factor.
5. A logo should reflect the time and thought gone in to designing it. One of the problems here is that people don’t always realize the amount of effort that goes into a properly professionally designed logo:

• The research - even if the budget is quite small, I would expect at the very least to find out who the company’s main competitors are and how they present themselves. (BD discovery step)

• The brainstorming of ideas. (BD discovery step)

• The rough sketches. (BD discovery step)

• The 4 or 5 logo options worked up on the computer. (BD refinement step)

• The amends, tweaking and further amends. (BD final step)

A logo is the starting point of your whole brand image. The colors, typography and style of a logo will often dictate the corporate look of the rest of a company’s literature from business cards to the website.

A new client of ours unfortunately had already had their logo design done by a cheap logo designer. She had now approached us 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 pleased with the design and so had it printed on their business cards, service brochures and embroidered on polo shirts. 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 a huge expensive mistake plus placed their company in a poor light. The cost of new cards, brochures and shirts easily outweighed the cost of using a reputable graphic designer who charges realistic prices. You owe it to your company to get started on the right foot and in the end you’ll see the value. Design and Color trends are not produced in a crystal ball. Trends are the result of much observation of the surrounding natural world.