eLogoContest enables businesses to crowdsource their logo projects to the masses
Press Release by eLogoContest.com
Monday, 14 April 2008
eLogoContest.com launched on Thursday April 10th 2008 with it's new Logo Design Contest system. eLogoContest provides a clean and simple interface for small businesses and websites to crowdsource their logo design projects to hundreds of professional designers via a "Logo Design Contest".
The premise behind eLogoContest is simple: Companies needing a new brand create a "Logo Design Contest", providing all of the information they can on what they do and what they are looking for, they also select the "prize amount" they wish to pay the designer whose work they pick as the "winner". The project is then presented to thousands of designers, who each create a design based on the information provided. These designs are then presented to the Company, who rates and comments on each of them before selecting one as a winner. The designer whose work gets selected as the winner get paid the full amount of the prize.
eLogoContest holds and facilitates the contest with it's simple and easy to use interface. Live support staff is available for any questions.
ABOUT "CROWD SOURCING": Crowd Sourcing is an increasingly popular way of getting design work done: multiple service providers compete for the full amount being offered for the project, resulting in increased variety for the customer and a large payout for the winning designer. Although Crowd Sourcing has come under heavy fire from some conventional designers no one can deny it is gaining popularity among the masses.
ABOUT ELOGOCONTEST: You can learn more about eLogoContest at eLogoContest.com or
Logo Design Shopper Launches New Website For Comparing Logo Designers
Press Release by Logo-Design-Shopper.com
Monday, 07 April 2008
Logo Design Shopper ( www.Logo-Design-Shopper.com) announces the launch of its new logo design comparison site today. Targeted at entrepreneurs and small businesses, Logo Design Shopper is “the first place you go for a new logo”. This comparison site provides a hand-picked selection of top custom logo designers and logo deals. Logo Design Shopper gives logo buyers a convenient and time-saving alternative to the millions of logo design-related pages returned by search engines.
On the site, buyers can search through a list of the web's best designers before focusing in on specific designer pages offering more detailed information, including descriptions of the packages and deals they offer and their portfolios. Logo designers are grouped by price to help buyers find designers that match their budget. Designers range from experienced freelancers charging several thousand dollars to those with pre-designed company logos for as little as $29. There is specific advice on budget options for buyers with less than $100 to spend, as well as an article detailing what buyers can expect from design packages in different price ranges.
Every once in a while I get asked by prospective clients: "what logos
(has your company) designed for large corporations that I would
recognize?".
This is an inherently stupid question.
First of all, it's dumb because (like most internet based logo design firms) our logo design prices range from
$100-$700, we cater to small businesses and startups looking to save a
few bucks, and no "large corporation" is going to be price shopping for
a buget logo on the internet.
Secondly, most large corporations (although admittedly not all) tend to
hire a very high end design firm (or develop an in-house one) that
handles all company branding and advertising of any kind, including product
design and branding, which is something my company does not do.
Finally, why should it matter? As Seth Godin points out in an excellent blog post, the only reason that companies like Nike, Apple, and Starbucks have such powerful logos is not because some logo design firm did an incredible job on the logo (I'm not saying that they are bad logos in any way, just that they are not THAT incredible on their own), but because of the massive amount of branding energy and advertising invested by those companies, as well as some very sucessful marketing plans.
So in short, if my company DID develop a logo that ended up being nationally recognized, it would not necessarily reflect our skill as designers, but rather the ability of the company owning the brand to promote it on a large scale.
However, I do have to admit, in the name of honesty, that if my company HAD developed the Nike logo, I would without a doubt be proclaiming it from the rooftops and preaching it in the streets, regardless of any of the above.
David Airey made an interesting post about Monogram Logo Design on his blog, and I thought I would share a few thoughts.
As David points out, Wikipedia's definition of a Monogram is as follows:
A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more
letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made
by combining the initials of an individual or a company, and may be
used as recognizable symbols or logos.
I personally really appreciate a logo that is able to make very creative use of initials, but I think it should be done very carefully. Sometimes it is better to develop the entire company name into a unique logo, rather than focusing on simply the initials. It is also very important that focus is put on the company name, as well as the initials.
Basically, make sure that the design is unique (obviously) but don't sacrifice the unique use of an icon or creative use of the company name for a sub-par use of the company initials.
My favorite monogram logo featured in David's post was the below logo designed by Raja Sandhu for First Rate.
Holiday Logos - Are they neccesary and can they help your company image?
Wesley Nicholson - Logo Design Blog
Thursday, 20 December 2007
Seeing that we are in the middle of the holiday season, I thought I would point out that having different versions of your logo for use during major holidays and other events can really help with brand awareness and building trust in your company image. This is especially true if you run a strictly-online business.
I'll let you put your logo on my forehead: Human advertising, is it worth it?
Wesley Nicholson - Logo Design Blog
Thursday, 22 November 2007
Go to eBay and type in "your logo on my body" and you'll pull up at
least one auction with some crazy nut selling the opportunity to put
your logo on some visible part of his/her body (in the form of a henna
tatoo) for up to a three month period. Prices can range from
$1000-$50,000, based on the person and the part of the body (a forehead
will cost you more than the back of a hand).
Now I know that for most of you this is not news, there are entire
sites dedicated to it (http://www.humanadspace.com this guy claims to
be the original "forehead for sale", I didn't take the time to verify
his claim) , and the whole idea was pretty well documented by blogs and popular media when it first debuted, so I'm not going to pretend that I am making some startling revelation.
The question I wanted to raise here is: can putting your logo on
someones body help your company in any way? Is it something that a
reputable company should consider as part of their advertising campaign?
Now, for the sake of this "study", we'll use a currently active auction
on eBay, this guy is selling the following for $20,000: "I will place your company or personal
logo or slogan on my forehead with a henna tattoo for 1 month. Included
with this auction is a guarantee to spend at least 2 hours per day in
public view, and distribute business cards or flyers to anyone who
inquires about the artwork. No profanity or morally objectionable
material. Henna colors are limited to black, browns, oranges, reds, and
yellows."
Okay, so you get 60 hours of advertising 60/20,000 = $333.33 an hour. The next question is, how many people actually
see the logo? You need to take into consideration that even though the
two hours might be spent in the busiest mall in the country, and our
society does become ruder everyday, there are still a large number of
people out there who consider it impolite to stare unashamedly at
someone, even if that person has a tatoo on their forehead. Plus, you
need to remember that only your LOGO is on their forehead, and unless
you already have a widely recognizable logo the chances of the logo
being associated with your company are very slim, the exception would
be if you simply had your company name or website address on the
forehead - i.e. LogoDesignBlog.com, and even then someone would have to
be fairly close and staring your "billboard" in the face to read it.
Now the upside to this would be that anyone that actually saw the logo,
or talked to your human billboard about it would probably never forget
your company.
The real value of the tatto is in any news coverage that your purchase
gets, the first few companies to rent "body real esate" got a very good
return on their money, simply because of the national news coverage
that they got because of it. Sadly, the media seems to have moved on,
and even though you may get some local coverage of it it's probably not
enough to justify the $333/hour rate.
I'm not going to make a call either way here, that is up to you, but it
seems to me that the $20,000 would be much better spent on a bunch of
TV AD spots, where you get an entire 30-60 seconds of a large number of
viewers time, than on the few local people that happen to see your
company logo. On the other hand, if you are able to get a "billboard" locally, and you can get the local media to make a big enough fuss about it, you may be able to generate enough of a buzz to make it worth it. Only you know what is best for your company.
To many cooks in the kitchen? Does putting more logo designers on a project result in a better logo?
Wesley Nicholson - Logo Design Blog
Monday, 19 November 2007
One of the obvious differences between working with an online logo design company and a local firm is the way the project is approached; in traditional design firms, usually one, sometimes two designers are assigned to a project, and that's it.
With an internet based logo design firm, many more designers can be assigned to a single project for several reasons, the first being that the company usually gets a higher volume of work than a land based company, simply because they have an international audience, thus enabling them to have more designers on staff then their location based counterparts, and the second being that many interent based design firms have designers from around the world working for them on a project by project basis.
There are negative and postives aspects to both sides of the situation: working with a local design shop limits you to the experience and skill of one or two designers, whereas working with five or more designers in an internet enviroment gives you a much broader and varied scope of ideas, while at the same time sacrificing some of the one-on-one experience that you get with a local shop.
Ultimately it is up to the business owner to decide what they are looking for from the design process. If they are looking for a variety of options at a low cost and aren't as concerned with actually physically sitting down with someone then an internet based solution will work nicely for them. If the design project is for a very locally based project that is better understood by a local design team then that is probably the better choice (a project for a new logo for a small town in Arkansas is probably better undertaken by someone who knows the town then someone based out of the California).
Go to eBay and type in "your logo on my body" and you'll pull up at
least one auction with some crazy nut selling the opportunity to put
your logo on some visible part of his/her body (in the form of a henna
tatoo) for up to a three month period. Prices can range from
$1000-$50,000, based on the person and the part of the body (a forehead
will cost you more than the back of a hand).
