Will you be a victim of cheap logos?

2 November 2017

What do you get for $5 these days?
You could buy a cup of coffee, a bottle of water – a logo? Really, a logo? That just seems ludicrous.

As crazy as that sounds, it is true. There are plenty of websites out there offering cheap logos. The million dollar question (excuse the pun) is to ask yourself is this the value you put on communicating your business, $5? So let’s explore some points you may want to consider before you hit that ‘purchase now’ button (we can assure you, your return on your $5 investment on a cup of coffee or bottle of water would be a better financial decision). Lets take a step back and firstly define what is considered a logo (because you should really reflect on what you are purchasing here). The Monash University Business School defines a logo as;

“a distinctive mark, sign or symbol, or a graphic version of a company’s name, used to identify and promote its product”

The key word in this definition is ‘distinctive’. Do you really feel a $5 logo could actually communicate clearly, accurately and distinctively your business value proposition to your target market.

Distinctive – a great logo should stand out for the right reasons. It should reflect a memorable graphic representation of your story. It should reflect quality, professionalism, and overall be an interesting reflection of your brand.

For a fiver you can choose from:

a limited selection templates that have alteration restrictions

select from a limited choice of colors, fonts and styles, choose an avatar as a client success manager who may not understand your industry and behaviors of your target market with little or no professional qualifications or training

for additional money you may get your logo in another file format (so that fiver may of just blown out to $100 plus)

chances are that a $5 logo has been reused hundreds of times, maybe slightly tweaked (navy blue to deep blue, you get what we are saying!)

I bet by now you are thinking that cup of coffee is looking like a much better investment!

Now take a moment to search the Internet for brands that have logos that have captured your mind and heart. The logos that if you saw them at a glance you could quickly identify the brand they belong to. We have a feeling that the logos you like will be designed by a graphic designer with knowledge, skill, expertise and a deep understanding of what it take to design and create a truly ‘distinctive’ logo. Still not swayed? Before you go down the ‘cheaper’, I’m going to save my money option, reflect on how you want your customers and potential customers to react when they see that logo. Will you capture the their hearts and minds with limited choice, limited personality, limited applications. Before you tradeoff one of the most important aspects of your marketing tool kit consider the following points:
Why would you go to all that effort of marketing your business and spending time and money on awesome digital assets such as your website and content marketing only to finish off the branding strategy with a cheap logo that honestly, looks cheap.

Your logo helps represent your brand story. It sets the scene. We know that human beings make a judgement on a person in approximately 7 seconds and the affect of aesthetic perception happens in 17ms according to research undertaken by Google. This applies to judgements of digital content too.

Consider if your logo is recognisable, unique for the right reasons, compliments your marketing efforts and if it is designed to be re-positioned appropriately across a variety of mediums (digital and non-digital).

Do you like working with real people, discussing your ideas, gaining insight into consumer behaviour? A designer is a highly qualified professional that spends years at university to ensure they understand every aspect of design. They provide you with a connection of visual know how with consumer perceptions. They will embed design into every element of communications, they are meticulous in selecting the right elements (typography/colours/style/tone), and are always coming up with ideas that compliment a brands core offerings that makes sense to the consumer.

Bad branding and design will always look like, well bad branding and design.

By now we are guessing you are sitting with that coffee in hand right now, enjoying the aroma and pleasure a good cup of coffee brings, thinking to yourself that was well worth $5. Before you take that last sip, you may want to read this article ‘How LO can you Go?’ for a little experiment undertaken by a designer to see what and how you work with these dime a dozen online logo services. All the points we have raised throughout this blog were experienced in the hire a cheap logo designer.

We leave you with this inspirational quote a good logo can achieve:

“A brand that captures your mind gains behaviour. A brand that captures your heart gains commitment.” Scott Talgo

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Will you be a victim of cheap logos?