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Ask HN: What to do for logos?

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Re: Ask HN: What to do for logos?

#51

Post by jtheory »

I used LogoTournament instead of 99designs -- similar approach. I'm generally happy with the result, BUT yeah, it was 300+ bucks, and I was not comfortable with the way that some other designers (including one who went through multiple revisions) kinda got screwed when I had to choose one.

BTW, though, I started out with a self-designed logo: http://forum.emusictheory.com/templates/emusictheory/images/...

Here is the new one: http://www.emusictheory.com/images/layout/logo.jpg

For you to choose what route to take -- well, can you say more about the kind of site you're building? If you're selling to (enterprise?) customers who'll really need to know that you'll be offering professional support, long-term presence, etc. then the craigslist approach won't work for you (and you need more spit & polish right from the start). If it's something like wrttn (reviewed earlier today on HN) then you'd be wasting your money; just go with clean & minimal for the site, and use a nice clear font for a lettered "logo".

Re: Ask HN: What to do for logos?

#52

Post by lrm242 »

peteforde wrote: post #47
pwim wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to elaborate? Whether or not you have a professionally designed logo would make an interesting A/B test. Have you done or are you aware of any research about this?

I think my use of the word logo in my comment contributed to the problem instead of a solution. Specifically, if you think of branding in terms of firing up Photoshop and trying out some cool fonts, then you are not seeing the big picture. The specific reason that this thread has tweaked me so much is that it's just so typical for us developers to minimize the effort that goes into good design. It's like it's somehow…

But right now the guy is bootstrapping. He doesn't have money for brand design. He shouldn't even be worried about brand design. Having a decent looking logo so he looks professional to the 99.999999% of us who aren't brand designers is the key. Doing it at as low a cost as possible is important. This may tweak you and other brand designers out there, but the reality is he doesn't need anything more than eye candy right now.

Re: Ask HN: What to do for logos?

#53

Post by tbranch227 »

b1ind wrote: post #13
theprodigy wrote: post #2

twitter bought its logo for hella cheap, but go find an online graphical design community. Most of them are looking for any type of work to add to their portfolio and most will do it for free or on the cheap.

Oh yeah, web designers love when people ask for free work because they "love to do it anyway" or because its "good for their portfolio" /sarcasm

Agreed! I have so many favorite career moments, but that definitely tops the list. The second being coming up with the entire concept of their site because they don't know what they want.

Re: Ask HN: What to do for logos?

#54

Post by tbranch227 »

I think you need to keep ironing out your solution first. A logo is not as important as a great product. Once you can afford (from your project's profit?) a designer, hire them to help you solidify your presence. Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: What to do for logos?

#55

Post by uptown »

pwim wrote: post #42
peteforde wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The branding and logo development for each of these cost five to eight figures. Money well spent, because the average consumer recognize them instantly.

Do you have a source for this? According to this blog, twitter's logo cost $10-15 and nike's cost $35: http://www.logoblog.org/wordpress/cost-of-famous-logos/

If you'd like to see the price of a logo taken to the other extreme, take a look at Pepsi's last redesign effort. Hint: It involved gravitational pull.

http://bunnitude.com/misc/files/pepsi_gravitational_field.pd...

Pretty insane, but they reportedly paid hundreds of millions of dollars for the total rebranding effort, so I guess the design firm needed to come up with some sort of justification for the bill.

Re: Ask HN: What to do for logos?

#56

Post by damoncali »

Spending any money on a logo is simply not necessary in your position. Until you feel like you need to cultivate a brand, don't do anything. When you do, consider just picking a unique (but not too unique) font for the app's name. You can pay for the font if you must.

Designers get offended by this, but I've yet to see a case where logos are even slightly important to a bootstrapped business. You can always change it later.

Re: Ask HN: What to do for logos?

#57

Post by placer14 »

drewcrawford wrote: post #9

99designs. I feel bad about it because I would hate to see a programmer in the same boat. The truth is I just haven't found a versatile designer that's reasonably priced whose work I consistently like. As long as 99designs consistently provides better results for less money i'll probably keep using it.

You might be interested in this review of 99designs from a designer's perspective. I tend to agree with his comments. However, there also seems to be a market and if all parties are aware of how choosing a service like 99designs (as described in the review) will impact their final product, then I would say "Go for it". FYI, strong language in this review. http://www.graphicpush.com/99designs-bullshit-20
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