BRAND STORY 09
How to Create a Sophisticated Logo on a Shoestring Budget
This step-by-step method will create a logo that drives your brand story- just like working with a big bucks agency.
In 1976, Steven Lisberger became intrigued by Pong, the world’s first commercial video game, so he spent the next five years creating Tron — the first film built from computer animation.
Variety wrote at the time:
“Tron is loaded with visual delights but falls way short of the mark in story and viewer involvement… Lisberger has adequately marshaled a huge force of technicians to deliver the dazzle, but even kids…will have a difficult time getting hooked.”
As a brand builder, getting people hooked is your mission — but like with Tron, it’s easy to make the same mistake and cast the visual delights in the leading role. Nike’s swoosh, Coca Cola’s iconic typeface, and Apple’s bitten fruit form memorable logos but they are not the brand.
I’ve postponed talking about brand design, aka “look-and-feel,” for a reason. The design supports the story, but it’s the story that hooks the customer. Films as varied as The Lady and the Tramp, Harry Potter, and Game of Thrones “delivered the dazzle,” but it’s their stories that built affinity with their fans.
When building a brand, customer affinity with the Brand Story is your measure of success.
Think of your unadorned brand as Cinderella getting ready for the ball. The work of the designer is to find the right gown. Should she slip into a sophisticated black dress — like the logo below from Chanel? Or make a Crayola statement like Google? Or beckon with something feminine and suggestive like Soma? Or lift a St. Pauli pint with a lusty illustration?
Design supports the story — not the other way around. Here are two near-identical products with markedly different stories (and scents). One suggests an evening of elegance, the other, a night of decadence:
Whether you plan to hire a design firm, engage overseas talent, or do it yourself, you will be steering the design ship because only you know your brand story. The higher the fees, the less steering you will do, but even the fanciest design firm will seek your direction. So, let’s get to work on your logo.
Logo design for the shoestring start-up:
Large creative agencies charge up to $600 per hour in New York, and $200 to $300 per hour in other major markets. That’s not going to work, so let’s move straight to plan B.
If you’re on a shoestring budget, plan to spend $300 at the low end and $1500 at the high end for your logo project. (If you’re not a shoestringer and reading this article anyway, consider spending 10 percent of your start-up costs to build your brand. An early-career freelance designer might charge $2500 for the full creative process. A small agency might charge up to $10,000 to build your identity. Yes, this is an investment, but you don’t want to revisit it down the road. Like everything else, your budget should reflect your expected revenue, competitive market, and capital on-hand.
For shoestringers with $300 to spend, step one is to find an overseas designer who works via the Web. Freelance platforms like Fiverr and Upwork will stretch your dollars with their enormous body of overseas talent.
(I apologize to my designer friends who cringe at the idea of hiring overseas.)
Here’s the caveat: Hiring remote talent requires extra preparation, communication, and homework. There's no free ride. The purpose of the step-by-step below is just that. If you do the work upfront, you can create an effective logo within your budget.
Step 1: Collect logos — Pinterest offers a handy way to collect logo ideas. If you’ve been collecting recipes on Pinterest, you know it works like a cork board. You will be collecting logos and pinning them to your board. So, go ahead and create a Pinterest account.Collect logos — Start looking for logos to inspire your thinking. Using Google Images, collect logos from businesses that are similar to yours. For example, suppose you are opening a pizza restaurant:
- If you search on “pizza logos,” you will get a screen full of stock logos.
- If you search on “pizza brands,” images of frozen pizza boxes appear.
- The correct search term is “pizza restaurant logos” or “pizza restaurant brands.” Logos for Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, Domino’s, etc. appear. Limit your search to graphics by selecting: Tools | Type | Clip art.
- Keep narrowing your search until you find logos that match your type of business. For example, you might search on “wood fired pizza oven restaurant logo,” then restrict to Clip Art. [see below]
- Copy the image URLs of your favorites — You’re just starting your search, so don’t be too picky. If a logo catches your eye in Google Images, copy the URL:
- In Chrome or Firefox, click on the logo (it enlarges), then right-click on the larger image and select: “Copy Image Address/Location” from the menu.
- In Safari, hold the Ctrl button, then click on the image. MS Edge does not have this function.
Pin the logos — Build a Pinterest board of logos you like. You can also include logos you dislike for discussion.
- In Pinterest, click your Account Name, then the “+” and “Create board.” Name it Logos.
- Create a Pin by clicking the “+” and selecting “Create Pin.”
- Select “Save from site” and paste the image address from Google (Ctrl V or Cmd V) and Enter.
- Upload from the Web: Click the logo image and select “Add to Pin.” Then “Save.”
- If prompted, select Logos as the Board to save the Pin.
Expand your search — Continue searching for logos with Google Images or a regular Web search and save them as Pins to your board.
- Fine Tune: As you get the hang of it, fine-tune your search. For example, search on “Italian restaurants San Francisco” or “Trattoria New York City.” Trendier logos appear. In Google Images, select Tools | Type | Clip art to view just logos. Pin the ones you like.
- Stock Logos: You can also visit Shutterstock.com and search for stock logos to further spark ideas. For example, in Shutterstock, search on “landscaping logo,” “medical logo,” “letter M logo mark,” and so on. Click on any logos you like and pin them to your Pinterest board. Because of copyright and lack of exclusivity, don’t plan on using stock images for your logo.
- Competitors: Now visit the websites of your direct competitors and pin their logos to a Competitors board to help you position your brand against your competition.
Keep your Brand Story in mind — A trattoria on Lake Como in Italy and an Italian restaurant in the mall have different brand stories to tell. Your logo design should suggest the brand experience in terms of price and quality for the customer.
- As you search, select logos with your Brand Story in mind. Again, don’t obsess trying to find the perfect logo; the plan is not to copy it. You are looking for inspiration. You will fine-tune your selections later.
- Collect 20 to 30 logos. You will narrow them down after you study the Rules for Logos.
- Before you complain, “This is too much work,” your goal is to get a $3000 logo for $300.”
Rules for Logos
Step 2: Learn the Rules for Logos. Successful logos communicate a feeling: “This business knows what it’s doing; it’s the right brand for me.”Shoestring brands make the mistake of using their logo to explain their concept, grab attention, or generate excitement — a laudable impulse early on, but you’re in it for the long haul. Don’t’ confuse your logo with an ad.
Logo Rule One: Logos that go the distance are bold and simple:
- Perform a Google search on the “most famous logos of all time” and let each one sink in. The basic logo test is whether you can spot it at 60 mph. The most iconic logos work without a company name. Bold-and-simple logos win the day.
- Consider Delta Airlines and the defunct ValuJet. Simple block letters form the Delta logo, whereas ValuJet’s happy plane wants to make flying fun. If Valujet had done its brand homework, they would have realized that travelers prefer a professionally run airline over one that is fun. Regardless, each logo supports the airline’s brand position.
Logo Rule Two: Logos fall into three broad categories:
- Type Treatment + Mark: Most logos start with a font, tweak the font, and often add a distinctive mark. Type treatment logos are easier to create and get the job done — especially for business services.
- Stylized logos: Styling the font creates a more distinctive, recognizable logo. Consumer brands like Lyft use stylized font designs.
- Illustration: Illustrations paint a rich Brand Story when they are part of the brand. Grass-fed butter, baking soda, and badass IPAs use imagery to promote their brand.
Food products, restaurants, and consumer attractions are a good fit for illustrative logos, (but they won’t fit on a pen. See Rule Three below).
Unknown to trivia fans, Apple Computer used an illustration for its first logo. Hand-drawn by co-founder, Ronald Wayne, Apple’s first logo showed Sir Isaac Newton getting bonked by a piece of fruit.
Logo Rule Three: Simple is more versatile.
Logos live in lots of places — on websites (where it’s good to be wide), on ball caps where tight logos fit the hat, and on pens and shirts where bold works best. As you sort through your logo ideas, ask: Can I print it on a pen? Embroider it on a shirt? Send it through a fuzzy fax? Stack it and spread it? Simple designs fit in all the places logos like to live.
Logo Rule Four: Select a font that fits.
Choosing fonts can be a dizzying process, but fonts ultimately fall into three categories: Sans Serif, Serif, and Decorative.
- Sans serif fonts are pragmatic, effective, and direct. Most modern companies use sans serif fonts (Clean lines, no decorative strokes).
- Serif fonts suggest elegance, intellect, and refinement. Serif fonts are great for fine wines, perfumes, serious journals, and haute couture. Medium uses a serif font.
- Decorative fonts make strong visual statements, but also tend to be trendy and don’t always age well.
Logo Rule Five: Structure drives logo design.
Creating a logo is less about art and more about getting the parts to fit. You start with a name, a description, and maybe some initials, then fit the pieces into a workable shape like a puzzle. For example:
- Delta is short, so stretch it out (adding kerning spaces between the letters).
- FedEx is two short syllables, so contrast the colors.
- American Heart Association is too long, so stack the words.
- Design Within Reach stacks nicely in a rectangle.
- If the lower-case initials have ascenders, try snuggling them back-to-back. (David James Knight Design)
Logo Rule Six: Logos don’t need color (at least during development).
Ask your designer to use grays to keep color out of the process. Plus, if the logo is ever reversed out of black, embroidered on a polo shirt, or sent in a fax, you’ll already know that it works as a monochrome.
While your designer is working with grays, study your industry for color ideas. You can search for the color palettes of major companies on the Web. Search for “company name brand standards.”
Let your designer guide your use of color, but you should understand the basics:
- Blue: Healthcare and tech logos are often blue. Blue has become the most popular logo color — possibly because blue is associated with positive experiences (blue sky, blue sea, and baby blue). It’s a safe color if you plan to sell to other cultures.
- Green: Environmental and landscaping are almost always green.
- Browns are the least used, except for earthy, organic brands, and brown foods (coffee, bread, chocolate).
- Orange is playful, full of sunshine, and emotional warmth. In the 1950s, Tide Detergent took command of the grocery shelf with its trademark orange circle. Home Depot, Shell, and Amazon use orange to their advantage.
- Purple can express mystery, spirituality, and royalty. Kids love purple, hence Teletubbies.
- Pink rhymes with kink (Cosmo magazine). It’s also used in police holding areas to reduce aggressive behavior. Whatever you think of the Lyft logo, it catches your eye at the airport.
- Red cuts through the clutter with a passion. Like a “power necktie,” red asserts authority and thought leadership — examples: CNN, Time, and CNET. Red also prompts impulse buying. Red might tie with blue for most used in logos.
Step 3: Narrow your board. You’ve read the rules, now review your Pinterest board:- Are you drawn to simple logos or logos with flair?
- Do your selected logos use serif, sans, or decorative fonts?
What makes the most sense for your logo?
- Simple, Stylized, or Illustration?
- Do your selections support your brand story?
- Which competitor logo hits your sweet spot?
In Pinterest, select the logos that best reflect your Brand Story, and “Save” them to a new board. Call it, “Logo Selects.” Use the description field to describe anything you like about the selected logo. Examples:
- “Love the classic feel, openness, sense of balance.”
- “Suggests high-tech without looking techie.”
- “Soft and feminine, but strong enough to catch one’s eye.”
- “Cool-looking letter P.”
- “I would leave my dog with these folks. They seem trustworthy and caring.”
Step 4: Search for a designer. If you know a designer in your price range whose portfolio skill matches your Pinterest selections, you’re set. Otherwise, visit Fiverr or Upwork to review the vast pool of domestic and overseas talent who can work within a shoestring budget.Here’s how to choose and work with a remote designer and achieve agency results. I will use Fiverr for the example:
- Visit Fiverr.com and search on Logo Design. Good luck, over 70,000 results appear!
- Narrow your search, for example, “Restaurant Logo Design” This narrows the results to 2500
- Search on “Restaurant,” Category = Logo Design. Click Seller Level: “Level One.” Fifty-eight highly rated designers with restaurant samples appear.
Now that you have a sense of how the system works, spend an hour browsing for a designer with three parameters in mind:
- Search Terms: Try searching with specifics that fit your brand, for example, Logo Design Hand Drawn, or Elegant Feminine Logo, Logo Design Restaurant, etc. Designers who list Restaurant Logos as a specialty (a “gig” in Fiverr talk) will appear in your results. Not all designers use gigs to specialize their services, so don’t let this constrain your search. Select Top-Rated, Level 1, or Level 2 designers.
- Style: Refer to your “Logo Selects” Pinterest Board to guide your browsing. Ask yourself, “Which designers create logos that would fit on my board?” Some are good at corporate, some have a flair for elegance, others are quirky, and still, others can create pop art. Don’t get swayed by cool-looking designs. Instead, hold the question: “Does this designer have the experience to understand my brand?” Click the “Save” button for each promising designer.
- Price: Using your logo budget as a guide, save designers who fit your price range. Experience plus the local cost of living set the price (Romania is less expensive than Israel). At a minimum you will need as your deliverables:
3 Concepts | 3 Revisions | Vector file | Jpg/png files
If your budget allows, choose: high experience, plus a package with four concepts and unlimited revisions. Illustrations, mascots, 3D, and stylized/custom fonts cost more.
- Studio — Fiverr also offers Studio, a mini agency approach where you work with a team of writers, designers, Web talent, etc. This may be a better solution if you need to build out more than a logo for your brand.
Step 5: Hire a designer. Now the un-fun part. Consummating the deal is a bit like online dating. But since you are following a deliberative process, the results will far exceed what you’d get from a freelance friend of a friend.- Narrow your designers: Go into your Fiverr saved list. Note each designer’s experience, price, communication skills, and talent. Choose 3–4 designers.
- Contact the designers: Using the “Contact Me” link, send the following message to each designer:
Here’s the text to copy/paste:
Dear [Name],
I am reviewing logo designers on Fiverr and like your work. I am interested in your [Platinum] package for our new business. Some background about my project:- Type of business: [from your brand story]
- Target customer: [from your brand story]
- How we are unique: [Your secret sauce]
- Type of logo we seek: [Type treatment with mark, elegant, illustration, etc.]While researching logos, I created a Pinterest Board with logos I like. Click each logo to read what I liked about the design: [Use the Pinterest Invite button to copy the link to your Selects Board and insert here.]
Three questions:
1. Do you have experience with similar types of logo projects?
2. What is your logo design process?
3. Do you have any samples from similar projects that you can share with me?
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your company name]
Send the email and wait for replies.
You want to start a conversation with each prospect before you commit. You are hoping to discover:
- Does the designer respond to your questions with an eagerness to work?
- Does the designer understand brand strategy, or just make cool designs?
- Are you comfortable with the designer’s process and timeline? Is it a well-structured process or somewhat vague?
- What is their stated experience? Do their samples match the quality you are seeking?
Your decision will stem more from comfort than analysis, so feel free to ask more questions.
You can also follow this selection process if you hire a local designer.
Once you feel comfortable, Fiverr will guide the hiring process and manage the payment. The good news, your Brand Story plus Pinterest Board will perform like a formal creative brief — just like the big-bucks agency approach!
Read the next Brand Story article: 10 | Marketing got you stumped? Start with Touchpoints
