We’re Not Fooling Around:
Pitfalls To Avoid
When Choosing A Logo Designer

By: Danielle Shearer

Something Was Missing

My client Amanda remembered the day she decided that she needed to do something to help her business grow. She was drinking her chai tea, early in the morning, staring at her business plan in frustration, wondering, “What can I do to move my business forward and make us more competitive?” She had been in the tailoring business for quite some time now but knew she needed more; something that would give her a competitive edge. She needed a missing link that would make her business more successful.

Amanda needed a logo and brand identity.

While there are many ways to create a logo as part of your competitive brand development in today’s society, they are not all equal. So how do you know which direction to choose when you need a logo? What pitfalls should you avoid?

Let’s start with some fundamentals: what is a logo? And what is a brand? How are they different? And most importantly, why is it vital that a company invests in hiring an experienced designer to create both a creative logo and solid brand strategy?

Brand Vs. Logo

What is a brand? According to Seth Godin, “A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.”

What is a brand? According to Seth Godin, “A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.”

A logo, on the other hand, is a visual symbol, icon, and font(s) that represents and identifies a company, person, or service. While a logo and brand are different, they work together to form an effective brand development that will make you different from your competitors, establish consistency and trust in your brand identity, and can launch you towards great business success.

But What Makes A Logo So Important?

A logo is a powerful tool for any business and when designed well, it will connect you with your target audience, tell a story, and help build brand loyalty. Think of it this way: your logo is often the first visual impression of your business or personal brand image.

Like with logo icons such as Apple, Target, McDonalds, and Coca-Cola, a good logo not only identifies a company, it connects you, the consumer or potential customer, with the very values and brand loyalty of a company. It should leave a memorable impression; all while building trust, brand awareness, and create a powerful presence.

However, if you don’t invest in a good logo design, the logo may work against you instead of for you.

So with so much importance riding on a unique, creative logo design (as part of a strong overall brand development), what are some common pitfalls you should avoid when hiring a company or freelancer to build your creative logo?

5 Common Pitfalls

• 1. Hiring a designer that doesn’t go through a discovery process.
  The discovery process is a deep-dive into various questions that gives the designer the opportunity to understand your dreams and goals; providing them with the tools and references needed to build your unique brand. Without the discovery process, the vision and mission of your company may never be cast accurately and it’s not as likely that the logo will be a true reflection of you or your business.
• 2. Using a company that doesn’t design their own icons nor creates their own concepts.
  The power of the internet has made images and photos readily available for seemingly limitless uses. But a key component to building a creative logo design is making it authentic and true to your company and vision; something original. That can’t be done through a stock vector/icon.
  Be sure to hire a designer or company that begins with hand sketching icons, fonts and concepts. Also make sure they do thorough research through hundreds, if not thousands of different fonts so that they strongly resonate with your company and brand. You want a designer that will provide you with enough options so that you can choose and create the logo that will reflect your brand best.
• 3. Not knowing what you’re investing in.
  One of the biggest pitfalls companies fall into is hiring a designer who charges hourly instead of per project. Time is the most valuable entity in building a brand. Make sure you get a detailed contract that projects hours spent on each vital step of the creating, building, and finalization of the project. Otherwise, you’ll run the risk of not knowing how much the completion of your logo will truly cost you.
  You could end up paying double or even triple what you would have had you paid for the project instead.
• 4. Not going through a final file delivery (this is an important one!).
  The final file delivery provides you with the flexibility of using your logo and images in whatever capacity you need to for the future of your business. If a company only gives you your files in a JPEG format, you will have little opportunity to utilize your images to their full, efficient capacity. Sometimes this can add more cost to you because you don’t have an original eps file and have to pay for another designer to recreate the JPEG logo.
  Keep in mind, you also want to make sure that you get all of the color formats and fonts, so that you have the tools to keep the brand consistent (extremely important!).

Conclusion

Strong, authentic logos are vital to building a brand that is recognized, trustworthy, and one that truly connects you with your target audience, while differentiating you from the competition. Choosing the right person or company to build your logo is essential to having a logo work for you, and not against you.

Amanda now enjoys a thriving tailoring company that is highly sought after in the wedding industry. Her clients always compliment her beautiful, unique logo as it’s seen on many advertising outlets. The logo took her business to the next level, and it continues to lead her business into new and exciting opportunities.

Please check out Amanda at The Iron Horse Atelier and see how she’s helping her community during this challenging time with the COVID-19.