Professional Business Logo Needed - Not a Request

[Ash]

Hi there,

I can't find anything in the rules which says I cannot post this, so here goes:

I'm after a professional business logo for my up and coming Personal Training venture. I know exactly what I want, and feel I will need to pay money for it as I need/want it to be at a high standard. Can anyone recommend (or vouch for) a website or skilled designer who'd be willing to make around £10-15/$15-$22 for a one off design?

Thanks.

[Ash]

*Tumbleweed*

[Tumbleweed]

Nov 14, 2015 14:40:53 GMT -8 Ash said:

Hi there,

I can't find anything in the rules which says I cannot post this, so here goes:

I'm after a professional business logo for my up and coming Personal Training venture. I know exactly what I want, and feel I will need to pay money for it as I need/want it to be at a high standard. Can anyone recommend (or vouch for) a website or skilled designer who'd be willing to make around £10-15/$15-$22 for a one off design?

Thanks.

I noticed you sort of tagged me but I personally don't know of a website that will do this (I know someone posted a site at one time but I have no clue if it was in GT or here or how long ago, exactly, so no hope of finding the thread) and as far as a skilled designer, the only one I know that does this professionally is Kami and the money you are offering doesn't sound very promising (in my opinion) unless it is a quick less than one hour or max one hour job. Sorry, wish I could be of more help.

I know you said this was not a request but just in case someone would really like to do this, please take it to pm so all details and money can be discussed there.
Otherwise, if anyone knows of a great site to make such a professional request, you can post here.

I wish you luck and again, sorry, no help at all to you.

[Kami]

Thanks for the tag, Tumbleweed .

To be honest, Ash , you're going to have difficulty getting takers for that amount. I'm sure there are, somewhere, but that's a really lowball amount for a professional business logo. I don't have the time to take on extra work right now but if I did, $22 USD would cover less than 30 minutes of work at my rates, and mine are lower than average since I don't have a degree in design. The average rate of freelance designers in my area is almost $80 USD per hour, and in-house or agency designers charge much more.

A logo from scratch, getting your input and making any edits, at the least would at least half a standard work day (~4 hours), and that's being incredibly generous.

You could likely find a low-cost designer on sites like deviantArt, but a) it's really undervaluing the designer, and b) there's no guarantee of skill or professionalism.

EDIT: tagging Graham for a UK perspective.

[Graham]

Cheers for the tag Kami

Most designers worth their salt are going to quote something around £150+ for a logo, what that entails is up to each designer - for some that might be one logo, some may provide 2 or 3 options, some may include unlimited iterations of a logo to help get it right...it does depend.
Might also be worth checking on ownership of the logo and any associated source files, as some may get a bit weird if you choose to get any stationary printed elsewhere (business cards, flyers etc). Also look at the designer's previous work and how they consider your logo in terms of use for web, print etc - some are better than others. I can always refer my business partner but it depends on cost.

If you're looking for a cheap option, then perhaps looking at sites such as People Per Hour where there are numerous people offering similar services for lower prices or quick turnaround. I've not used anyone from there myself but the responses i've seen have been mixed.

At the end of the day, you get what you pay for.

[Ash]

Well, lesson learnt. I went and sent a tweet to the world and found someone who seemed fairly reputable, i.e. The work they presented seemed good value for money for what I was paying. I paid the money in reluctantly (without seeing anything in return) and what I got sent back was awful. I've asked for amendments to be made and not heard a thing back since. See ya £20.

Thanks for all of your replies. Tumbleweed, that wasn't a direct tag - more so an indication of the lack of responses I received initially haha.

Looks like I have to re-budget and get myself sorted then hey.

Thank's all.

[Tumbleweed]

Nov 29, 2015 11:11:33 GMT -8 Ash said:

Well, lesson learnt. I went and sent a tweet to the world and found someone who seemed fairly reputable, i.e. The work they presented seemed good value for money for what I was paying. I paid the money in reluctantly (without seeing anything in return) and what I got sent back was awful. I've asked for amendments to be made and not heard a thing back since. See ya £20.

Thanks for all of your replies. Tumbleweed, that wasn't a direct tag - more so an indication of the lack of responses I received initially haha.

Looks like I have to re-budget and get myself sorted then hey.

Thank's all.

Sorry that happened to you.

[Ash]

Nov 30, 2015 11:21:40 GMT -8 Tumbleweed said:

Nov 29, 2015 11:11:33 GMT -8 Ash said:

Well, lesson learnt. I went and sent a tweet to the world and found someone who seemed fairly reputable, i.e. The work they presented seemed good value for money for what I was paying. I paid the money in reluctantly (without seeing anything in return) and what I got sent back was awful. I've asked for amendments to be made and not heard a thing back since. See ya £20.

Thanks for all of your replies. Tumbleweed, that wasn't a direct tag - more so an indication of the lack of responses I received initially haha.

Looks like I have to re-budget and get myself sorted then hey.

Thank's all.

Sorry that happened to you.

I should have known better, but thank you.

[Kami]

Nov 29, 2015 11:11:33 GMT -8 Ash said:

Well, lesson learnt. I went and sent a tweet to the world and found someone who seemed fairly reputable, i.e. The work they presented seemed good value for money for what I was paying. I paid the money in reluctantly (without seeing anything in return) and what I got sent back was awful. I've asked for amendments to be made and not heard a thing back since. See ya £20.

Thanks for all of your replies. Tumbleweed, that wasn't a direct tag - more so an indication of the lack of responses I received initially haha.

Looks like I have to re-budget and get myself sorted then hey.

Thank's all.

A bit belated on this but some general pointers regarding looking for an artist, whether it be for custom illustrations, designs, or whatnot:

- never pay full price up front beyond a certain amount. for me, i ask for 50% down on pieces between $80 and $200 USD; anything higher, I ask clients to sign a contract for their sakes and mine, covering not only the scope of the project but their total budget and the amount they are paying me up front (usually 10-20%). this way, if either party fails to uphold their end of the bargain there is legal recourse. whether it's worth pursuing depends on the amount spent/owed, of course. if you're asked to pay full price upfront, make sure they have a good reason first, then realise you're still taking a big risk.

- be wary if you're not asked to sign a contract, letter of agreement, or something along those lines for large projects. this doesn't always mean that the person is shady, but a contract protects both client and commissioned. if you have misgivings, ask them to sign a letter of agreement (there are templates online, just fill in with the information the two parties agree to). If if they won't sign, i'd think twice.

- if the rates are low, find out why. some artists undervalue their work out of ignorance. some undervalue in an effort to undercut other artists in the hopes of attracting more business. some people have low rates to cheat others out of their money like a venus flytrap of savings. sometimes they're having a sale. whatever the reason, find out why. if something seems off, trust your gut and seek elsewhere.

- most custom work will be charged on an hourly basis because designers have no way of knowing if their client will be a scope creep (adding on "little" additions beyond the scope of the agreement -- another reason why contracts are good -- that wind up costing a lot of time and effort), if they'll have a lot of changes, if something will go wrong, etc etc. if they're not charging hourly (or quoting you a price based on their hourly x's estimated time), again find out why and see if the answer settles your misgivings. if not, trust your gut and find someone else.

- USE INVOICES. companies that are legit i guarantee will use invoices. with freelancers, they're more inclined (usually) to take paypal or some other form of casual exchange. ESPECIALLY if they use paypal (though applicable if they don't), you need to get your payments with an invoice so a) you have a receipt, and b) they artist doesn't get in trouble tax-wise and for avoiding the middleman cut for using the service to get paid for their work. paypal in particular has gotten stricter over the years about flagging accounts that receive payments for services without paying the merchant's fee (either through invoicing or being paid as "goods and services" instead of "sending money to family and friends"). if it were me paying, i'd rather ask for an invoice rather than be sent money for "goods and services" because invoices are numbered and dated and the information is accessible separately from the rest of your paypal activity so you don't have to sift through it to find payment information. 

- word of mouth is a pretty neat way to find people to commission. tumblr for instance has a very large art community, full of artists and illustrators with reasonable rates (and a LOT of low rates). if an artist is good at their job, chances are someone will recommend you someone.

- as a personal piece of advice, i'd brush up on your design terms and jargon. while a majority of designers won't make up stuff or say they can do things they can't, there are a handful that do. i remember when i was looking for a logo for myself, being unable to make one due to other obligations, i came across a designer who, when asked, had no idea what some very common jargon meant -- i asked if the piece could be done a certain way, at a certain size, and he got very defensive about me trying to tell him what to do. quite bizarre really. i found out later he had no idea what the words i used meant.


i hope this helps!