

Ask HN: Where do you buy logos? - orofino

I have a product idea and even a basic logo idea, but where do you buy a quality logo?
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OafTobark
Sorry can't help. I come up with my own. Perhaps seek a designer to help.
Someone else mentioned 99designs but in my single experience, it was very poor
even with constant feedback. And many used seemingly generic designs that look
like they pull them from templates somewhere else and merely made
modifications.

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pearkes
<http://99designs.com>

~~~
elclanrs
If you're serious about your business, I would advice against contest sites
such as 99designs. I sometimes participate in there out of pure boredom and to
be honest I wouldn't buy my own logos. The problem with these sites is
quality. The logo is the face of your business, you need a designer that's
going to dedicate time and effort; a designer who cares about your business
and understands branding concepts and design best practices, not just how to
create a pretty logo. Logos don't have to be pretty, they have to be memorable
and adaptable, that's the key.

You see, on speculative sites like that, where 99% of designers don't have a
chance to win, people don't put any thought or effort into their work
(including me) because for most of them it's not worth it. Most logos on
99designs are cliche, not print ready, and most of the time plain bad.

On these sites you have to think about players, not designers. Like Poker, the
more players there are the less chances of winning you have, therefore you
feel less confident, bet small and don't risk. Hardcore players will exploit
all the known tricks and cliches to impress clients and win a contest. But
what most clients don't understand, from my experience, is that a logo doesn't
have to please them, it has to please their target audience.

If you want to build a successful image for your business, find a designer
that you can trust and talk to. Go online, look for designer's portfolios,
contact them to get a quote and go from there. Also understand that when
hiring a freelance designer it's not "work for hire", it's a collaboration,
and that's what those sites can't offer, and will never be able to.

~~~
krapp
That is true... but there are designers who don't have better ways to make
money out there so I wouldn't necessarily discount these sites completely. He
would probably have better luck looking for local designers first, someone
with which he can build a rapport.

~~~
elclanrs
I agree that for designers in some parts of the world 99designs is very
profitable but IMO the time the client wastes on filtering hundreds of bad
logos would be better invested in working with a designer and improving upon a
concept following a more rigorous and interactive process. In this case less
is more.

