The costly £25 logo design mistake

Not everyone can afford £2500.00 for a logo design. The idea of a cheap £25.00 logo design is appealing to many small businesses. However, hiring a logo or graphic design service is like buying anything else: you get what you pay for, and this is the concept behind the £25.00 logo.

What £25.00 will buy you is actually just £25.00 of rubbish. You may as well throw that money straight into the bin, because you won’t see any return on it and that might not be down to the actual quality of design.

The £25.00 logo may be technically and visually well designed, but a good logo is more than what meets the eye. If you are a startup and serious about creating a brand identity, consider why you shouldn’t spend £25.00 on your logo design.

1. Logo Design Research

A logo design communicates a message and a concept of who you are as a business. To do it successfully, a logo designer must take time to figure out who the business is, what it does, how it differs, and who its competitors are. You need to research the past, present and future for each of these and come up with solid ideas that can be fused into a complete identity design that communicates your brand.

For 25 dollars you’re getting zero research, just a generalisation from the graphic designers head. Your business means nothing to them and likewise, neither does the logo design. For companies who produce a £25.00 logo it’s pretty much a numbers game. Get as many customers in, hand out the work to one of one hundred graphic designers on tap, and then just dish out whatever comes back. For £25.00 who’s really going to be that bothered about what the outcome is. After all, it’s you who decided to invest only £25.00 into your logo design and that says a lot about you as a business.

2. Logo Design Concepts

After carrying out research, a professional logo designer will begin to conceptualise logo designs. They will likely go through several designs, several times, re-iterating it to perfection so it can be used as a functional logo for your business.

For £25 the designer will take one shot at one concept based on the information provided. It travels from the graphic designer’s head to the computer instantly. It prioritises appearance over what’s right for the startup business, because their job is to sell the service quickly for £25.00.

3. Logo Design Technology

There’s a vast range of technology and techniques used to perfect a logo. Vector software is one of them. Vector software is an application which uses mathematical equations to create shapes. In doing so it allows the shape to be resized to any size, in proportion, with minimal distortion to the shape. Using vector software for a logo means that you can resize your logo and have it displayed on a matchbox or a van door in pristine condition.

For £25 you probably won’t get a selection of files optimised for both web and print, you’ll just get the rasterised jpg file which will only work on a website and if you’re lucky, maybe on your stationery as well. It will probably be pixellated and in some cases I’ve seen the £25.00 logo designer disguise files to dupe customers. (Save .jpg files inside of a vector file to look like an original vector file).

You may not care about the above but you will do when you’re ordering print and the printer asks for your vector or hi-res file and you find that you don’t have one. Some printers won’t accept anything less and if they do, they take no responsibility for the quality of the reproduction because providing the correct design file is down to you, the business owner.

4. Logo Design Expertise

Along with technology comes techniques, experience and quality. A quality graphic designer knows their business and has to charge for the pleasure of utilising their expertise. It’s more than drawing pretty pictures, it requires instinct in design and practising design principles. More importantly, knowing when to break the rules and when not to.

I’ve seen plenty of £25 logo design designs that were horrible in every way because there was no restraint on the design.

5. It’s a Business Asset

I don’t create logo designs. I create complete identity systems so the client has an asset they can use and work with. The identity design becomes a marketing tool and provides answers to questions that will arise with your marketing.

For £25.00 you won’t get an asset, you’ll get a logo and that’s it. The questions that arise when it comes to using your logo design and marketing your business will go unanswered or cost you more to figure out because you only invested£25.00 in your logo design.

You get what you paid for so if you buy a car for £25, expect to get a banger which breaks down, eventually costing you more to fix. Spend a reasonable amount and you’ll get something which lasts. With age, it may even become a classic.

The conclusion

Professional logo design is for professional businesses but if you’re an entrepreneur taking a punt on a business idea then you may need a logo quickly. Likewise, if you’re a small startup with no funds, a logo might be better then no logo. Also as a designer sometimes we need a quick logo design to satisfy a project or a customers needs. In this case, the logo is not the main aspect of the job, it’s the quick turnaround that’s needed.

If any of the above sounds like you then you may want a stock logo design.