For those of you who remember my burning desire to acquire a logo for my blog without pulling out a home equity loan, here’s the result No, it hasn’t taken quite this long to get, but close.
The process was painless, I believe because however slightly, I knew the designer. He knew a little of my personality and he’d read my blog and humor column in the local parenting magazine. We’ve drunk coffee the Chamber of Commerce. You just can’t say that about the contest sites.
I got a lot of feedback suggesting I use a crowdsource design site like 99Designs or Crowdspring. I know some people who’ve had great success with these type of services. However, aside from the technical difficulties (one service never could validate my login) when I browsed around those sites for examples of work it all looked a bit generic. It was all very nice, clean, good-looking graphics, but not a lot of personality. That’s fine for real insurance agents, but when you’re selling your viewpoint, it’s got to show.
Reasons I’m Happy I Used a Local Designer:
- He got it right the first time out – We had a five or ten minute discussion and the next thing I new I had several logos to choose from, including this one.
- He worked with my budget constraints – I was clear about my itty-bitty budget and he respected that, delivering what he promised. In crowdsourcing you set the rate, but it seems you have little control over the results.
- He kept in touch and responded to specific queries – When I wasn’t sure about one aspect of the design, he offered an alternative. (I ended up settling on the original.)
- He talked me through the buyer’s remorse – At first I was nervous to accept the logo. It’s the perfectionist in me. I wanted to make sure this was THE logo for all times. Well, who knows about that. What this logo is is very good for now. The designer helped me remember all the things we’d talked about before he created the image. The more I look at it, the more I like it.
- I can recommend him to my local friends.
I’d love to see some examples from people who have had success with any of the sites listed above.
