If you’re a business owner or marketer, you completely understand the significance of your logo design.

From its shape to its color, your logo represents everything about you and your business. Your logo visually symbolizes your brand.

So when it comes to choosing the right logo design, you may soon realize that it’s not a task for the weak-hearted.

logo-design-ideas

To make the process easier, it helps to know the primary design principles which factor into creating a successful logo:

  • Simple
  • Memorable
  • Timeless
  • Versatile
  • Appropriate

Source: Drive Digital

But deciding upon the right logo design can still be stressful. To stand out in today’s digital world, you need a logo that is cutting-edge and unique.

Many businesses have also learned that the logo designs that may have worked well for them at first no longer fits with their more mature business images. It happens all the time.

For some examples, visit “Did You Notice These 21 Companies Changed Their Logos This Year?” on the Business Insider site, and check out the recent logo design changes by some rather well-known companies such as the following:

  • Google
  • Airbnb
  • WWE
  • PayPal
  • Lipton
  • Cadillac

When is it time for a new logo design?

Without a doubt, savvy business owners and marketers know the importance of keeping up with current trends in the marketplace, some of which may necessitate a new logo design.

Perhaps your brand has opted to revamp its overall strategy. Maybe the consumer demand for your brand’s products and/or services has changed. Or maybe you need a new logo design for a reason as simple as a name change.

Have any of these or similar events recently affected your business or industry? Whatever the reason, you’re ready for a makeover. A logo makeover, that is.

However, the process of culling from dozens and dozens of logo designs may seem daunting.

Luckily, you no longer have to feel overwhelmed when choosing a new logo design. Instead, you’ll be glad to know there are many resources currently available, and most of them are easy and affordable.

Here are ideas to consider when your business is ready to change its logo design

DIY (Do it yourself) logo design

DIY logo design has one main advantage: there are plenty of “free” software tools on the internet you can use to design a great logo quickly and easily.

Of course, there are the downsides. The main disadvantage is that the DIY logo design you create may lack the finesse of one designed by a professional.

Another potential downside is that some of these “free” software options turn out to be “freemium” services.

What does freemium mean? According to Wikipedia,

Freemium is a pricing strategy by which a product or service (typically a digital offering or application such as software, media, games or web services) is provided free of charge, but money (premium) is charged for proprietary features, functionality, or virtual goods.

As long as you’re okay with the possibility of additional (but still affordable) charges, then the DIY option should work out for your logo design purposes. This is especially true if you have a limited budget, a creative streak, and plenty of time.

Here are three DIY logo design generators that are currently popular:

Using a crowdsourcing site for logo design

If your business has a limited budget as well as time constraints, then a crowdsourced logo design contest site may be a good option for you.

In her post for Mashable, “HOW TO: Get the Most from Crowdsourced Design Competitions,” Aliza Sherman offers the following six steps to get the most of crowdsourcing a logo design:

  1. Do Your Homework First
  2. Pick Your Platform with Care
  3. Post a Clear Design Brief and a Better-Than-Average Price
  4. Comment on Everything — Yes, Everything
  5. Up Your Deadline to Turn Up the Heat
  6. Pick a Winner and Close the Deal

One popular site for crowdsourcing logo designs, 99Designs, provides all the information for getting started up front. They also show examples of logo design winners from recent contests so you can easily obtain ideas for your own business logo needs.

Hiring a professional designer

For businesses with a budget (let’s say hundreds, but not thousands of dollars) and the desire for a skillfully crafted logo design, then hiring someone to create a logo design for them is a good option.

If you do not already have a designer in mind, you can ask around for referrals. You can also check into hiring qualified freelance designers from sites such as Freelancer.com and Upwork.

But, as the saying goes, let the buyer beware.

Here are suggestions when hiring a professional designer:

  • Know what you want – and what you don’t want
  • Check out the designer’s Web design portfolio/work
  • Ask for and check out references
  • Have a realistic budget – and know what you can expect to pay
  • Discuss where the work will be done (local or outsourced) and who will be doing it
  • Ascertain whether the designer can meet your deadline(s), before you start work
  • Make sure you are the one who owns the design

Source: CIO

Do you love your logo design or is it time for a makeover? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to leave a comment below.