How to Come Up With a Logo for your Website
Make no mistake, a website logo is very important.
Your website’s logo becomes its identity. It’s like the logo of any brand, organization or business – people associate your logo with your website, and it becomes a symbol that represents your online credibility.
It becomes synonymous with your online presence and everything that your brand and your website represent because it appears everything. Your logo, therefore, becomes the hub of all your marketing and promotional activities.
And since a good logo becomes synonymous with your website and brand, it also serves as a reminder for people, helping them remember your site and encouraging repeat visitors and customers.
Which is why it is so important to come up with a good logo for your website.
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Here are 3 ways you can do just this:
1. DIY
… or a do-it-yourself.
You can design the logo yourself, provided you have an idea of what you want it to look like (check out LogoFaves – an excellent design inspiration gallery – for design ideas and inspiration), and most importantly, the skill to use a designing software, such as Adobe Photoshop, or CorelDRAW.
A DIY logo means that you end up with a design that looks exactly like you want it to, and you end up saving money that would’ve been spent on hiring a designer, our outsourcing/crowdsourcing the job.
The downside is that depending on your designing skills, you might end up spending a lot of valuable time on this task – time that might be better spent on other things, such as setting up your website and putting quality content on it.
2. Crowdsource
The second option is to crowdsource your design on a freelancing website such as Freelancer.com, Elance, 99Designs or oDesk.
Freelancer and 99Designs, for instance, allows people to start a contest. A contest is essentially you telling what you want and how much money you’ll be willing to pay for it, and then freelance designers sending in their submissions and entries for you to judge. You can leave your feedback on each submission, which allows the freelancer to make the required changes and submit another design. The bigger the prize money, the more (and better) entries you’ll receive, and at the end, you choose the best entry – at which point all files are handed over to you, and the payment is made.
Pretty simple and straightforward.
On Freelancer, the prize money can be as little as $30, however the higher the prize, the more entries you’ll get in terms of quantity, and the better they will be in terms of quality. For instance, you’re certain to get hundreds of brilliant logo designs if you set the contest prize at $300 as opposed to something like $30; the higher the better.
99Designs is pretty good as well – I personally like it because its a specialist website, has hundreds of thousands of excellent designers working on it, and is purpose-built for getting design-related jobs done – so you know you’ll get some excellent entries.
3. Design Firms
The third option is to hire a design firm or a graphic designer to work for you.
While crowdsourcing website such as the ones listed above has pretty much made this once-popular method redundant, you can still hire a firm or a designer to work exclusively for you in order to come up with a logo for your website.
Jacob Cass is one person I know who offers this as a service on his website. Then there are other websites such as LogoDesignGuru and HireTheWorld which are a great platform that put you in direct contact with logo designers. In addition, here is a list of 30 excellent designers (along with their very own logos).
Bear in mind that designers usually charge by-the-hour, so this could go on to be very expensive.
Another alternative is to look in the yellow pages or on Craigslist for local designers in your area and getting in touch with them over the phone. This way, you’ll be able to communicate with them in person and convey your ideas in a much more effective manner.
Concluding Words
My advice: pay someone - a professional designer – to design different parts of your website, including the logo and a good banner. Spend money on it, as your logo will become synonymous with your website’s identity, and will be seen and used everywhere, such as on promotional material, etc.
If you’re not proficient in designing yourself, outsource it. I’ve crowdsourced logo and banner designs, among others, plenty of times on Freelancer, Elance and 99Designs, and I’ve always ended up with some excellent designs. Of course, the more you pay, the better the designs you get so that’s something to keep in mind as well.
Feel free to add to this list with your own suggestion in the comments section below!
Read more from my blog
Your website’s logo becomes its identity. It’s like the logo of any brand, organization or business – people associate your logo with your website, and it becomes a symbol that represents your online credibility.
It becomes synonymous with your online presence and everything that your brand and your website represent because it appears everything. Your logo, therefore, becomes the hub of all your marketing and promotional activities.
And since a good logo becomes synonymous with your website and brand, it also serves as a reminder for people, helping them remember your site and encouraging repeat visitors and customers.
Which is why it is so important to come up with a good logo for your website.
Read more from my blog
Here are 3 ways you can do just this:
1. DIY
… or a do-it-yourself.
You can design the logo yourself, provided you have an idea of what you want it to look like (check out LogoFaves – an excellent design inspiration gallery – for design ideas and inspiration), and most importantly, the skill to use a designing software, such as Adobe Photoshop, or CorelDRAW.
A DIY logo means that you end up with a design that looks exactly like you want it to, and you end up saving money that would’ve been spent on hiring a designer, our outsourcing/crowdsourcing the job.
The downside is that depending on your designing skills, you might end up spending a lot of valuable time on this task – time that might be better spent on other things, such as setting up your website and putting quality content on it.
2. Crowdsource
The second option is to crowdsource your design on a freelancing website such as Freelancer.com, Elance, 99Designs or oDesk.
Freelancer and 99Designs, for instance, allows people to start a contest. A contest is essentially you telling what you want and how much money you’ll be willing to pay for it, and then freelance designers sending in their submissions and entries for you to judge. You can leave your feedback on each submission, which allows the freelancer to make the required changes and submit another design. The bigger the prize money, the more (and better) entries you’ll receive, and at the end, you choose the best entry – at which point all files are handed over to you, and the payment is made.
Pretty simple and straightforward.
On Freelancer, the prize money can be as little as $30, however the higher the prize, the more entries you’ll get in terms of quantity, and the better they will be in terms of quality. For instance, you’re certain to get hundreds of brilliant logo designs if you set the contest prize at $300 as opposed to something like $30; the higher the better.
99Designs is pretty good as well – I personally like it because its a specialist website, has hundreds of thousands of excellent designers working on it, and is purpose-built for getting design-related jobs done – so you know you’ll get some excellent entries.
3. Design Firms
The third option is to hire a design firm or a graphic designer to work for you.
While crowdsourcing website such as the ones listed above has pretty much made this once-popular method redundant, you can still hire a firm or a designer to work exclusively for you in order to come up with a logo for your website.
Jacob Cass is one person I know who offers this as a service on his website. Then there are other websites such as LogoDesignGuru and HireTheWorld which are a great platform that put you in direct contact with logo designers. In addition, here is a list of 30 excellent designers (along with their very own logos).
Bear in mind that designers usually charge by-the-hour, so this could go on to be very expensive.
Another alternative is to look in the yellow pages or on Craigslist for local designers in your area and getting in touch with them over the phone. This way, you’ll be able to communicate with them in person and convey your ideas in a much more effective manner.
Concluding Words
My advice: pay someone - a professional designer – to design different parts of your website, including the logo and a good banner. Spend money on it, as your logo will become synonymous with your website’s identity, and will be seen and used everywhere, such as on promotional material, etc.
If you’re not proficient in designing yourself, outsource it. I’ve crowdsourced logo and banner designs, among others, plenty of times on Freelancer, Elance and 99Designs, and I’ve always ended up with some excellent designs. Of course, the more you pay, the better the designs you get so that’s something to keep in mind as well.
Feel free to add to this list with your own suggestion in the comments section below!
Read more from my blog