Your company logo is the visual representation of who you are. As the face of your brand, your logo plays a definitive role in helping you build connections with your customers and to a smaller degree, may help bring in business.
Understandably, people often consider low cost logo design companies during the initial stages of the branding process because they see an opportunity to "go light" on their startup spending. However, as with most things, cheaper is rarely better. Unfortunately, we see a lot of small companies skimp on this all important phase of brand development. You should move away from thinking that this stage is solely an expense to your business. Instead think of it as an excellent opportunity to invest.
Think about the following when you're allocating your brand development budget. A reliable custom logo design company will spend hours in research time. And considering the average hourly rate of a design company in Toronto is somewhere between $100 and $145 an hour ... how much time do you think the designer charging $299 for a logo is investing in research? Do you really believe that they're going to go through the trouble of auditing your competitors, learning what your prospects like, or even investing in a new font?
A professional designer takes the time to understand who you are. They not only study your competitors - their place in the market and what it is they are doing - but they also analyze your target audience - their behaviours, interest, and attitudes - in order to produce a logo that stands out and appeals to your niche. They study your vision, mission and values and the story behind the business name as well. This grasping process of who you are, allows them to better capture the essence of your brand personality. Investing more for creative logo design buys you more than just a pretty graphic. It buys you a design that will complement both the company name and culture.
Through the use of colour, fonts, shapes, and words, a logo can convey a meaningful projection of your company's heart and soul. Cheap logo generating companies can cheat their clients with such variations. First the logo they come up with isn't always representative of who you are. Secondly the platform users are given to choose from is almost guaranteed to offer recycled work with icons, fonts and formats repeated across the board. This loses the unique touch you need to stand out and may put you at risk of copyright infringement.
Rather than limiting your design to the generic font options, a professional designer also opens the door to altered fonts for your logo. With the correct software and skill, your designer is capable of crafting out letter forms and shapes totally unique to your business.
A strong logo shows consumers you've taken the time to assess your brand. At a glance, people will know that they are working with quality. Therefore, do yourself a huge favour and invest in a logo design company that's going to help you shine from the get go. Choose a company that has plenty of experience and can bring insightful opinions to the table. A company such as this will likely bring more knowledge than a freelancer, be more dedicated to you than an online logo generator, and guarantee you the value not promised to you by low cost logo design companies.
Starting a new business or looking to revitalize your brand? Need a new logo that stands the test of time? Fill in the contact form on the top right and start the conversation today.
Celeste Alfaro
Marketing Intern
Mystique Brand Communications