INFOGRAPHIC: Why You Should Invest in a Professional Logo
When you start to build your business, one of the first things you think about is your logo. Because they are such an integral part of how your company is perceived and advertised, logos usually come shortly after choosing the company name, and sometimes even before. When your business is just starting out, though, you want to keep your expenditures as low as possible. Before the company starts generating profit, investing even more money and time may not be an appealing prospect. Besides, now that there are thousands of free logo generators and tools that you can use to create your own logo, there’s no need to get a professional designer involved, right? Wrong!
Think about the difference between vacuuming your own car with the hoses at the carwash and taking it to be professionally detailed. Sure, you can do a decent job on your own, but anyone can see the difference between a car that’s been professionally detailed and one that hasn’t. Your logo is the face of your business – don’t entrust it to an amateur or a random generator.
Reasons to Invest in a Professional Logo Designer
1. Build trust
Your logo will become the face of your brand. When customers think of you, your logo will come to mind. Try it out – think of a small, local business you like to frequent. What do you picture when you think of their name? Personally, when I think of my local toy store, I picture their logo, with a floating balloon between the words. When I think of the name of a small baking business I buy from, I picture their name floating in a circle of whisks and baking implements. Whether you realize it or not, your logo will become a memorable symbol for long-time clients and potential customers alike.
When they first stop into your store or visit your website, the logo will be one of the first things they will see. What impression do you want them to come away with? Color and graphics help people create firm memories and impressions, and they are likely to gravitate toward visually appealing content. Over a third of surveyed consumers said they believed a nice logo indicated a high quality, trustworthy business. With so much of your reputation and first impression resting on this one piece of design, it’s easy to see why you would want it to be as good as possible. The best way to guarantee this is to get an experienced professional on your side.
2. Get the full branding package when you invest in a professional logo designer
One thing many people don’t think about is that you may want several different sizes, colors, and other variations of your logo. When you buy a cheap logo or hire an amateur, you’re not likely to get all the iterations of the logo that you need. Often, these lower-end logos come with 3 or even fewer logo versions. When you invest in a professional, you will get a full branding package, including small, large, transparent, non-transparent, horizontal, square, and vertical versions of your logo for all the different places you will need it. You will also get a range of file types, from the original ai or psd file types to more commonly used png and jpg, so your logo can go with you wherever your business ends up, and is endlessly customizable. If you buy a cheap logo, you may have a version and size that works great for your business cards, but what about your Facebook and Google My Business cover photos? What about your website? What about your product packaging or proposal documents? With a professional designer, you can rest assured that you’ll have everything you need.
3. Longer logo lifetime
Not only will a professional give you more versions of your logo, and thus greater versatility, but your logo will last longer. With a lower-end design, you risk a logo that could go out of style in a matter of months or years (or worse, a logo that was never in style to begin with!) A professional designer helps you ensure that you have high-quality files based on a top-notch design in line with current industry research, and they can set you on the path to success with design elements that are evergreen, not just trendy.
4. Follow best practices for logo design
A qualified designer doesn’t just slap a handful of letters together and call it a day. They are educated about what makes a good logo and what colors and elements will help you succeed. Logo generation sites that put out hundreds of random logos each day can’t tell you that you should probably stick with one or two colors, and they can’t tell you what will appeal to customers versus what will be odd and off-putting. With a professional designer, you are essentially buying years-worth of expertise and knowledge. That comes with an intuitive feel for logo design that you won’t anywhere else. Moreover, a professional designer will happily include multiple design iterations so that you can be completely satisfied. Many logo designers offer 3 or more versions so you can give feedback on the design and end up with something that’s exactly what you were dreaming of.
To learn more about the importance of logos and why you should invest in a professional logo, check out the infographic below, with many different data points about logos and how customers perceive them!
