ShopForDesigns – Logo design marketplace, website design, corporate identity design, banner design, crowdsourcing.

A good logo design or a good corporate brand identity is instrumental in selling a product or to ascertain its legitimacy in the eyes of the prospective customer. In the graphic design world flexibility and scalability are the key factors which determine the success of a particular logo design. A logo should be beyond the barriers of cultural diversity, language, its mode of transmission media and colours. Let me elaborate on this. You might need to transmit a logo via fax or email. It might be printed in a newspaper, published in a website in black and white. So a logo has to be a timeless, durable and universal face of your brand which is scalable.

We find so many companies re-designing their logos and brand identities. It’s not for nothing. They have felt that their logo does not comply to the above guidelines and they took decisions to redesign their logos. A change in brand identity is not an easy thing to carry out. It costs the company a lot. Apart from the direct cost of designing a logo or brand identity, they have to change their letterheads, visiting cards, envelope, and any pre-printed stationery that they might have with the new logo. They also have to spend a lot in advertising by which they can let people know about the change of their brand identity. Still companies change their logos and brand identities when they find that the current logo is not good enough.

Let us take a look of some of the major companies who have decided to change their logos in spite of the difficulties listed above only because they thought that their logo was just not right.

1. Animal Planet Logo : Their old logo had an image of the earth which was not always printable on all media. Suppose in a FAX message the image would appear like an obscure round solid.

Logo of animal planet before and after redesign

2. breastcancer.org Logo : Their logo again had a solid pink background and a kind of orange foreground. In black and white print the logo would loose its charm and effect. So they used gray to just write the name of their domain. As a pictorial representation they added a rounded double helical structure of the DNA strand since cancer depends a lot on genetic factor. Quite a bit of though went in.

Look at the double helical DNA strand.

3. British Telecom Logo : They had the overlapping human beings which was difficult to print. They replaced it with circular discs which can mean two things. Dish antenna and the earth. They want to convey the message that their dishes cover the entire planet. Also the old logo showed a man speaking through a cone which represents old mode of communication rather than dish antennas.

Their unique discs represent the planet and dish antenna.

4. Discovery Kids Logo : They have simplified their busy design which was difficult to print in black and white again. Their current logo uses the simple font Arial Rounded MT. Its easier to print and colourful so that it appeals to kids.

Check out its simplicity.

5. Ford Logo : The ford car manufacturing company though about its logo and decided to remove the gradient in the blue colour in the oval disc. Instead they have now made a logo which is easier to print and has no gradient effect.

They removed the colour gradient in the oval disc.

6. Jack-in-the-box logo : They used an  iconic box as a representation of their concept.

They introduced a box to make their logo meaningful.

7. QVC Logo : They simplified their logo with just an iconic ‘Q’ with a slight 3D effect. First it struck me as why they are using this 3D effect. Then someone told me that since they are an online e-commerce business so they do not often need to fax or print their logo. So they wanted to create an impression by using 3D, their way of standing apart.

They used 3-D to stand apart.

8. Sierra Mist Logo : Take a look at the misty effect in the word ‘mist’. I would not rate this logo very but look at their specific case. It is just the name of a product and not the company. They just print it on the drink cans. So the logo is justified.

Look at the mist effect.

9. Tropicana Logo : This redesign has been criticized because the orange with the straw was iconic for tropicana. But they decided to make their logo simpler.

They removed the orange and the straw and made it simple.

10. Discovery Channel Logo : They simplified the font so that it becomes more readable.

They used a universal font which is more acceptable.

So now as you have seen why companies around the globe are redesigning their logos you might start thinking about your own logo and find out if it needs a makeover.

I am generally on the internet for about 14 to 16 hours a day. Various logos have been my area of interest since the last 10 years or so. I do not know if I can call myself a logo expert but people won’t object if I say that I have fair exposure in logo design.

During my quest for best logo designs, I have come across some great logos and some awefully ill designed logos that break all barriers and norms of logo design dont’s.

So in a nutshell I would like to advice you to steer clear from naive designers who claim to make great logos for peanuts for your brand. Remember my friend there is nothing called a “Free Lunch” in this world. Good things always come for a price.

While getting a logo designed for your brand you shall always have to keep in mind that a logo is the face of your brand and it should lure your customers to your company rather than driving them off.

So here I come out with a list of 6 mistakes that most businesses do while getting their logo designed. I will also outline ways to avoid making those fatal mistakes.

1.  Getting your cousin design your LOGO.

Say you are starting your own business and your second cousin is just out of graphic design school. You have low budget for your logo. What would be better than getting your cousin design the logo for your new startup!

I am sure a brand new logo designer will not have the exposure to create a great logo design. He or she will tend to use drop shadow, bevel, emboss effects to make the logo look great to him without understand the facts that such things will not reflect well in print or fax.

So, I would urge you to go for professional help to get your professional brand identity. A few dollars will not hurt your pocket but will give you enough leverage in winning the credibility of your clients.

2. Keep your logo design simple and clutter free.

Drop shadow, bevel, emboss, fancy cursive fonts, colour effects! All these sound very tempting to let go BUT just think who has the time to figure out your brand name from all these eye dazzling design effects?

Well if lot of frill is what you got in your logo design then my friend I would strongly suggest you rethink.

Logo design should be bold, clutter free and simple. If you follow these three golden rules then rest assured that your logo will definitely make a lasting impression in the minds of your customers and they will tend to remember it.

3. Always get your logo designed with vector graphics.

Remember to always get your logo designed with vector graphics or using vector graphics. Avoid bitmaps at all costs. If you do not know what vector graphics is then let me tell you that that in layman’s terms vector graphics is such a format which can be blown up in size or reduced without compromising its quality.

Always remember that you might need to print your logo in a variety of materials like promotional t-shirt, a coffee mug that you might gift your employees as Christmas gift or a fax that you might be sending out to a client. A logo might even be needed to be blow up into a huge hoarding that will adorn the freeway. Requirements could be myriad. So avoid bitmaps which will surely become hazy and grainy when blown up to a huge size. So vector graphics is the way to go for your logo design.

4. Choosing your logo designer

When you have to choose a logo designer, remember to choose a person with credentials. In this way you can safeguard yourself of a professional logo. Any seasoned logo designer will keep the nature of your business in mind and follow the conventions of designing a logo. He will also come up with a theme colour scheme for your logo or brand keeping in mind your customers or target audience. Also try to choose a logo designer who has previously worked for businesses close to the nature of your business. Considering the nature of your business is very important while designing a logo!

5. Logo design with clipart of stock photo

If your logo designer is using clipart or any kind of third party stock photo or vector image then be very sure that he has the licence of using that image or graphic. It is very important that you do not violate copyright laws. Intellectual property rights are now taken very seriously by the law. You might go undetected in the beginning but if at any point of time you are caught then it could really be a very expensive proposition for you and your company. So it’s better have all licences for the materials that you might be using.

6. Non conventional logo design!

If you think you will make your logo stand apart then let me tell you that logo design is not the proper domain to show creativity. It’s better to stick to conventions in logo design. Nobody has got time to stare and think what your logo means. They will just move on. So in your best interest it will be advisable not to challenge the intellect of your customer or visitor and its best to make an impression at the first possible opportunity.

So to summarise, I would like to say that the more new your business is you need to make your logo look so credible so that you can stand out amongst your competitors and prove the worth of your business. Happy logo hunt!

Say you are competing for a logo design contest at ShopForDesigns. You could use the message board in our site to your advantage and ask questions to the buyer in order to get an edge over others. If you understand pretty well what the client needs then you will not have to look around in the dark. We have seen from our experience that communicating with the buyer well is a contest half won.

By way of conversation try to find out what the buyer has in mind and what is he or she looking for. Remember that every buyer has a picture in mind when he is asking for a logo or some other graphic work. So if you can find out what the buyer has pictured in his or her mind then your work boils down to just putting that imagination into a design.

So to understand what the buyer wants you will just have to ask him or her intelligent questions regarding the graphic design contest.  In this post we give you some guidelines as to what questions to ask the buyer.

Here we are taking a logo design contest as an example and outlining some questions that you might consider asking.

i)                    Ask the buyer what his company or website does. What service it provides or product he sells.

ii)                   If it is a service selling company then ask the buyer for the long term goals of his company. Also ask what his USP (Unique Selling Point) is. Every good company that sells a service will have a USP.

iii)                 If their redesigning their existing logo then you might want to ask why are they trying to redesign the logo? What do they think is wrong with their existing logo? OR what do they want their new logo to achieve?

iv)                 Ask them about their greatest competitions and what sets you apart from them?

v)                  Ask the buyer about his target audience, their profession, economic strata they belong to, their age group, if they belong to any particular country etc.

vi)                 Does the buyer want an icon along with the name of the company or website? OR does the client have a tagline to be added to the logo?

vii)               Ask if the buyer has any corporate theme colour for his or her business. Then you will have to seriously consider conforming to that if the client does not advice you otherwise.

viii)              Ask if the buyer has any specific preference on typography. Say for example if he wants his logo in bold, italic or normal.

ix)                 If the buyer asks you to use some images then please ask the client where he would like his logo to appear? For example if he wants his logo to appear in newspaper, printed in black then it would definitely not be advisable to use a photo or image. Since you are the expert, advice him accordingly.

x)                  Ask the buyer the deliverable format. If he wants his logo in PSD, EPS, JPG, TIFF etc.

If you can get answers to most of these then there is no point why you would fail to please your client and win a logo design contest.

So now that you have won your logo design contest what comes next is preparing the deliverables for the contest holder which you will need to upload to the website. Here a very helpful tip that we can give you is that if you want the contest holder to give you future work, and most cases we see it happen, then you need to please him with your professionalism. Sending him great deliverables could really be your first step in winning your next graphic design project.

All said and done let us get into the details of planning your deliverables folder. Well now that the battle is won and you emerge victorious still its only a journey half done until you get the client to say the real “wow” in your favour.

Here we outline the tricks and techniques that will help you do it. We would say that as a logo designer or a graphic designer it is your responsibility to get across the proper files to your contest holder even if he has not asked for it.

What file formats should you offer?

Offering a wide range of file formats will make your contest holder very satisfied. This is because in a few days the contest holder might require to publish his logo on his brochure, his business card, might require to show it on television and even blow it up and put it up on a hoarding on the freeway.

You might also consider offering him a favicon which we find many websites do without but we wonder how they do without it.

Let us study the file formats one by one :

EPS : The EPS file format stands for Encapsulated PostScript file. It is a vector format file which you should offer as a deliverable first and foremost as a graphic designer. This file will be required by the contest holder if he needs to blow up his logo to a bigger size without compromising the quality of the logo.

An EPS file can also be imported into a large number of graphic design software programs so you can see that its pretty much a standard format in the graphic design world. So remember to offer this graphic format along with your deliverables.

AI / PSD : AI stands for Adobe Illustrator file and PSD stands for PhotoShop Document. The PSD file preserves all the layers which you created while making the logo or graphic design.

These are also vector formats and if required the client can produce high quality prints from it.

JPG and GIF : These formats are raster formats and not vector ones. This means that they can not be scaled without compromising on the quality of the graphic. So one might ask why is it necessary to provide these formats. The reason being, every contest holder might not have immense knowledge about graphic designing and they might not know how to convert a EPS or a PSD into web publishable formats like GIF and JPGs. So it would be wise to give them a fair quality GIF or JPG of their design so that they can publish the same without needing intervention from another designer.

TIFF : The acronym TIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format. A TIFF is much better in clarity than a GIF or a JPEG and it is also more or less universal in the graphic world. A TIFF generally has a very large size though so it might be difficult to send across. But if you can then there is no harm sending it over. They are generally made at 300dpi so they are suitable for attaching to word document of for printing on letterheads etc.

What colour schemes should you offer?

Full Colour : This is a no brainer. You should provide the contest holder with full colour CMYK which he would be needing for print. You should also provide full colour RGB files for publishing on the web. If you give them the CMYK format that will save then the hassle of seeing strange and unexpected colours when they print the designs.

Black and Reversed Logos : The best way to please the buyer is to offer a logo in reversed colour. So consider doing a logo in black (monochrome) and reversed colour too. Here, please take note, that we are talking about two formats black and reversed so do not misunderstand black as reversed or vice versa. Our experience says that offering these formats makes the buyer very happy in most cases.

Favicon – last but not the least

The word favicon is short form for favourites icon. It is also known as website icon, shortcut icon, url icon or bookmark icon. It is the small graphical shape that appears on the left hand side of the address bar right before the url. It is not very hard to create but adds a dimension to the website in terms of its professionalism. Most designers do not do this as a part of the deliverable but if done then it will set you apart from other designers make your services sought for.

Hello and welcome again. We have been receiving queries regarding how to post projects at shopfordesigns. To help our buyers to post their graphic design job on the site we have decided to come up with a video to help you do it. Please watch the video closely and you shall not have any problem posting your next logo design or website design project at SFD.

Being a web worker myself, I firmly believe that working from home many times better than sitting in a cramped cubicle throughout the day and slogging out. Although it’s not without downsides but most would agree with me.
You would wonder to know that for the last few years working from home has really picked up. People from all specialities like web graphic designers, freelancers, internet marketers, salespeople have been convinced that much can be done from the comfort of their homes.

But if you are a new kid on the block and have just taken the plunge and decided to work from the comfort of your pyjamas then the initial struggle could be a bit tough. No! I don’t mean to discourage you and neither do I say that you can’t do it. But actually a complete change of lifestyle and the understanding of the fact that you are complete self paced boss of yourself could take some time to go down your brain. You shall face two main challenges as a web worker from home : a) pacing yourself and b) to discipline your own self and fight distractions. There are many more and I will deal with them one by one and tell you way to get over them.

However, for anyone who has just taken the plunge to web working from an office job, the initial days could be the toughest. There is a complete change of lifestyle and the realization of the fact that you are essentially your own boss and that nobody is cracking the whip to keep you moving could unleash more troubles and negatively affect a lot of things in your life including your health. In fact discipline and proper organization of work is a challenge which I think most of the web workers (or home workers) struggle with on a daily basis and hence I have decided to mention a few points which could probably help them to get over those issues.

Workplace organisation
It’s very important to designate a place or a room as your office and to give it the due importance. If necessary educate your family members about the importance of that room or space for you and let them not disturb you now and then while you are working. Also remember that it is very important to keep your home office clean and organized. This will help you concentrate and find motivation in your work. Specially if you are a graphic designer your creative juices will not flow if you are not sitting in a properly organized and clean work place.

Decide your hours of work
Imagine waking up to the sound of your alarm, the sound you hate the most on a weekday! Well you are saved from that if you are working from home. However it is seen that most people feel lazy and cant pace themselves when they don’t have a target to start their work at a particular time. Sometimes it so happens with people that they can never start their work the whole day and get involved in some kind of household chore. So you shall have to motivate yourself to hit your desk exactly at the time you have decided to. So you work when you want to work doesn’t matter day or night but once you have decided on the timing you have to maintain it, come what may.

Educate your family about the change in lifestyle
Every self motivated web worker working from home has to educate his or her family members about the importance of his or her work and working hours. This is not so much applicable for people who live alone. But most of us do not live alone and some even have kids at home. It is very important to make everyone at home understand the importance of your work especially kids and it should also be made clear that you should not be disturbed during your working hours. Since you are always at home does not mean that you are always free and available.

Convey a message to your friends too
After a few days your neighbours and friends will understand that you work from home but what they will not understand or what they will not seem to understand is that you ‘work’ from home! So it will so happen that a friend will drop by when you are least expecting him or maybe they shall give you a call and ask you out for some coffee or beer. Convey clearly to them that you are BUSY and that you are not available during your working hours. Even if they come knocking at the door be tactful and convey to them that you have work to do and that it is your working hour. They will slowly learn to take the hint and will not disturb you any further.

Prioritize your work
Prioritizing your work is absolutely necessary. If you don’t prioritize your work then you shall end up wasting your time in unnecessary activities and will engage in a lot of activities which will not help you make money. At the end of the day you have to keep in mind how much you earn working for the whole day. So you first decide what work you need to do and in what order you need to do them. Then do them one by one and go on ticking your to do list.

Distractions – liability or asset?
We are not saying that you need to remove all distractions or avoid all distractions. Distractions will be there and each distraction has a significance in its own. If you consider watching a movie stored in your hard drive in between work then let me tell you that watching a movie refreshes your mood and helps you perform better. It reduces your stress and makes you live longer and better. Say you are a logo designer and you love to watch a movie in between work. You might as well get a brilliant idea from a movie. If you are a copywriter then you might get brilliant inspirations. Remember tom hanks in forrest gump : “Shit happens !!” I hope I have been able to get my point across to you. You have to learn to manage your distractions and give maximum time to your work.

Don’t be stressed . . . .  avoid burnouts !!!
The whole idea of working from home is to reduce stress, get more freedom and enjoying life. Stress is always greater in working from home. You will have more deadlines to meet than you would had you been on a normal 9 to 5 job. But if you are well disciplined and are able to pace yourself then I am sure you will emerge as a winner and enjoy life more than ever. That’s why you left your 9 to 5 isn’t it…

If you want your business to be noticed, then a professional graphic design is your best bet. But the main problems that a startup has in creating a great web design or logo design by a great professional is financial budget. The solution to this is hiring freelance graphics designers some of whom are really good and are much cheaper. But then again not all the freelance graphic designers are equally good. Some are hugely experienced in designing while some are straight out of design college. Now the problem becomes whom you should hire? How do you know which designer is great and who is not? What if there could be an option like this : Many designers would work for your project and you will choose the work you like. In this case you never need to worry about how good a graphic designer is! You pay for the work you like and not commit to any one designer in particular! Sounds great isn’t it?  But where will you find so many designers and such a forum that will help you to do this?

With an aim to make this happen, and to provide a forum where freelance graphic designers and startup owners or someone in need of any graphic design job, can work together, ShopForDesigns, an online crowdsourcing website that creates a forum for designers to showcase their work and win new clients was made. The Omaha, United States based crowdsourcing website was built.

The best part about ShopForDesigns is its abundance of choices or options. The concept is wonderful since it eliminates risk for both the parties. Many argue that the crowdsourcing model is killing the design industry since designers not always get paid for their work. At ShopForDesigns this risk is eliminated. All the contests are prepaid. We hold the money. After the contest is over the winning entry gets paid.

One might argue that there is no surety that my design will win. Well yes there is no guarantee that you design will win. But let us just compare this system to the conventional system of graphic design project. Suppose you want to bid for a graphic design job for some company. You have to supply them with a portfolio of your designs to convince them about your designing capabilities. Graphic designers then have to write a proposal for the job at hand. They have to prepare graphic design concepts also called mock-ups and if the client is a local one then designers might even require to visit their offices for the final negotiation. Sometimes even several times. All these cost you time and money my friend. At shopfordesigns you just make up a concept and submit. If you get a good rating you negotiate with the buyer and proceed accordingly. And if the client really likes your concept you win. It has been seen that many designers use this website as a lead generation website. More than 80% of works done on shopfordesigns lead to consequent work for the graphic designers.

The design process begins when some startup or a business owner / entrepreneur wants a graphic design job to be done and posts it on shopfordesigns forum for submissions. As soon as the listing comes alive, top graphics designers from around the glob read it and start drawing up concepts for submissions. The startup owner can expect to receive concepts in about 6 hours or so. Then designs start flowing in steadily.

It is very important that during the lifetime of the contest the startup owner converses with the designers to tell them what he likes in the submitted design concepts and what he doesn’t. This will help him to get what he is looking for in his designs. There is a message board on site to do just this. Another nice feature is the star rating system. Business owners looking for designs, need to rate the submitted design concepts in a scale of 5 stars. This helps the graphic designers to understand if they are moving in the right direction or not.

In this way we have a winner in about 7days. His design concept gets paid. It has been noticed that once the startup business owner chooses a winner, he generally hires that same designer to do his business card, his website etc. So designers win additional work. So shopfordesigns work also as a graphic design lead generation site.

Works at shopfordesigns generally come from small businesses and startups. They have low budgets and are looking for good designers to do their corporate brand. Until recently this was a catch 22 situation but not anymore. ShopForDesigns helps you launch your contest in a jiffy and you get quality concept designs within hours from ace designers from around the globe.

Hence shopfordesigns is the one stop solution for new entrepreneurs or startups with low budget looking for quality graphic design or web design work in low budget.

We at ShopForDesigns have thousands of talented designers on board but there are some who are just beginning their career and are straight out of college. They do not have so much experience in the field of designing. Logo design is one of the toughest arena in the designing world. While designing a logo you have to know where to stop. Designers generally learn from their mistakes but to save you some time and to make you learn from others’ mistakes we have compiled a list of 10 tips that might help you in a big way.

1. A logo doesn’t need to say what a company does
It is not always a good idea to put tools of the trade you are depicting into your logo. Meaning :
Don’t show a plate or food in hotel logos, doctor’s logo or a hospital logo does not necessarily need to show a stethoscope or a red cross. Just because it’s relevant, doesn’t mean you can’t do better.

Nike logo does not show a shoe neither the Mercedes logo shows a car.

2. Not every logo needs to be an artistic marvel. Simplicity speaks a lot.
Its not always true that a logo has to be an artistic marvel. Sometimes all the client needs is their logo to make a statement and identify their business. So its best to talk to your client and ask them what exactly they are looking for.

3. Two-way process
Sometimes a client may disagree with your ideas and might not like the logo you made for them at all or may reject the direction in which you are aiming. They might go as far as requesting diametrically opposite. First, give them what they want and thereafter show them what you think would work out to be a better idea. If you idea has food for thought then is highly probable they will like it and take it up. This is passive persuasion. They will definitely come back to you when they need any artwork in future knowing the potential you have.

4. Use sketches wherever possible
Sometimes a little sketch can work wonders in a logo. For a change try using a sketch and see if it goes with the theme of the company you are making the logo for. Line drawing can also be considered.

5. Under-promise, over-deliver
This applies for all kinds of design work and not just a logo design. Try to ask for more days and then deliver before time. Never ask for little time and then take more time under some plea. Its always better to ask for some more time. Design projects are like artistic work, you never know how your thought process will work.

6. Don’t be afraid to be non-conventional
Don’t blindly follow what others are doing. Stand out. Don’t be afraid to go out of the lot. If you go beyond the normal tastefully then surely your creativity will be appreciated.

7. Try out black initially
Best is to make our design in black first. If your logo looks good in black then it will definitely look good in good colours. Conversely a poorly designed logo will never stand out even if beautiful colours or gradients come to its rescue.

8. Keep in mind the mood
Designing a logo for a hospital? Forget funny approach. Be serious and try to represent wellness with colour and shape. In other words try to be appropriate and try to keep with the mood of the organization or individual. Designing for a kids school would definitely involve a lot of colours and shapes like cartoons.

9. Make it scalable
While designing a logo keep in mind that it might be printed on an envelope or a hoarding. So it should be scalable. It should be recognizable in any background or any colour. Though a logo has a particular colour but experience says that you sometimes might need to print it in grayscale or various backgrounds. So keep that in mind while designing a logo. Also remember that your logo should even be able to scale down to half an inch without total loss of detail. Look at giants like FedEx, Nike, Reebok. Their logos are simple and hence recognizable!

10. One thing to remember
Do not make a jam packed logo. Make it simple. Simple things make a long lasting impression.  Give people one thing to remember in your logo design work.

Just One.