4 Ways To Get A Logo For Your Website

The logo is one of the most important design elements on your website. Why? For several reasons. First of all the logo is the foundation of your online brand (e.g., it will appear not only on the header of your site, but also on banners, ebook covers and so on). Second, a professional looking logo can give your site much more credibility. Third, a remarkable logo will stick in the minds of your visitors, helping them to remember your site and encouraging them to visit it again in the future.

For all these reasons you should get a good looking logo as soon as possible. But how do you do that? In this article you’ll find the 5 ways you have to get a logo for your website, so that you can choose one that fits your budget and requirements.

1. Do It Yourself

Cost: $0
Quality: Depends on your design skills
Variety of Concepts: Depends on your creativity
Turn-around: Depends on your design skills
If you have a knack for designing stuff you could try to design the logo yourself. There are plenty of good tutorials around the web that will put you in the right direct. Here are some useful compilations:

The advantage of this method is that you have direct control over the final output, and that you won’t need to spend any money. The drawback is that you’ll need to spend a lot of time, and the logo might end up not having a professional quality. It is also possible to buy premade symbols at iStockPhoto.com (search for “logo design”) and then to use then as a starting point for your logo.

2. Buy A Premade Logo

Cost: $50-$200
Quality: Average
Variety of Concepts: Average
Turn-around: 1 day
If designing your own logo is out of questions but you want to keep your costs low you could consider buying a premade logo. There are plenty of websites specialized in selling these, including:

Once you find one that you like you just need to order, informing your website name and tagline. The logo will then be adapted with your details and sent to you (usually in EPS and JPEG formats). You can also search on traditional template websites like TemplateMonster.com, as usually they have a section with premade logo templates too.

3. Launch A Logo Contest

Cost: $300-$500
Quality: Very professional
Variety of Concepts: Huge
Turn-around: 3-7 days
The site 99designs.com pioneered this concept. You basically create a contest for the design of your logo. You specify what kind of logo you need, and offer a prize (the minimum being $240, with $60 of transaction fee). After that over 30,000 designers of that community will come up with entries for your contest. You can give feedback and rate each entry, and once you are happy with one you can award the prize and receive the logo (usually in PSD, EPS and JPEG formats). There are other websites that operate with a similar model, including:

The costs are smaller on these alternative sites, but you won’t get as many entries on your contest. The biggest advantage of using this method to get your logo is that you will have a huge number of options to choose from, all of them created around your initial brand/concept.

4. Hire A Logo Designer / Design Company

Cost: $500-$2000
Quality: Very professional
Variety of Concepts: Average
Turn-around: 5-10 days
This last model is also the traditional one. Until some years ago if you wanted a logo designed you would need to hire a professional designer or design company. While this still works, you’ll probably need to spend more money here. Some designers and design companies you can try include:

Good luck with your logo!

broadget

Wednesday 27 April 2011