Why I No Longer Offer Single Logo Services
Starting a business can be rough. I understand firsthand that a lot of business owners didn’t grow up dreaming of owning their own business - I sure didn’t. For many of us, it’s an opportunity that’s presented after getting a taste of the corporate world and seeing it’s not for you, or a side hustle that becomes full time because the potential of entrepreneurship far exceeds the limited wage that comes with a day job.
There’s a general list of to-do’s that pop up when you google “how to start a business” and most look pretty similar to the following:
Choose a business name
Register your business with the state
Apply for licenses and permits
Open a business bank account
Hire someone to create a logo
The common misconception with this is that your business doesn’t need a logo, it needs a brand. Your brand includes the development of a logo, but it doesn’t stop there. To add, your brand is far too important to be something that is checked off your to-do list. A successful brand requires intentionally. I fully understand that without an education in brand strategy, marketing, or design, it’s hard to differentiate between a logo and a brand, and it’s hard to discern if it’s necessary for you to invest in additional brand identity elements or if you can start small and grow from there.
Here’s a few things I’ve learned from my formal education in brand development and brand identity design:
When you opt for “just a logo” you’re not only cutting corners on the aspects of a brand identity that reflect personality and allow your business to stand out, you’re honestly creating more work (and unnecessary expenses) for yourself in the long run.
So why do I no longer offer single logo services?
There is a certain level of research and strategy necessary in order for any designer to create an effective logo.
If I’m doing my job well as a designer, offering “just a logo” requires me to do all of the extra work it takes to build your entire brand, and then selling you only the logo as the end result.
It requires me researching your niche, analyzing your audience, scheduling strategy meetings with you to understand your vision and the personality of your business, and then strategizing how I can take all of that information and combine, morph, and create it into choices of typography, color, imagery, etc. that represent you well, speaks to your audience, and sets you up for growth.
A successful logo needs to reflect the brand it represents, and just because you’re only paying for one aspect of a full brand identity doesn’t mean that the rest of the work to build the full brand wasn’t required to get there. Otherwise, you’re truly just wasting money because a logo without intentionality, strategy, and purpose won’t help your business grow or stand out.
And if we’re being completely honest, after you outsource to a designer for logo creation, eventually you’ll need additional collateral as a vital part of your brand experience if you want your business to look and feel consistent in both physical and digital spaces. If you’re in e-commerce, you’ll need packaging and a web presence; if you’re service-based you’ll need promotional graphics for social media or business cards - and hiring different designers to create different aspects of your brand identity results in a pieced-together look that ends up being both more expensive and less successful for you.
Don’t cut corners on your business. If it’s not the right time to go all in, save until you can. It’ll be better (and less expensive) for you in the long run.