How to hire a logo designer

July 26, 2018  In Design

How to hire a logo designer

So you’re starting a new business, congrats! You’ve got a plan, a product or an idea and you’re ready to rock.

I would suggest hiring a professional logo designer from the beginning rather than creating a logo yourself and then rebranding down the road. You’re going to be working hard to build an audience and brand equity from the start and that’s much more valuable if you have good long-term visual branding to capture that value from the beginning.

You need a logo to represent your business but maybe you’re not exactly sure where to start. It can feel like a confusing process, especially if you’ve never done it before. Here are some steps to make hiring and working with a logo designer easier and more effective.

Define a budget. This part is tricky but important. It doesn’t have to be exact but give some thought to it and try and figure out a ballpark amount you’re able to invest.

Before you contact anyone, spend some time thinking about your goals for the brand. What do you want it to communicate and who should it speak to? Here are a series of questions to ask yourself that will help define the brand direction. Some designers will ask you these in their creative brief as part of the process.

Creative Brief

• What is the business name exactly as you’d like for it to appear in the design.
• Do you have a tagline for your brand? If so, what is it?
• Who is your ideal target audience?
• What are your goals for the logo design / brand?

• Who all will be involved in this project on your end and what will their roles be.
• What specific message would you like your design to communicate?
• Do you have a full concept in mind for the logo or are you looking for help creating concept options?
• Are there any specific colors you have in mind?
• Will your logo have an icon, or will it be just text? If an icon, what specifically do you have in mind?
• Are there any logos / brands / styles you like?
• Is there specific fonts or font styles that you feel drawn to for the brand?
• What differentiates you from other companies in your industry? What is your competitive advantage?

Now that you’ve got an idea of the message you want to communicate and the people you’re trying to reach, you can start looking for the perfect designer. Look through some portfolios to find someone whose work you like that fits with the vision you have for your business. Local is good but remote can work just as well.

Contact a designer whose work you like with the information you gathered in the creative brief and request an estimate. If you have a budget defined you can also include that and ask what they could provide within that range.

Once you’ve chosen a designer and worked out an agreement you’re ready to get started. Every designer works a little differently but I’ll outline some common parts of the process in another post.