I used 99designs.com to have a logo devised for a new site I’m creating.
To some web designers this would be seen as a sin and a betrayal of the
design community but I think 99designs is the ideal place to get a logo
created. I wouldn’t want my website itself to be designed that way but a
logo can be summarised in a relatively short brief (a website design
needs a lot more interaction between the client and the designer) and I
was delighted with the results. I reckon there were around 30 separate
designs with 82 variations in total.
But how to choose? I came up with a shortlist of 5 and set up a survey
on the blog that will eventually turn into the fully-fledged website.
Incidentally, this is usually a good idea if you have a web business
that is going to take some time to develop: set up the domain, create a
blog and get some content up there. That way you are simultaneously
making friends with Google and building up a subscriber database (if you
provide good content that is) ready for the main site launch.
Anyway, the lesson of this story has been that, within a few hours, it
became clear that my least favourite logo was twice as popular as any of
the others. That’s because I am NOT my target audience: it is, after
all, them that the logo must appeal to, not me. Of course, I would have
been happier if they’d voted my favourite as their top choice but at
least this way I know that the logo I choose will be effective.
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