Small of Duty

Your small business does not need a logo. And that’s a strange thing to say coming from a branding guy – yeah me, a graphic designer that’s designed a crap-ton of logos in my lifetime. But lemme say it again…

Your small business does not need a logo!

Honestly, unless you’re well-funded by an angel investor – and last time I checked, most start-ups are not – then you’re better off investing your time and cashola on getting a decent website up and launching on social. Once you’re established and raking in the dough, that’ll be the time to level-up.

Come back to us then for a full brand development. And bring donuts this time, sheesh.

Ok, but lemme clarify what I mean by a “logo.”

Full Graphic Logo

Designing a well-researched and well-crafted logo can run into the thousands. It takes designers time and energy to develop words and symbols into something meaningful and memorable. We don’t just draw purty logos. And it almost always includes a custom illustrated image or graphic icon that represents the business is some way. This aint no clip-art logo.

A full logo often includes the entire brand too. Considerations for typography, colours, imagery, voice and the kitchen sink. The brand’s personality is developed and presented as a nice neat package.

So, yeah, it’s more than just a logo. A logo you just don’t need. Yet.

Wordmark

Instead, we often suggest that small business focus on getting a simple wordmark logo designed – at a fraction of the cost. Apparently, I like talking myself out of a bigger sale.

Wordmarks are a unique text-only typographic treatment of your company name. A focus-on-fonts as we like to say. And are done lightning fast to keep the costs low. We then package your wordmark with a great colour palette and a few great images to create what we call, a “mini-brand.” This is all you need to launch your business when it comes to web and social. A mini-brand for a mini-budget.

Oh, and those $5 logos…

Yep, you can buy a logo for five bucks. In some cases it works out alright, but invariably those who choose this route come back to us later, realizing it aint working. But that also has something to do with those who buy a $5 logo probably don’t invest in a decent site or a web-dev company to build a professional site. But that’s a whole other discussion.

But really, what’s so bad about a $5 logo?

Well, buying a low-cost, low-quality logo can hurt your brand. Your potential clients can easily spot amateur design and will judge your business as less-than-professional. Ouch. Take a look at Jason Li’s article, he nails it…
“If your logo looks amateurish, so does your business.”

So, if you’re about to launch a small business, connect with us and let’s chat about what you need. And what you don’t. We’d be happy to walk you thru it. If you’re an enterprise-level biz, then we be havin’ a different conversation.