Perhaps no branding element is more important than your logo. Often the “first impression” that most prospects have of your business, it needs to present a number of key branding elements at one glance:
- Name – what’s your business called?
- Slogan (optional) – what does your business do that’s relevant to your prospects and how do you excel at it?
- Persona – are you serious, playful, hip or square, etc.?
- Expectations – playing off of persona, your prospects will have certain expectations that need to be met. For example: a bank’s logo should be serious and square to encourage trust while a boutique’s can be playful and hip if it fits the business’ offerings and prospects.
- Design – built upon your persona and expectations, your logo’s colors, typography and overall design needs to match both aforementioned elements.
Given the important role your logo plays, creating one for your business is often a high-stress task. Even after reading tips for creating a great logo, things can still go wrong when you launch it to the world.
In addition, most small businesses lack in-house design skills as well as the money to hire someone to create a custom logo.
Never fear however – the need for inexpensive yet effective logos has been heard and a whole host of useful logo design services are available. To help you create your logo, we’ve gathered a list of 43 logo design services you can use today.
The list is split into different sections, each serving a different need yet all providing inexpensive yet effective options:
- Do-it-yourself logo design services;
- Crowdsourcing logo design services; and
- Logo design services marketplaces.
Do-It-Yourself Small Business Logo Design Services
Don’t let the name of this section put you off – while the services listed in this section enable you to create a logo on your own, a background in design or graphic design software is not required.
The upside of these solutions is the price. There’s no cheaper way to create an effective logo. The downside is the fact that the images and type (i.e. fonts) used in your logo will not be unique. That’s acceptable however as most enable you to play around and make the final logo your own.
There are two types of do it yourself small business logo design services: online and offline.
Online Do-It-Yourself Small Business Logo Design Services
In recent years, the number of online do it yourself logo design services has skyrocketed. While many are completely free, others charge you, albeit low prices, to download your completed logo design files.
There are a lot of options in this section so we’re going to highlight a few of the more unique offerings and then list the rest.
Tailor
If you like a solution that learns from you, then Tailor might be a good fit. After asking you a few questions about your business, it walks you through a few, “This or That” screens to learn more about your brand’s style. The result? They serve up four to six logo options from which you select one to edit and complete. When you’re done, select one of their affordable packages and download your logo files.
Logoshi
The logo design service Logoshi has an interesting approach: even if you’re not that good at drawing, you can sketch out some lines and they’ll create a logo for you. They even show you how it will look on the side of your building! You can add a slogan and play around with the layout of the design as well and then download all your files for $19.
Free Logo Design
When it comes to the number of colorful design choices, Free Logo Design stands out. As you can see by the numbers in the image below, there are many to choose from and they’re all well-designed images that you’d be proud to use in your logo. In addition, their logo editor is easy-to-use yet powerful and you can download your logo files for a mere $39.
And More
The rest of the tools in this section are listed below. They’re similar which is why we’re not breaking them out, but they’re each worth a look:
- Designapp
- Designimo
- DesignMantic
- FreeLogoServices
- GraphicSprings
- Hipster Logo Generator
- LOGASTER
- LogoFactoryWeb
- LogoGarden
- logogenie
- Logomakr
- LogoMaker
- Logotype Maker
- MakeLogoOnlineFree
- Online Logo Maker
- Vistaprint Logo Design Tool
- Withoomph!
- YouiDraw
- ZillionDesigns
Offline Do It Yourself Small Business Logo Design Services
There are also a number of offline solutions for designing your logo. If you want to have one complete package that lives on your own computer and can be used no matter where you are of if the Web is available, then take a look at the options below.
The Logo Creator
If you’re looking for a branding solution in a box, then check out The Logo Creator. It not only helps you design your logo, it also designs business cards and mascot characters and includes a set of people images to use. Available for both Mac and Windows.
Logosmartz
If you’re looking for a logo design service with tons of options, then check outLogosmartz. With over 1800 logo templates, 5000 additional graphics and images, 300+ fonts and more, you’ll find something that works well for your business in no time. Available for both Mac and Windows.
Logo Design Studio
If you’re looking for even more design options, then check out Logo Design Studio, a solution that offers a good selection along with an expansion pack to take your logo design options to the next level.
And More
The rest of the tools in this section are listed below.
- AAA Logo
- Jeta Logo Designer
- MyLogoMaker Professional
- Quick Logo Designer
Crowdsourcing Small Business Logo Design Services
Crowdsourcing your logo design is a great way to get a unique logo for less money. Here’s how the basic process works as laid out by DesignCrowd (one of the crowdsourcing logo design services listed below):
While each of the services listed below differs on details such as price and allowable number of revision requests, they all work pretty much the same. Check out the options to find the one that will work best for you.
Crowdsourcing Small Business Logo Design Services
- 99designs
- crowdSPRING
- designContest
- DesignCrowd
- Designhill
- hatchwise
- Logo Arena
- LogoMyWay
- ZillionDesigns
Logo Design Service Marketplaces
Our final category is for those small business folks who want to hire a freelancer or agency to design a custom logo for their business. Each of the design services listed in this section are marketplaces where you can find a designer for your logo.
While you’ll end up with a unique logo, this is likely the most expensive way to do so. Rates do vary widely however, so it’s worth checking out the logo design services below to see if you can find a designer who fits your budget.
Logo Design Services Marketplaces
- Evanto Studio
- Elance
- Freelancer – interestingly, you can get a logo designed using Freelancer as a marketplace or as a crowdsourcing contest as described in the previous section.
- Guru
- Upwork
Conclusion
While creating an effective logo for your business can be stressful and expensive, it doesn’t have to be either.
You can use the small business logo design services listed above to give birth to your logo today.
[“source-smallbiztrends”]
