I will be looking for a logo designer soon. Preferred colors are already selected and a few general ideas now exist, but there's no actual design in place yet. Complete job would include two or three rough options to choose from, with a final design then returned in several formats (different file formats, sizes, and resolutions). What do you suppose is a reasonable time frame for this kind of job?

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AnnaLisa Michalski, Sunny Words Writing Services

I used Logo Nerds (www.logonerds.com) and they were great. You can find a $10 discount code online and it cost me $38 and I received 6 concepts to review and approve. 3-5 days was the turnaround. I was very happy with them. I hope this helps!

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Amy
TAG Virtual Office, LLC

Interesting service. Five days is far, far less time than I imagined. I wonder how typical that is--with others, I mean. This site makes it pretty clear it's their norm. Thanks for the recommendation!

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AnnaLisa Michalski, Sunny Words Writing Services

Hi AnnaLisa, I have kind of a horror story to share regarding logo design.. this just happened in the last 60 days so is fresh for me.

We recently decided we wanted to brand our company with a truly professional logo - we have a really unique and vivid company name, so we figured we needed a strong designer to draft a really unique concept, but that it should generate some really neat ideas. On the creativity scale, our company name brings up all kinds of possible concepts. We looked at five design firms and chose one ultimately because he was local. We had bids ranging from 1k to 4k+.

We chose a local designer who wanted 2k for the project. We paid a 50% deposit.
A month later we'd heard nothing from him, despite the fact that his proposal had stipulated 8-10 days for initial concepts to be shared. We actually had to track him down - no replies to emails or calls left me nervous, but he's local so finally we got his attention. Hamid actually called and said he was going to come by the guy's office and he went and HID in a local coffee shop - leaving his business partner to field Hamid's frustrated visit. He finally appeared when it was clear Hamid would not leave and ultimately he apologized [lamely] when we told him we were considering taking our deposit back [as clearly no work had been done yet. at that time]. I was very disappointed and didn't want to work with him anymore at all - but against better judgement we 'forgave' and moved on based on his promise of concepts within the next two days.

In the end his concepts were so weak and just LAME, totally uncreative font-based logos [and in the end I had gone in search of fonts because he was using the most basic fonts at that] - ultimately we lost our deposit when we finally chose not to continue with the project. It was hopeless.

The moral of the story - the old adage 'you get wha you pay for' can seriously backfire and a designer [or ANY service provider] who does not keep the lines of communication open and active - who basically does not have strong business policies, likely does not have strong skills either.

Just my two cents! Not sure that I helped or answered your question - but, I used to do logo design and I always turned around initial concepts within about 7 - 10 days intially - and then it would be up to the client to direct what they wanted changes on, etc. All told - most logo projects were done within two to three weeks - some carried on for longer simply for waiting on the client to reply with feedback.

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Oh Tess, that IS a horror story. I'm sorry but...the guy HIDING from a ticked-off Hamid reminds me of those pathetic characters Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels played in Dumb and Dumber. I can just see Mr. Designer ducking behind an extra-extra-large latte when Hamid walks in. Sad. Very sad. And for you, unfortunately, expensive. Very expensive.

The three-week time frame you describe is closer to what I expected to see. I used to work at an ad agency, and I seem to recall that kind of concept turn-around. I never worked directly with the designers, though, so I wasn't sure and figured I'd better ask around here.

So the sum of your and Amy's responses seems to be, like anything else, logo design times vary. But I should probably expect a range from one to three weeks.

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AnnaLisa Michalski, Sunny Words Writing Services

AnnaLisa,

I am happy to send you the design concepts they sent me if you would like to see the quality of what they offered. I ultimately had to pick one but I must admit I had 2 or 3 I really liked. PM and I will send you the file if you would like to take a look.

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Amy
TAG Virtual Office, LLC

Oh wow, Tess! What a painfully awful experience. Did you report him to the BBB or Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection? There has to be some recourse you could pursue...? 1K is not peanuts!

I'm with you on the time-frame. A lot can depend on the client's interaction...or lack thereof, and the complexity of the design involved. One to three weeks is a good time estimate, but only an estimate depending on client interaction, etc.

Just my 2-cents from a designing perspective.

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Jules, SunRise Virtual Solutions - WordPress Customization & XHTML/CSS Web Sites

If I was going to hire someone I didnt know or had not been referred by someone I know, I would ask to see previous work done or portfolio. In the past I had done some freelance work designing banners, I would always show my previous work and get work based on that.

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Tracey

I commissioned my logo many, many years ago when I attempted to start a desktop publishing business.

On my first attempt I went to a local printer who had an in-house graphic artist. I put down a deposit & was told she would provide me with three designs to choose from. She provided one & it was a long, stretched-out dachshund with the words LASERDOG across the dog. I could have come up with that! Like Tess, I lost my deposit, albeit a lot less! I wasn't comfortable going to another printer after that experience.

One day I was having lunch on the Pearl St. Mall. Back then, they had these big round kiosk type things where the community could post flyers for musical/art events, that type of thing. One of the flyers had this cool cartoon thing going on. The artwork was amazing! Fortunately, at the bottom of the flyer the artist was given credit. I called him & made an appointment.

He didn't require a deposit & said he would provide three samples. It took him two weeks. He only provided two, but the first one was so outstanding that I don't even remember what the other one looked like. He said is was one of his best logos. So even though it was for a desktop publishing biz & doesn't really relate to a VA biz, I like the name & logo so much I decided to go with it.

If you know an artist who's work you already like, give them a try! Otherwise, the logo place mentioned above sounds like a good start. Good luck! While your business won't succeed or fail based on your logo, (take it from me, I know!) a good logo can really help your brand.

I so admire people who can create great logos! I wish I had that kind of talent.

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Lezly Harrison
Laserdog Productions - Code that Doesn't Bite

Thanks for the recommendation of LogoNerds. I looked them up and hope to be able to have them create a logo very soon! Thanks again!