Ch 6: How to Create Your Brand Logo: DIY, Outsourcing, and Hybrid Methods

How to Create Your Brand Logo: DIY, Outsourcing, and Hybrid Methods

To see all books in this series go to: PlatformGrowthBooks.com

In this episode of the Market Your Message show, host Jonathan Milligan discusses Chapter 6 from his book 'Launch Your Platform.' The chapter focuses on creating your brand logo and outlines three approaches: DIY logo design, outsourcing to freelance designers, and a hybrid method combining both. Milligan shares practical tools like Canva, Free Logo Design, Fiverr, and 99designs, and provides step-by-step guidance on turning your logo ideas into a professional symbol that represents your brand. He also emphasizes the importance of evaluating logos based on visual appeal, brand values, and flexibility.

00:00 Welcome to the Market Your Message Show
00:43 Introduction to Chapter Six: Create Your Brand Logo
02:27 DIY Logo Design: Quick and Cost-Effective
04:34 Outsourcing Logo Design: Professional and Polished
06:22 Hybrid Logo Design: Best of Both Worlds
08:08 Evaluating and Finalizing Your Logo
09:33 Day Six Exercise: Create and Test Your Logos
11:12 Key Takeaways from Day Six

Implement the Blogging System that 40x My Online Business! Click here to get the training video

Transcript

Speaker 36: 0:40

Hello and welcome to the Market Your Message show. I'm your host, Jonathan Milligan, an author of the Your Message Matters book series. We are currently going through book number two in the series called Launch Your Platform, a 21 day launch plan to build your personal brand and share your story online as a writer, coach or speaker. And as a special thanks to you, my podcast listeners, I'm releasing the audio book. One chapter at a time. If you'd like to grab any of the books in the series, just go to platformgrowthbooks. com. Okay. Let's jump in to today's reading.

1:24

Chapter six day six, create your brand logo. Southwest airlines started out small, struggling to compete against the aviation giants of the time. There are law, your proposed, a radical logo, a vibrant red heart. Contrasting sharply with the stark jets of rivals. The heart symbolizes warmth care and devotion to customer service. Executives first dismissed it. But took a chance on the Maverick logo. The result proved transformative. The lively heart stood out from the cold generic competitors. It captured the Southwest Fridley people. First essence. As customers connected emotionally with the logo profits took off. Today. Southwest is a top global airline with near universal brand recognition. The classic red heart logo continues to drive loyalty and affection. This story shows a logo's power to shape identity. Your logo provides the first visual impression of your business. As expert guy, because wall ski. Put it. A brand is a contract with the consumer. A logo is the visual handshake. In this chapter, we'll explore D I Y N L sourcing options to design a memorable effective logo. Reflecting your brand. Day six, create your brand logo. Let's explore three different ways. You can get your brand logo, design quickly. Option one. DIY logo design. Creating your logo can be quick, easy, and free using online design tools. While the end result may not look as polished as hiring a pro. DIY logos work for simple branding needs. The biggest advantage of DIY logo design is full creative control. You could play around with shapes, colors, fonts, and concepts until you land on something you love. It also saves a ton of money compared to hiring a designer. According to Statista. Hiring a professional graphic designer. Cost 200 to$500 per project. DIY tools are mostly free and offer paid upgrades. Canvas simple drag and drop editor has over 60,000 free templates there for logos, social media posts, presentations, and more. I use Canva to whip up my thrifty reseller hub logo quickly. Thanks to their huge template library. I found something close to my vision and customized it in minutes. Another popular free tool is free logo, design.org. It generates customized logo designs. After you input your business name. While the AI suggestions. Weren't perfect. They sparked new directions. I wouldn't have considered. Lisa the owner of renew upcycled furniture. I liked how free logo design gave her control over the creative process. Quote, I loved playing around with the different fonts, colors, and icons. I probably went through a hundred options before finding one that really represented my brand. In the quote. The biggest drawback of DIY designs is the finished product can look amateurish. You also need basic graphic design skills. But for simple logos, DIY provides a quick and cheap way. To handle branding yourself. Option two. Outsourcing logo design. Consider outsourcing logo design to a freelance graphic designer for a more professional results. Hiring an experienced designer saves time and takes the work off your plate. It also yields a higher quality visually appealing logo. Look for freelancers on sites like Fiverr and 99 designs. Prices start around$300. Fiverr features, independent contractors offering logo, design services, starting at$5 packages. Browse designers by review ratings and sample work until you find someone matching your style and budget needs. 99 designs takes a different approach. You describe your project requirements and then dozens of designers submit logo options to choose from. This logo, design contest format. Let's you leverage the skills of many creatives. In a 2021 survey 99 designs found that 97% of small business owners were satisfied with the logos they received. The broad range of options makes it easy to find a design you love. For my fifties, retro blogging logo. I paid 99 designs,$250 to produce over 75, a logo variations, seeing so many creative directions inspired me to pick an unexpected abstract logo. I'd never thought of. Outsourcing can get pricey, but you end up with a high quality logo. Customized exactly for your brand. Just make sure to communicate your preferences. So designers nail your vision clearly. Option three. Hybrid logo design. The hybrid route combines a DIY and outsourcing, for example, after brainstorming concepts and playing around with DIY tools. You could hire a designer. The designer can refine your rough idea into a polished logo. Or you could ask a designer to provide two to three initial concepts. And use DIY tools to tweak the details of your favorite option. This gives you more control over the process compared to total outsourcing. It also costs less than fully handing over the reins to a designer. Jeremy founder of vinyl records company use the hybrid approach. I crafted a draft logo, concept myself using an online logo maker. The designer then took my basic idea and turned it into a sleek professional design into quote. Minnie DIY tools offer add on services for custom designed work. For example, hiring canvas in-house designers. Start at$20 per logo revision. You could find freelancers to refine and finalize your design concepts on Fiverr for cheap as well. Just be sure to communicate clearly. So designers know which specific elements you want to change or Polish. Provide examples of aesthetics in styles. You like. The hybrid route gives you the benefits of DIY creativity. Plus access to a designers skills for finishing touches. Just prepare yourself to pay more than if you were doing it yourself. Evaluating logo, design options. How do you select the winner? Once you have logo options from any creation method? Focus on three criteria. Number one. Visual appeal. Does it look professionally designed in pleasing to the eye? Number two. Brand values. Does it convey your brand identity and resonate with your target audience? Number three. Flexibility. Does it work across different formats, like websites, business cards, and packaging. Run your top choices by close friends, colleagues. Or trusted early customers. C which they respond to most positively. Doing so help to Ryan founder of open road bicycles realize the logo. He loved didn't vibe with customers. He chose a different option that better reflected his brand values after gathering outside feedback. Don't stress too much about deciding as your business evolves, you can always update the logos. Focus on finding an appealing. Flexible logo that communicates your core brand identity. The most important thing is taking that first step. To define your brand visually with a professional logo. Day six exercise, create four draft logos. Select one of the logo tools mentioned earlier. Canva. Free logo, design.org, fiverr.com. Or 99 designs. Create four logo ideas. Using your brand colors as a representative symbols. Imagery. Snap photos of your rough draft logos and post them on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram, ask friends and connections. Which logo is most eye-catching or memorable. Which best represents your brand personality and values. Would you proudly wear a t-shirt with any of the logos? Which ones. I monitor responses over 24 hours. Talia votes and reactions for each logo. Combine the social feedback with your own intuitive preferences. At the end of the exercise, you should have a data backed top choice or two to develop further. Refine the winner digitally in Canva or hire designer to finalize. Your crowd vetted logo concept. Testing DIY logo. Mock-ups. With social crowdsourcing we'll reveal. Which embodies your brand essence. It will also show which attracts your audience visually. Use this quick exercise to craft an effective logo rooted in target market feedback. Day six key takeaways. DIY tools like Canva provide a quick cheap route for simple logos. Hiring professional designers via Fiverr or 99 designs. Yields higher quality in custom designs. Uh, using a hybrid approach allows you to start a concept and then have a pro refine it. Evaluate logo options on visual appeal, brand values and adaptability. Get outside feedback to help select the logo that best represents your brand.