Need a logo?

If you’re like me, then doing it yourself may not be the best idea.

Nevertheless, good graphic designers are hard to find and can cost thousands of dollars!

If you’re just starting a business, or even if you’re a small business, you might not have thousands of dollars lying around.

The hip new thing is to use an online logo service. You’ve probably seen their ads on your Facebook or Twitter feeds—services like Fiverr.com and 99Designs.com.

These services cost less, but are they worth it?

1. The more you pay, the better the product.

You get what you pay for holds true, even in the online world. The more you pay, the more likely you will like the outcome.

99Designs Approach to Logo Design

99Designs has you select design packages. There are four design package tiers with increasing costs: * Bronze * Silver * Gold * Platinum

The more you spend on a design package, the more the winning designer will receive for the design. Plus, with the Platinum Design Package, only designers handpicked by 99Designs can work on the contest.

You can learn more about the 99Design process on their website. You can read about their logo design contests on the Logo Design part of their website.

Fiverr Approach to Logo Design

Fiverr.com has a different approach. Each basic logo design project is priced at $5. (Thus the name Fiverr.com!)

However, do you want the design in a week? 24 hours? Then you will have to pay more.

Want the design in PNG format? PSD format? You will have to pay more.

Want the source file for the design, or multiple versions? Then you will need to pay more.

This is how the designers at Fiverr.com make their money—add-on pricing! And don’t forget to research your designer on Fiverr.com! Client reviews and work examples can tell you a lot about a designer (including, sometimes, whether they aren’t afraid to steal their work examples from other places).

2. Stay On Top Of Your Logo Design Project.

Whether you use 99Designs or Fiverr, you need to stay on top of your logo design project. Both platforms give you opportunities to provide designers feedback and guidance—use those opportunities to get the best results!

The more feedback you provide your designers—whether an individual designer at Fiverr.com or a group of competing designers at 99Designs.com—the more likely you will be satisfied with the final product.

3. Understand What Intellectual Property You Just Purchased.

Paying someone to design a logo for you does not necessarily mean you own the trademark, or even copyright, in that logo.

Fiverr.com leaves this process up to you and the designer.

99Designs.com covers intellectual property issues uniformly and transparently. At the close of each Design Contest, you and the winning designer enter into a Design Transfer Agreement. You can read an example of this Design Transfer Agreement here: http://99designs.com/legal/design-transfer-agreement

In order to avoid copyright infringement issues, and give you the best chance to get your logo registered with the USPTO, you logo needs to original and free of someone else’s artwork. Plus, you need to know what intellectual property rights you have in the logo.

Conclusions

Getting a logo designed online can be done cheaply. The challenge is making sure the logo itself doesn’t look cheap.

Fiverr.com and 99Designs.com are just two of the online platforms a small business or startup business can use to get a quick, affordable, and good-quality logo.

Fiverr.com may give you the best bang for the buck, but you will also need to be more careful in how you go about finding a designer. Plus, with all the up-charging and add-on purchases, you may end up spending just as much with Fiverr.com as you do at another platform like 99Designs.com.

99Designs.com costs more initially, but the process itself is much smoother. 99Designs provides clarity in what intellectual property you will own at the end of your Design Contest. Plus, there is a lot of helpful information and tips on their website on how to have a successful Design Contest.

Remember the first tip—you get what you pay for!

If you have the money, we recommend 99Designs. It is a more painless solution.

Fiverr.com can also work, but will likely require more of your time to ensure you get what you need.

Further Reading

A List of Reviews of Fiverr.com Logo Designs

What Kind of Logo Do You Get for $5? — An epic tale of deception, stolen artwork, and crappy logos. This article explores Fiverr.com through a series of efforts to have a logo designed. A good list of example logos and the pros and cons of using Fiverr.com are provided. This is a great article to look at before you use Fiverr.com. You can get another, longer version of this article here.

How to Get a Cheap Logo for a New Wordpress Blog – Fiverr Test, Part 1 looks at the Fiverr.com process and shows the results of two Fiverr.com designs. The conclusion in this article was that “you get what you pay for.” Which was a not very good logo.

Cheap Logo Design With Fiverr Test, Part 2 is part two of the above article. The results in the second part of the Fiverr.com design review were better, but the conclusion on the logo quality is that they are still not great. Perhaps usable in the short term, but something the business would want to upgrade in the future.

Articles On Using 99Designs.com for Logos or other Designs

99DESIGNS: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY goes through the the results of one company’s 99Designs logo design competition. A good read to learn what kind of issues may crop up in a 99Designs challenge.

99 Designs Review looks at the 99Designs process when you do not get good results.

Get Over It, Haters: 99designs Has Tipped is an article on 99Designs generally, discussing the controversy in the design community over 99Designs.

99designs Review: How to Make the Most of 99designs.com provides a review of the 99Designs process and some tips on how to get a good result.