Logo? Pay $5 and Get On With Your Life, Already

NOTE: This blog has moved to: http://www.HonestOnlineSelling.com

I did some reminiscing today.

Click on This for Larger Image

See the image to the right? It's a mockup of my new (upcoming) home page at JordanMalik.com. Each of those logos is a company/blog/publication/service that I own. (you can click on it for a larger viewing).

I just looked at all the logos in there and realized that I paid $5 each for just about all of them. (Although I probably tipped the graphic designers who made them an extra $5 each or so, if they did a really good job).

Now the reason I brought this up is because of the 'reminiscing' part.

I looked at the logos and I thought about about all the morons I've worked for in the past who spent thousands of dollars in cash and/or internal resources designing their logo and getting it "JUST RIGHT." Wow, how narcissistic can you get.

I know what you're thinking: "Jordan, ten years ago you couldn't get a logo designed for under $1,000." True, but companies that could either voluntarily paid - or got sucked into paying - thousands of dollars more. Or they sucked up the equivalent of thousands of dollars in resources lost (i.e. political waste like managers' approval, staff designers' time, 'getting consensus', lunch meetings, etc.).

Corporate managers and MBA-types call all this sweating over a little logo "refining their corporate image" or "building their brand". But that's a load of hogwash and completely ridiculous. And a complete waste of money. Look at Craigslist's logo. Nothing but typeface, right? Craigslist didn't need a fancy logo to be successful (that's a lesson for another day, though).

So if you want a logo, pick some favorite styles you've seen in others, think up a simple company name, then get a designer at Fiverr.com (where I got mine done for $5) and get it done already, and move on with your life. After all, you have bigger fish to fry.

And if anyone critiques your logo (which is another reason why business owners needlessly sweat over a logo's details - they're "afraid of what others will say/think when they see it"), tell them to read this same blog post. And then charge them $5 for the advice.

-Jordan