DO NOT Let Logoworks Design Your Logo

With all of the websites that I start and run logo design is something I am always in need of. There are few occasions that I think a professional logo design is very important to the success of the internet business so I will pay good money for it.

For a recent project I decided to get a logo designed by Logoworks, the logo design company owned by HP. I had used them in the past for another website and they did an OK job but I wasn’t completely satisfied with the logo, I just accepted it as good enough. I know that I can be very picky and particular when it comes to logo design so I thought maybe I was the problem the last time, and not them.

So we gave Logoworks all of the information for our new venture and wanted to get a good logo so I bought their $600 package. I figured if I spent more they would put their better designers on the project.

Well they came back with their first round of 10 concepts. I didn’t like any of them. I thought they were amateurish at best. There was one that was better than the other 9 and they ask you to choose the one you like the best so I picked that one even though it was no where near where I wanted the logo to be.

They then took the one I chose and asked me what I like about it. I basically told them the one thing I liked about it but that I wanted something new and more Web 2.0 looking. They came back with a new round of revisions that were very similar but worse than the one that I had chosen.

After spending $600 I was getting no where. So I called down to Logoworks and spoke to my “project manager” (also known as call center rep) and told him I was not at all satisfied with the progress of the logo and wanted to go in a different direction. He then told me I would have to spend more money for any new art the “graphic designers” would have to draw. In other words I was stuck with the artwork that I had chosen on the first round of revisions.

I asked him about their 100% satisfaction guarantee and he told me it only applied on the first round of concepts. Once I picked one as my “favorite” I voided the guarantee. By this time I was pretty upset. So I demanded to speak to his manager. The manager was even less help than the first guy was.

I realized then that I had made a $600 mistake. Instead of just giving up and letting Logoworks win I decided to take advantage of the unlimited revisions rule they have. In other words, they keep sending me revised concepts, I keep choosing one and then sending it back to them and telling them to change it. I have gone through about 8 rounds of revisions. All of the concepts they send me are no good, but I keep picking one and telling them we’re getting closer.

I actually went to a guy that does graphic design for a living and had him do the logo. He did one concept for me and I liked it so much that I used it. He actually put thought into the logo and there was a purpose and meaning behind it. Lesson learned: Don’t use a logo mill to do your logo design. Get a specialist who will actually care about your particular project.