LogoMyWay – Design contests for those who want choice
A logo is a major part of a websites identity. It is vital for branding as it is used on the website itself, newsletters, advertising, products, services and more. So if you want to take your blog seriously, you need to look at getting a logo designed which is both unique and of a high quality.
My major problem with working with designers is that I rarely know what I’m looking for. I have a general idea of what I’d like but I don’t know what colours to use, what font to use or what kind of mascot to add to the logo. No doubt designers hate working with me because of this!
Thankfully there are websites which cater for those of us who don’t know the first thing about graphic design. One of the most popular is LogoMyWay, a community which boasts thousands of top quality designers and design companies.
The premise of LogoMyWay is simple. You post what kind of logo you want for you blog or website and give some details of what you would like to see. Dozens of top designers will then submit an entry and you simply need to choose the best one.
I am a huge fan of this concept. David Airey designed the Blogging Tips logo however in the last few years I have held a design contest when I wanted a logo designed for a new site. It really is the best service for someone like me to use as I’m never 100% sure what I’m looking for in a logo. With a contest I am able to see dozens of great logos which all differ in design, colour and theme.
The Design Process
The logo design process is very straight forward. First thing you need to do is give some basic details about your website and the logo you want and then decide how much the designer of the winning entry will win. I usually state what format I want the finished design to be in too (e.g. Photoshop, Illustrator etc).
You can create a contest between a minimum of $200 and a maximum of $1,000. There is also a 10% operation fee though this is taken off the designers winning prize money so it doesn’t effect you directly as such.
The more money you offer in your competition, the more entries you will receive and the higher the standard of entries. Some of the top designers obviously focus on higher paying competitions rather than ones which pay out $200, though you will be surprised at the quality you receive at $200 too. It really is a competitive marketplace.
Shortly after posting your competition you will receive design entries for your logo. It is then up to you to rate these entries and eliminate the ones you don’t like. You can also give feedback to all designers explaining why you do or don’t like a particular logo. The designers who get good ratings usually revise their logo entries with the suggestions you made and submit a second, third of even fourth logo.
This part of the process is very important. It’s silly to be lazy at this part and just pick a winner. You need to be proactive and rate all the entries and give designers feedback about the logos they entered. Doing so will help you get your perfect logo.
Finally, all you need to do is chose the logo which you like best. It really is straight forward and I’m sure you will be very pleased with the quality of submissions. Remember, once you have paid for your logo you will have complete rights to it and can do whatever you want for it.
The video below illustrates how the whole process works:
Standard of Entries
A design service is nothing without it’s designers. Thankfully, LogoMyWay has a lot of competitive designers who are eager to win your prize money. Most design contests have over a hundred logo entries (some have over 300), which offers you a staggering amount of variety of different logo designs to choose from.
The quality of entries are very high, a quick look at the showcase of first place winners confirms this.
The whole system is setup to encourage designers work to their full potential. Not only do they stand a chance of winning prize money, they also give their company a lot of exposure to people who are looking for design work.
LogoMyWay informs designers about the latest contests via Twitter though I have no doubt that most designers who are active there frequent the site daily.
Alternatives
It’s not possible to talk about LogoMyWay without talking about other design contest sites out there. There are many other design contest sites out there but the two most popular are 99Designs and Logo Tournament.
It’s difficult to compare the sites as they all have similar models. The minimum fee for a logo is $200 on LogoMyWay, $204 on 99Designs and $250 on Logo Tournament.
LogoMyWay has around 2,000 designers on it’s books, Logo Tournament has around 7,000 and 99Designs has over 50,000. I’m not sure how many designers on each site are active though it’s safe to say 99Designs is the most active. I’ve used them personally several times and have always been happy though you usually have to spend a bit more to encourage more designers.
The main difference with LogoMyWay is that a winner has to be declared. With other sites you are not required to choose a winner if you don’t want to.
As per their Frequently Asked Questions page:
If you don’t receive at least 40 entries. We will extend your contest for another 7 days. If you still do not get 40 entries after the extension you will get a full refund – no questions asked.
I can see two sides to this. As a website owner, I would like the option of not choosing an entry if no logos met my requirements. However, from a designers point of view, I understand why this is a very good rule as it stops time wasters and ensures that they are not spending their time making logos for people who aren’t going to pay up. This should encourage more designers to participate there because of it.
So I think extending the contest for 7 days and then giving a full refund if your contest doesn’t have 40 entries is pretty fair.
Overview
As I said at the start of this review, I’m a big fan of design contests as it allows you to see lots of different designs for a relatively low price.
For years I used designers directly and had mixed results. Some companies were great to work with but others provided work that was rushed and was clearly not up to their usual standard. However, by this point you have usually sent 50% of the total payment, which is pretty impossible to get back since they have already spent time working on a design. So you may have to make the decision of whether to lose the money you have sent or send another 50% for a logo you don’t want. This is the primary reason why I use design contests for logos.
It’s kind of difficult to choose between the popular design contest sites out there. If you are looking for a logo my advice to you is to check out the entries on a few sites to get an idea of the quality of work which is being submitted, the number of entries and the prize money being offered.
Though there is no doubt that you should consider LogoMyWay when you are getting your next logo designed.
Link: LogoMyWay
* This was a Paid Review. If you are interested in having your site reviewed on Blogging Tips, please check out our Advertising Information Page.
Written by Kevin Muldoon from Blog Themes ClubPosted on November 11th, 2009 and filed under Reviews
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16 Responses to “LogoMyWay – Design contests for those who want choice”
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Wow this is really cool!!! I absolutely love this idea. I have hired logo designers over hireafreelancer.com and received so so results. This seems like the way to go, I will definitely be doing this in the future. Thank’s for the tips.
Do you think a logo is terribly important for the very small business? I’m trying to think if I ever pay any attention to the logos of people like plumbers or specialist shops etc?
I also like the idea of contest for logo. I’m really don’t what I want to see on my
I really like the idea. In this way you benefit of numerous ideas of design and the chances to get after all what you want are big. Thanks for the tip. For when a mobile version of the website?
Never knew that logo could be an important tool for blog. Maybe yes for pro bloggers, but not for newbies, what do you think?
Hello Kevin,
It seems contradicting when you say it’s good for designers that contest hosts are given a full refund if less than 40 entries are submitted.
What about the 39 designs that were submitted for absolutely nothing? Not even a chance at a chance of being paid.
I hope you don’t mind me linking to another site:
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/07/interview-with-specwatch-the-naked-truth-about-design-contests/
That’s where you’ll see my take on the logo contest model.
I don’t think it’s a contradiction. I agree that designers don’t want to waste their time but nearly all competitions there have hundreds of entries so the 40 entries rule will rarely be used.
Compare this to 99Designs (which I have used and love) where there is no rule to say that you need to award a winner.
The last time I chose a winner at 99designs I wasn’t 100% happy with it but it was the best of a bad bunch and paid anyway. I can see why designers don’t like these contests but from a customer point of view, they do save a lot of hassle.
“I agree that designers don’t want to waste their time but nearly all competitions there have hundreds of entries so the 40 entries rule will rarely be used.”
Maybe our definition of contradiction is the issue.
If there are less than 40 entries, then all designers have wasted their time. If there are more than 40 entries, then a greater number of designers have wasted their time.
The first contact I looked at on logomyway has a comment thread full of “fake contest” and “waste of time” chat:
http://www.logomyway.com/contestView.php?contestId=422
Here’s just one comment:
“Thanks Muz I’m very frustrated about this contest… NOT about not winning, but to see how obvious this is a fake… Let me elaborate, “client” needs Logo, “client” post a contest here, “client” gets a loooooooot of ideas (289 minus the 4 of “jgdesign), “client” never gives a feedbackor shows an interest in “his” brand, “client” finds the concept thanks to one designer here, “client” tells a friend (one that has no history here, never participated in anything before or an obvious capability as a designer) to make something, “clients” selects his friend’s logo, logomyway innocent of all this pays the fake designer minus their commission, all the good hard working designers here are screw!!!”
It’s a typical scenario.
That’s something I wasn’t aware of. Seems like they are complete timewasters as they have started a thread for basketball.com as well. This is something that LogoMyWay need to address i.e. they need to be make sure no one cheats the system.
Though, I think this is a problem which all design sites suffer from due to the nature of the system itself.
LogoMyWay has just addressed the situation by hiding the contest I highlighted. Notice how the link no longer directs to it? That’s another thing I’ve found typical from contest sites: Any negative comments about the service are nuked pretty sharpish.
I think all “David Airey” does is follow posts that talk about logo companies that run contests. I guess with the new concept of logo contests becoming more popular he has alot time on his hands. I can understand him feeling threatened but no need to bash other companies.
Thanks, Matt. I appreciate your concern over my actions.
No problem. You seem to be concerned about people using contest sites so I thought I would voice my concerns about you bashing other companies. It’s not professional and prob not good for your book sales. later!
What book? All I do is follow posts talking about logo contests.
Matt,
Not sure what opining about logo design contest sites has to do with David’s book, or the sales thereof, but okay, your point’s taken. Luckily, and unlike David, I don’t have a book, so you don’t need to worry about the negative effect of my opinion on my book sales.
Accordingly;
You believe that logo contest sites are new? Hardly. They’ve been around in one form or another since about 2000, pretty much once the internet gained any traction. And they’ve ALL be plagued with the same issues. Copied work. Unlicensed material. Unpaid contests. Shill contest holders. Etc. Etc.
But rather than bashing Logomyway.com (and risking appearing unprofessional to your kind self), let’s take a look at Logomyway’s own stats to see how ‘worthwhile’ particpating in their contests actually is for a designer.
See here http://logomyway.com/designers.php
The ‘Top’ designer on Logomyway.com has participated in 206 contests but only won 29 (with 1534 entries).
Second has particpated in 111 contests. Won 18 (with 1097 entries).
Third has participated in 130 contests. Won 8 (with 665 entries).
Fourth has participated in 82 contests. Won 4 (with 439 entries).
One poor sap has competed in 141 contests but only won 1 (with 483 entries).
This suggests that Logomyway.com (and ALL logo design contest sites) is a terrible way for any designer to earn beer money, let alone any sort of living. Wonder what kind of designer these odds attract? I could tell you, but I don’t want to risk looking unprofessional or damaging sales of any books I might publish.
lol..Yet another designer that feels threatened. WTF…Who cares how many logos they have submitted? Do you think someone held a gun to their head and made them submit designs?
I’m done with this post..later