You get what you pay for when it comes to logo design.

When it comes to branding your company, there's no element more important than your company logo. A good logo will set your company apart by being unique and easy to recognize. When people see your logo on something, they should instantly know exactly what brand they are interacting with. Think about some of the famous logos out there - McDonald's, Coke, Amazon, Fed-Ex. They have distinct colors and elements that  make the logo different from everyone else in their industries. Sure, others may come along and mimic the brand or product, but you know exactly what you are looking at when you see that Nike "swoosh" on sportswear. Similarly, you need a strong symbol that will make your company's personality shine among your competitors. These days, it's easy to find logos on the internet. Websites like Vista Print and Fiver offer low-cost graphics that you can "personalize" with your company name. Most of these are your "modern" looking logos - a couple color blocks in an interesting configuration, maybe a swirl or a couple letters monogrammed nicely. But think before you buy. First of all, a lot of these "stock" design sites don't always offer exclusive rights on the artwork - your logo art could easily be purchased and personalized by anyone else in any industry - including a competitor. You have no control over who else is using that logo art, and you own none of the protective rights to it. That all belongs to the designer or the website from which you purchased it. Additionally, these designs were created by somebody with no knowledge of your mission or your purpose. They were created with no reasoning to why that logo applies to your specific company - there's no heart in these off-the-shelf logos, no personality or unique features that make it really stand out. Another thing to consider before using a stock design page is that most of these designers are outsourced from outside of the United States. Not only is this taking away work from designers that have studied and trained here in the U.S., but it could cause delays in your printing time as well. Because the U.S. is the only country that doesn't use the metric system, we have different standard sizes than other countries. This means files may be sized disproportionately for the pieces you are requesting. There are also different standard practices between designers from country to country, and we may encounter issues that require edits to the file that only the designer with the original working art file can do. I have worked with several customers with logos from these sites that have found that it can be very hard to get in touch with if you don't have the file types and resources that you need to bring your branding pieces to print, which can cause delays in printing. I've even had a situation where a stock site designer had deleted their working file without providing it to the client, and the logo had to be redesigned (at the customer's cost) in order to use it! Hiring a professional graphic designer to work with you on creating a personalized logo may sound costly, but you will receive far more value from the logo that is produced. When you hire one of our designers here at AG, for example, included in the price is an opportunity to sit and meet with the designer that will be creating your logo. We will get to know you, hear your description of your company, and ask questions that will help us to capture your personality and the mission of your company in the design. We'll ask you about the colors you do (and do not) like, and for examples of logos that you like the feeling of so that we can create an aesthetic that is pleasing and meaningful to you. And with us you don't just "take what you get" - we will use the notes that we generate in the meeting to create sketches of different ideas that you will choose from for us to work on together, developing the concept into the finished logo that will not only describe your business in a clever and unique way, but will capture the attention of your audience by standing out from the crowd. Additionally, you'll get all of the file types that you will need (including working files). Your logo is not just a small graphic that will sit on your business cards. To get the most out of it's potential, and create a strong brand, your logo will be used across all of your marketing materials - business cards, letterhead, envelopes, brochures, flyers, banners, etc. Each one of those items is a different size and may need to be printed on different machines, using different paper stocks, and maybe even at different print locations. The beauty of working with a professional designer is that you end up with your entire logo set - meaning the logo produced in color, black and white, in multiple file types for use in different print mediums and on different substrates. Not only that, but you'll also know your logo's universal Pantone Colors that will allow various printers to know exactly what colors your logo is supposed to look like when it prints so that everything matches - even if more than one printing method is used in the production of your pieces. All in all, it's important to remember that you ultimately get what you pay for when it comes to logo design, and cheaper is not always going to be the most cost efficient in the long run.