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How to Know the Logo Designer You Are Hiring Is a Professional?

How to identify a professional logo designer? Or how to find a logo designer who is a good fit for your project?

This question may come to your mind when you are thinking to brand/market your business. With all the option available online, it may be hard to find a logo designer for your needs. I would like this post to come across as much informational as I can. I would like to talk about the characteristics you would look before you hire a logo designer.

Myself working as a designer, I know some good ways which I am going to share with you today about how to find a logo designer. Below are the 6 things you should look before making a hiring decision.

Find a logo designer who is professional.

1. What Experience Designer have besides designing a logo?

Its sound little strange, I know you might be thinking why I need to know if they can design materials besides a logo design. Why is this important?

The reason behind to check whether a designer you are about to hire, just know to use tools without having the actual knowledge and understanding of design and branding. If somebody claims to be a logo designer, but they don’t know how to design a brochure, flyer or website layout, that’s a red flag for me. Because, if someone is trained as a designer, they will be able to design anything you asked them.

So creating a logo is one thing, but the application (usage) of the logo has its great importance. Look at their education level, what they have studied, do they have a design degree. By looking at their education and experience, it will help you to understand the real knowledge they have in the field. That will also help you find a designer who can assist you with your brand in the long run.

2. Real Design Portfolio

Looking at previous logo design projects will give you a good sense of skill level, your designer is at and what you can expect from them.
Again I will say that look at the work beside identity design. A Strong portfolio is one of the best indicators to identify the designer skills.

When looking at the work of your designer, see whether the work showcase in their portfolio is done for real clients or made for only portfolio purposes. There is a chance that work is done for the company no longer exists. Simply ask your designer to share the work done for the real clients.

3. Check References / Testimonials

Another way to validate your designer before hiring is to check for the past testimonials from clients and colleagues. This will speak about client/colleagues experience with the designer. There are few ways to check this:

  • Check your designer website for testimonial page.
  • Check their Linkedin profiles and see the recommendation.
  • Google their name and see if they show up in a search.
  • Try to find them on freelancing platform website and read their reviews. Freelancer, UpWork and Fiverr.

You will always come across negative reviews. Don’t isolate those review to base your decision, analysis profile on different platforms and see what majority of people had to say about them.

By doing the above checks will give you a sense of the designer experience and attitude towards their work and clients.

4. Design Process & Pricing

This one is tricky, most of the designer will have a design process in place for sure if someone doesn’t have a design process, that’s a red flag. You will come across logo design services offering a solution for just $5 and other charging few thousands of dollars. Similarly, with project delivery time (some designer offering one day turnaround time and other need weeks to work).

You may think “how do I know which designer/company should I work with when there are so many choices? How much to pay for a logo design.”

These are the most frequently asked questions and the hardest to answer. Answers really depend on the size of your business and your marketing goals. The best approach is to identify what’s your goal when you hire someone to design a logo. Keep in mind that you get what you pay for. Below are the three different price point base examples:

Marketplaces for Logo Designer

If you hire a logo designer to do your logo for cheap and your expectation is high, then you will mostly get disappointment by the result they will produce. Designer offering logo design services for $5 (on marketplaces like Fiverr) are using vector stock to create a logo. No thoughts are put into the creation of your logo and even not follow the design process to create a logo. No point of getting a logo on which you cannot build your brand.

Professional Freelance Logo Designers

On other hands, if you hire a freelance logo designer charging few hundred to thousand dollars for a logo design. You can expect some good work from them. Freelance logo designer may or may not follow the standard design process but they can deliver a decent logo design concept that you can use to start with your initial branding. Lots of small business with some vision in mind prefer to work with such designer. As business moves forward you can always update your brand. There are plenty of examples where you will see that is happening in many years.

Marketing Agencies

And there are companies charging thousands and millions of dollars to design a logo. The process they follow is more than just design; it also involves target market research, focus groups, surveys, reviews, testing and lot more before they deliver/present any design concepts. In this case, the large corporation has a lot to lose if their new logo and marketing about it doesn’t work for them.

Finding a logo designer is not easy, In short, seek for a designer/company which fits your budget and expectations. If you just starting with your business, it’s a good idea to hire a logo designer who has experience and understanding of the business you are doing.

5. Business Professionalism & Great Customer Service

How good is your designer with communication and presenting themselves? Do they answer your query? Provide you with useful information?

Everything counts here. If you emailed a designer with a request for quote, See how they reply to your emails. do they provide you with all the information you looking for?

Attention to detail, trustworthiness, strong communication skills and time management are all vital and go hand in hand with excellent customer service.

6. Appropriate Questions

One of the best indicator to know about a professional designer. If a logo designer asks a variety of questions to find out your needs with relation to your business goals, that’s a positive sign to know that they are following a process to understand your business before offering you any solutions.

Questions should rotate around the company’s company history, competitors, product/service, company goals, target audience, current branding, design preferences, budget, and timelines.

Quick Summary

  • What other skills they have beside logo design
  • Checking real client portfolio
  • Checking reference and testimonials.
  • Design Process and Pricing
  • Customer service and professionalism
  • Appropriate Questions Ask

Hope this information I shared with you is helpful and will help you in finding a right logo designer for your next project. Feel free to share your experience about hiring a designer or ask any question you have in mind.