This is something I hear over and over again, often said by new business owners and start-up companies who have used a free font or symbol in Canva, or worse took a screenshot of a stock logo and cropped it to make their new ‘logo’ sometimes still with the watermark showing.

I don’t blame new business startups for wanting to save money. After all, starting a business can be costly, I know I started my own business up over 9 years ago. However paying for something as essential as a professional logo is a small investment that will pay off. If your logo is designed professionally this is an investment you won’t have to make again for several years.

A major misconception that businesses often have is that hiring a graphic designer to create your logo is going cost the earth! However it doesn’t cost as much as you think, and it benefits businesses tremendously. 

You’re probably wondering how, and asking questions like this:

I’ve survived perfectly fine with my current logo, why do I need to change it?

What’s wrong with taking screenshots of fonts and images I see online to make my logo? (it’s illegal as those items are protected by copywrite)

How can a logo benefit my business so much?

 OI understand that this can seem a bit confusing to a non-designer. That’s why I’m going to explain why you need a professional logo, and the difference between a professional and a DIY logo. By the end of this blog you should be a little bit clearer on whether you need to purchase a logo design or not. There are a lot of differences. BIG differences between a professional and DIY logo and I’m going to highlight a few here…

01. Technical Understanding of Software and Print Processes 

A novice who DIY’d their logo most likely made it in Canva or Photoshop. You may think that Photoshop is an acceptable program to create logos in, but oh no it isn’t. 

Graphic designers use a program called Illustrator to create logos because Illustrator allows us to create vector designs, and Photoshop doesn’t. A vector logo can scale to any size without pixelating or losing quality, which is what you will need for creating signage, large graphics and anything that needs to be printed with your new logo.

Graphic designers will also ensure that your new logo is print friendly, is in a variety of web and print file formats for the business owner, and is correctly set up. 

I have seen it countless times where people have sent off their homemade logo to print, and the finished items have come out blurry, the wrong colour or distorted. But a professionally designed logo saved in the correct format won’t.

02. Experience & Skill 

Even though you may think your logo is beautiful, someone with years of design experience may immediately be able to see that it isn’t.

Why is that?

A novice hasn’t designed anything before and lacks experience, knowledge and an eye for brand design. Because of that, they sometimes don’t recognise their creation isn’t great. 

But a designer has had years of experience and will be able to perfectly articulate what you want your brand to convey through your logo and style.

I’m not saying that anyone who isn’t a professional designer isn’t any good at design. Some people are naturally talented when it comes to creating things. But if your speciality isn’t designing or being creative, don’t try and kid yourself into thinking that it is. That’s like me trying to cut my hair, I could probably have a go and it might look ok, but I wouldn’t risk trying to cut a fringe and I know I wouldn’t be able to get my new hair style to look as good as if I went to see a professional hairdresser, because hairdressing isn’t what I specialise in.  

03. Visual Appeal 

Most people can spot a homemade logo from a mile away. An unprofessional logo gives off an unprofessional impression. 

If you had to choose between buying from a shop that has a professional logo and smart image, and one that has a DIY’d logo and amateur identity, who would you choose to spend your money with? I know I would choose the first. 

How you present your business will hugely impact your level of success. You could have the best copywriting in the world, the most amazing photographs and the best products… But a shabby presentation (aka. brand identity and website) will put most potential customers off before they even get to the other stuff. 

Think of it this way. Imagine you’re walking along the street and you pass a small, broken cardboard box. Would you pick it up and look inside? Of course not! You’d walk straight past it and not think twice.

What if the box was a Tiffany box? One of their iconic blue boxes?  Would you bend down and pick it up? Would you check to make sure there’s something inside? The answer to all of those questions is yes. 

But why? What’s the difference between the two boxes?

04. Branding

Even though a lot of business owners don’t like to think it, presentation and branding is the thing that will either draw customers in or turn them away. 

Need a designer?

At Promofix we are currently booking design clients in for this year! If you’re in need of a new brand or any graphic design work for your business, head over here to check out our packages and prices. When you’re ready, get in touch and we can discuss your project.