FIVE TIPS TO CREATE A GREAT LOGO FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Your logo is the thing that oftentimes people first see about your company. It’s their first impression, so you want to make it a good one. If you look at companies like Apple, like McDonald’s, they have very recognizable logos that you’ve seen, and you associate with their product or their service. That’s what you want to design – something that’s memorable, something that’s lasting and makes a good impression. Apple’s trademark portfolio is reported to be worth nearly a trillion dollars as of 2022. Your branding and your logo are important to your company, and you want to take the time to do it right. Below are 5 tips and tricks to ensure that your logo is not only great for you and your business, but also protectable.
TIP #1: ESTABLISH A BUDGET
If you’ve looked online for someone to design a logo for your business, you’ve most likely seen prices ranging anywhere from $25 to $2,500. With logo designers, like attorneys and other businesses, oftentimes you get what you pay for. The ones on the lower end of that price range often times cut corners. They may not provide actual professional design work. Instead, they may just take some clipart from here and clip art from there, put some (very little sometimes) thought into it, and design your logo based on some things that are already publicly available. We’ve seen that happen here at Martin IP law group. Clients have come to us seeking protection for logos they paid someone to design, only to find out that the designer they hired to design their logo, took images from publicly available sites like iStockphoto and used that in their logo. The problem is, there’s no originality there, there’s nothing really that you can protect. And there’s nothing to differentiate you from other people because that mark and that that image is publicly available. Companies like iStockphoto have specific disclaimers on their site, saying that you cannot use these images as part of your logo, so you certainly cannot register them. If you hire a qualified designer, they’re going to know better, they’re going to design something on their own, and they certainly won’t take it from someone else.
TIP #2: ESTABLISH A TIMELINE
Designing a really good logo isn’t something that happens overnight. A claim to be able to give you a logo, at least one worth having, in 48 hours is not realistic. The designer needs to get to know you, and your business. They need to get to know your culture, so that they can design a logo that fits you and your business. So spend the time to sit down with a qualified designer and make that happen. We’re talking weeks or months, not just days or hours. So make sure you do it right.
TIP #3: CHECK OUT THE DESIGNER’S PORTFOLIO
Most graphic artists and logo designers are going to have a portfolio publicly or privately available where they can show you other work that they’ve done – other logos they created. Make sure to take a look and get a feel for what their style and effect is, and see if that matches your style.
TIP #4: CHECK OUT THE REVIEWS
Everybody has online reviews these days. That’s a good way to find out who they’ve worked for before and what these prior clients have to say about the process and working with that designer.
TIP #5: MAKE SURE YOU OWN THE IP!
Finally, you want to make sure that you own the intellectual property that’s created as part of this process. Make sure to document who owns the trademark and copyright for the logo, and get it in writing! It may be part of the designer’s standard contract language or something you put together that acknowledges that you own the IP, not the designer. Either way, make sure it gets put down in writing somewhere.
A lot of people go online to have their logo designed, through sites like Upwork, or Fiver, or other common sites where you can go and you can contract somebody to design your logo. If you go to either Fiver or Upwork’s website, their Terms of Service, specifically state that it’s up to the agreement between the two parties – the designer and the purchaser (you) – to determine who owns the intellectual property. It also goes on to specifically say that the designer shall transfer or assign those rights to the purchaser, but ultimately there still needs to be a written agreement.
Typically, when you pay someone else to design a logo for you, it will be considered a work for hire which you, not the designer, would own. But in that small fraction of cases where there is a dispute as to who owns it, having a written agreement will save you a lot of headaches, and money too!
We have put together a handy checklist for you to use to ensure that you have not missed anything is designing your logo the right way. If you have any further questions about designing your logo, or protecting those rights, contact us here. We’d be happy to help!
