I'm starting my own company

Interested in hearing if anyone has any experience with
Page Progressive http://www.pageprogressive.com/index.php
Metro Productions http://www.metroproductions.com/index.html
or Built Creative http://www.builtcreative.com/index.htm

or any other relevant experience related to logo/slogan/etc development for a local startup

I don't have a budget amount in mind per say but I'm getting quotes from alot of places

1/6/2010 5:53:23 PM

Post some background and requirements and make it an open competition. Throw some cash at the creator if you get a design you like. I build logos all the time just for fun and to practice my vector art skills and I know I'm not the only one.

1/6/2010 11:36:12 PM

crowdspring.com

Give them your idea, put out a budget, and youll get a bunch of people submit ideas/creatives. I liked the product I got, for what I offered in payment.

1/6/2010 11:55:18 PM

do you mean on here?

if so, since a professional one would cost ~300+, i'll definitely put up some money if someone wants to just take a stab at it and end up catching my eye

its an advertising/pr/distribution company competing with direct mail so i'd like the logo to center around an ornate mailbox
(something like the mailbox in this http://www.mailboxes.info/option/IMP/IMP_CLASSIC_INSTR.pdf)

however i havent settled on a final name so if you want to put "Company Name" that would be fine for this purpose

i dont know if i want it to be open ended or enclosed like a circular design (i just watched "survivor" so thats the first thing that comes to mind http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=survivor+logo&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=YWlFS7DPJoeXtge_uv33AQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQsAQwAA)


[Edited on January 6, 2010 at 11:59 PM. Reason : wasnt sure if he meant on here or a site like ^]

1/6/2010 11:56:37 PM

http://99designs.com/ is another design competition site

1/7/2010 12:02:11 AM

wow i never knew about these, which one do i choose??

1/7/2010 12:04:57 AM

think i like ^^ better

1/7/2010 12:09:26 AM

you should check out http://www.sunsigngraphicdesign.com

1/7/2010 2:16:08 AM

yeah, 99designs offers a money back guarantee ... dont think crowdspring has that ...

1/7/2010 9:07:29 AM

i wasn't gonna bring this up, but then i saw http://www.readwriteweb.com/readwritestart/2010/01/crowdspring-creative-platform-or-spec-work-enabler.php, which pointed out what i was going to, so why not

Quote :

" CrowdSPRING has recently been at the center of heated debates in the design community as some denounce the site for promoting "spec work" - a term used to describe work done without any guarantee of compensation. Sites like Spec Watch and NO!SPEC are attempting to raise awareness about spec work, pinpointing sites like crowdSPRING as unethical businesses. "There is a certain irony in spec work," writes Elisabetta Bruno on NO!SPEC. "A prospect requesting it is ultimately saying, 'My project isn't important enough to hire a professional who will take the time to understand my situation and goals and invest the time needed to create a suitable solution'." "

[Edited on January 7, 2010 at 3:00 PM. Reason : .]

1/7/2010 2:59:49 PM

F you and your spec work.

1/7/2010 4:54:13 PM

I'm going to respectfully disagree and feel free to correct me if you see any error, i'm not saying there is a right or wrong but these sites can be a win-win situation for designer/client

I fully plan on offering the going price at local design houses (~300) for a logo on 99designs.com. With that guaranteed award money i'm going to see hopefully at least 25 or more different creative minds use their talent to "bid" for the job with a chance to impress me. In the end, the best design will get a similar amount (minus the site's cut) as if that person had been down the street and I'd taken my business there, revisions and everything.

On the otherhand, from what I've been getting quoted at these places in Raleigh is one guy will come up with about 6 similar but different versions of what he thinks I want and then I get a couple meetings to decide if he can get the final touches right before you have to shell out another FULL amount for 6 new designs.

Now those people who didn't win my business went into it knowing that there was a good chance they'd be doing some extra exercise. But those people still have one extra piece in their portfolio and noone is forcing them to compete in the first place. They also get feedback on why their piece was not chosen or maybe they learn nothing was wrong and it simply came down to preference.

Why should the client be forced to pay for a design they might not like? And from reading clientsfromhell.com it would sound like it happens more often than not

1/7/2010 7:15:21 PM

Quote :

"Why should the client be forced to pay for a design they might not like? And from reading clientsfromhell.com it would sound like it happens more often than not"

are you fucking serious?


death to fucking spec work. sites like that devalue an entire profession to a goddamned competition.


You're paying for the PROCESS, not the end result. If you're not involved in the process, then you can't complain about the result. You pay someone to do this work for you because you can't do it yourself. By using a site like this, you're hoping that 25 motherfuckers will spend their valuable time like baby birds wanting mama to drop a $300 worm in one of their fucking mouths.

and yeah, there's 2 sides - those fucks who look for work on sites like this need to be shot.

1/7/2010 7:51:35 PM

we're just gonna have to agree to disagree. i am restricted geographically to a dozen or two graphic design studios. what are the chances that in the WORLD, the guy who can do the best work for me lives in a 20 mile radius? I don't want that restriction and this issue isn't exclusive to design thanks to the internet. the industry is going to have to evolve or spend all it's time whining about the new kids on the block.

and by the way, my business i need the logo for, is going to be undercutting everything local because i've seen their pricing. and not just by a little bit, by more than half and because i can and still make a healthy living. now ask me if i care how those guys are gonna put food on their plate for their families if everyone left them for me. they can do something about it or they can get out of dodge.

1/8/2010 1:37:34 AM

i too don't see the problem with spec work. At least not in the sense that it's "unethical" as the quoted article suggests. It seems to me that professionals are just pissed they're losing clients.

If the "designers" on these sites are willing to the do the work with no guarantee of compensation, that's their choice. Why is that any business of professional designers? Right, it's work that they would like to be getting, and that's it. That's all they're pissed about. And while I understand that, it kinda pisses me off that they're trying to guise it as something more. As some bigger cause for unfairness or "unethical" treatment. The article that was quoted makes it sound like people aren't being fairly compensated. Only the individual can decide what is fair for them.

If these sites are misleading would-be designers into thinking they're going to be compensated no matter what, I get it and I agree that it's bullshit. But if not, it's their choice. If they want to spend their time designing a logo that may not be chosen, it's their right to do so. Nobody is forcing them.

1/8/2010 3:08:05 AM

http://corporate.worth1000.com/contests

Thank me later.

1/8/2010 7:10:56 AM

the thing about this spec work is that is presents a solution to the problem that not ever designer has the skills or imagination needed to capture that perfect logo/branding that a client is looking for.

What this site does, is give designers a chance to throw their basic ideas at a client, and win future business based off that initial concept.

For a logo/splash that I had designed, I hired specifically a single designer to do future work based off of the first concept, expanding it and making additional formats at a later time. It WAS a win/win for both of us.


Also, one must consider the type of work that is requested on this site ... my choice in design is either do it myself, or put it on crowdspring, because its work I have merely NO budget for, and dont even know how successful the idea will be. So, I put it out there for some cheaper design work. I know its not professional grade, but I would not have paid for professional grade either. In that case, I just want something that is sufficient, quick, and looks a hell of a lot better than I would have done myself.

Paying SOME designer is better than paying NO designer, right?

[Edited on January 8, 2010 at 7:56 AM. Reason : .]

1/8/2010 7:51:08 AM

My advice is don't waste your time or your designers time with creating a logo until you have the company name picked out. You might think it doesn't matter and 'company name' will be fine for the design...but it makes a big difference when trying to decide type and everything that goes along with type.

Quote :

"we're just gonna have to agree to disagree. i am restricted geographically to a dozen or two graphic design studios. what are the chances that in the WORLD, the guy who can do the best work for me lives in a 20 mile radius? I don't want that restriction and this issue isn't exclusive to design thanks to the internet. the industry is going to have to evolve or spend all it's time whining about the new kids on the block."

You are only restricted to the designers on planet Earth as we have yet to discover an efficient way for designers on Mars to send you proofs via snail mail.

[Edited on January 8, 2010 at 8:08 AM. Reason : .]

1/8/2010 8:05:32 AM

http://thelogocompany.net/

and, figure out your company name before you think about asking someone to make a logo.

[Edited on January 8, 2010 at 8:14 AM. Reason : asdf]

1/8/2010 8:13:44 AM

man, i thought this said lego

1/8/2010 8:15:51 AM

agreed about the company name. It could make a big difference in the design. Type may matter, how the name is aligned, all sorts of things you may not have considered. "Company Name" is very different in how it fits into a design than "The John Beaufort-Ashely MailBox Imporium of Raleigh"... ya know?

And there could be something visual that goes along with your company name. For ex. if your company name is "Axis" and you sell mailboxes, that may cue about 10 different ideas that don't come to mind with "Company Name" and simply don't make sense with some names.

1/8/2010 10:14:02 AM

about an hour after i made this thread i found a great name and one with the domain still available so i snatched that up and ive already gotten a slogan as well

as soon as i get registered as an actual business i'll update, logos and all so you guys can let me know what you think

1/8/2010 11:15:38 AM