Can You Create Your Brand Identity by Starting a Logo Design Competition?

Is a Design Competition worth the risk?

This is a guest article by Ben Johnson of Logoinn. You can participate by taking a look at our guest blogging guidelines

A lot of small businesses have now turned to crowdsourcing and logo design competition websites to create their business identity at an extremely low-cost.

There might be a few reasons behind it.

1) They can’t afford more than a few dollars.

2) They want dozens of designers to create dozens of designs for them, so they can easily choose one.

3) They don’t know the importance of a logo design.

When small businesses go to logo design competition sites to create their business identity, it becomes obvious that they don’t know how powerful this little piece of design is and how it can make their business look professional and attractive. However, if designed incorrectly, the same design will ruin your business image completely and you may not be able to undo the damage it will cause.

Simply put…Your logo design gives your business a face. If it looks professional, then your business will look professional, otherwise it will destroy your business image completely.

So, here are a few questions you should ask yourself before you start crowdsourcing:

How will You Determine that the Design is Original and Unique?

When you start a competition, dozens, if not hundreds, of designers will participate in it. How will you know that the designs are original? How will you determine that none of the designers actually gave you plagiarized work? There is no way you can judge that. Thus, you may end up promoting your business with a plagiarized logo. You won’t be able to create a unique identity for your unique business.

How will You Determine that the Designer has Not Created a Fake Profile?

If you like a few designs and feel interested in learning more about the designers who created them, then how will you know that their profiles are authentic? I mean, how will you judge that they didn’t copy other people’s designs in their profile? There is no way to judge that either.

Here is an Example of Cadbury:

Cadbury doesn’t need any introduction. It’s a successful company and they have the budget to hire the most creative designers. However, they still started a competition and offered a hefty amount to the winner (it was not a logo, but a design for wrapper). Designers from around the world submitted their designs and finally there was one winner. However, later it was found that the design was plagiarized. So, Cadbury gave the prize to the runner-up.

If a well-known company can face such a thing, then imagine how horrible it will be for a small business that will promote their products with a plagiarized design. Imagine the redesigning cost they will have to bear and then again get their new logo imprinted on new accessories like mugs, pens, business cards, etc. They will also have to discard the promotional items with the plagiarized logo imprinted on them. Just imagine the cost, burden and humiliation.

Plus, all small businesses may not have enough funds available to start all over again.

Is it worth taking the risk? You can very well answer this question now.