4 Reasons to Not DIY Your Logo

     Good logo design is something that brands really need for their brand identities. A lot of businesses, especially when they're starting up, don't invest proper time and money into good branding that would set them ahead of their competition. As someone who has personally made logos for start-up companies rebranded other existing logos and completely changed logos for businesses, I know of several reasons why DIY-ing your own logo for your business isn't going to be the most beneficial for you later on. 


     Before even thinking about making your own logo, I suggest that you ask yourself some questions about your knowledge and skillset in the graphic design field. 

"Do I have the knowledge of what makes a logo good or bad?"
"Have I had any kind of training or practice working in these programs?"
"Do I know how to do market research on my competitors and know how their branding affects this?"

Honestly, if you're not an artist or graphic designer that has made logos before and been through the stages of making some really bad logos along the way, you probably shouldn't try to do your branding identity.

1: Knowledge

     I really believe that knowledge, training, or education in the art or graphic design field is crucial to being able to make knowledgeable decisions about the logo or brand identity that could make or break the design.

I can personally attest to the fact that knowledge is power when it comes to design. I remember being younger and working on logo sketches and designs for school and thinking they were great, but then once I got to college and got more formal training on what I was actually doing my designs went from 0 to 100 real quick. 

2: Skill Set 

     Actual artists and designers have worked really hard to get where they're at now, and I think that's something important to remember when you're looking at the pros and cons of having an actual artist create your branding. Artists that have been trained in their craft possess a certain skill set to do what they do that other people that aren't artists just don't have. Also, artists and designers are creatives and they let the creativity out through their work, which you could have in your branding if an artist is employed.

3: Research

     Not to speak for all artists on their behalf, but from personal experience and the experiences of other designers that I know, research is the most important step in the creative process, especially for logo or brand identity designs.

     Using myself and my peers as an example, when starting the process of logo design we almost always start with some kind of research. The research we do does depend heavily on what kind of business you are, whether or not you're a new business, if you already have a logo or ideas for a logo, and what your competition is doing.

4: Passion and Drive

     In my opinion, to make really good logo designs or any design honestly, the passion and drive for art, the creative process, and the finished product has to be there. If someone without a passion for art or the drive to do what it takes to make a design successful, it's inevitable for the design to flop. Creatives love doing this and making art for others to see and interact with, and when someone in a company without any training does a DIY logo for their business the passion is lost and trust me when I say that consumers will feel that it's not there.

This is a logo that I remade while doing a rebranding of a company's entire identity

     I know that a lot of the time when companies have someone inhouse do a DIY design or even a small start-up business does their own branding it mostly has to do with the fact that having an artist come in to make a logo and identity for you can be very expensive.

     One thing to keep in mind too is that you really do get what you pay for when it comes to this. You could invest the money into your brand and making it look really good and maybe have to save money other places to have that, or you could cut the funding from that part of your business and not have a logo or brand identity that people can resonate with and relate to.