Is It Worth Paying For a Custom Logo?

Can’t I just get a free one online?

A logo is one of the first things you need to launch your new business. However, when starting out there are a lot of initial costs and investments, and all at a time when generally there’s no income to cover it.

This can mean that you start to look at options to cut start-up costs.

A quick Google search for a logo design throws up pages and pages of free logo generators. So it leaves you with the question…

Is it worth paying for a custom logo design?

Only you can decide if it’s worth the investment for your business. But today we will talk you through why we believe a custom logo is always worth the investment.

We’ll also show you the difference between what you get from a free logo generator and a custom design.

Your Company’s Foundations

A logo is more than a pretty symbol or your business name written in an unusual font. Your logo is the foundation of your business, it’s what every part of your brand image hinges from.

Plus, more often than not, it is also the first thing that comes to people’s minds when they think of your business. Therefore, your logo should represent your company’s style, personality, what you do and how you do it.

That means that every single part of your logo should be there for a reason. Which is something that isn’t possible with a free logo generator.

Stand Out from the Crowd

One of the big risks when using a free logo generator is that your logo ends up looking exactly like many other similar businesses. This is something that we’ve personally seen in a number of industries. Whereas, a custom logo designer will research your competitors and your marketplace to ensure that your logo is unique to your business.

Logo Adaptability

Don’t forget that your logo will be on every single piece of your business’s advertising, marketing, and communication which means it needs to adapt.

A custom design service includes your main logo design plus other sub-versions/colour ways for use on different platforms, backgrounds and orientations.

A free logo generator will only provide one version of the logo, limiting how and where you can use it.

More Than a Logo

It’s easy to think that all you need is a logo design and you’re set. But in reality, a new business needs a complete brand identity.

When starting out you’ll need a whole host of branding material from business cards, flyers and social media designs, up to your vehicle and building graphics and complete website builds.

The beauty of working with a professional designer from the beginning is that your branding material will be consistent and cohesive. Delivering a strong and clear message to your target customer as well as optimised recognition and recall.

Real World Example

Finally, here’s an example of the difference between a free and custom design. We used a generator to give us some options for a brief we’ve previously completed.

The brief was to design a logo for MamaSutu’s Plant Based Kitchen. Alongside many elements, the brand and logo needed to reflect the handmade, natural product they were making.

Out of 50+ results, these are the two best logos from an online logo generator.

Not all that impressive, hey? I mean, come on, one of them has a pair of butcher knives on it!

As for the custom logo we designed…

Safe to say it’s in a different league from what they’d have gotten from an online logo generator.

Alongside the main logo, we also created a series of supporting logos in their full brand colour palette, various textures and file types to ensure they always have the right logo for whatever situation they’re using it in.