Custom Sports Logo Graphic Design Startup

[MidwestCoastCustom]

Hey all,

I am starting a custom sports logo graphic design company. Any thoughts or advice on how to get the best exposure to our target audience without many startup funds? We have been calling local coaches and whatnot but we were looking to explore other routes online for marketing as well. Here is a link to our Facebook Page and Website to give you more info.

SAMPLES HERE!

Feel free to like us on facebook and give any feedback you can! Our email is midwestcoastcustom@gmail.com.

Thanks in advance!

[drdougfresh]

I'll be honest, a site not hosted on Wix and better presentation of your work would go a long way.

But my biggest issue is the design. I think practicing basic fundamentals before you go to market would be smart if you don't want to invest in a team of designers. Frankly, the work seems amateurish right now. No amount of marketing can fix that.

[Guest darkpiranha]

Agreed. You guys aren't ready to enter this professional designer arena except for entry level teams such as little league or rec league teams. Just spend ten minutes on this site and you'll see that you really need to hunker down and learn your craft before you're even up to level of some of the hobbyists here, much less the pros.

Good luck , though.

[MidwestCoastCustom]

Our focus is on logos for little league and rec league teams. Not the pros.

[mcrosby]

That doesn't change much. Most of those entities have logos that look very similar to what you have. They have those because they got them free from clipart or a kid's parent drew something up.

This shouldn't deter you. Keep honing your craft. Find some tutorials. Fraser Davidson has done some in the past.

[pitt6pack]

I'll be honest, a site not hosted on Wix and better presentation of your work would go a long way.

But my biggest issue is the design. I think practicing basic fundamentals before you go to market would be smart if you don't want to invest in a team of designers. Frankly, the work seems amateurish right now. No amount of marketing can fix that.

I'm going to have to agree with this. The website is very important for a graphics design company. When I think of what a graphics design website should look like, for starters it wouldn't be a Wix site. You should be able to make your own website where you design the site from scratch, showcasing what you can do. Having a custom website, not hosted by Wix or a GoogleSite, gives your work and company much more credibility in the design field.

I'm assuming you have no background in web development, so here is what I would suggest; If you still have connections to your schools, get a computer science student to make a website for you. I bet there would be students who would be glad to do it because they can put it as something on a resume, or show to a possible employer in an interview. This way you both win. I've seen much better designed websites that look professional, compared to what you've got, made by students in a two week class project. Heck, I could put together a better looking website by tomorrow even.

So if you are really serious about this company, make the website a top priority, because in today's world a successful website is a large part of a successful business. It will expand your reach to clients, and for a design company, you should expect that your biggest market is going to come from the internet if you really want to be successful.

[drdougfresh]

Our focus is on logos for little league and rec league teams. Not the pros.

You're asking the wrong people if you think audience is an excuse for lack of quality and refinement

[jaker52]

Our focus is on logos for little league and rec league teams. Not the pros.

You're asking the wrong people if you think audience is an excuse for lack of quality and refinement

Preach. When rec teams have bad quality, they do it themselves, so why should they pay you for the same results. You should work on your craft some.

[Jordyhazy]

Imagine how good your brand would be if people from this concepts forum were hired

[ren69]

Creating a website and advertising yourself as a logo design company with anything less than professional grade work can hurt you before it helps you. Many logo designers, myself included get commissioned without an actual website advertising ourselves. It comes from websites such as this one where we choose to post our work for others to view, critique and help take it to that next level. It's from these sites that others make contact with us and request our services as well as spread the word about us. As others have mentioned already, If your serious about being a logo designer which by the way is a very competitive field IMO. I would suggest you work on improving your skills as a designer. There are many tutorials, videos, websites that can assist you then create some original designs post them here and get others to help you improve them. Experience is very important in defining your skill/ability. The more experience you get, the more your work will improve and the more your work improves the more others will notice and start looking for you about their logo needs. Once you have several top notch logos under your belt then you might consider using sites like behance or imgur to post your work and get more exposure and potential clients. Again as others stated, A legitimate logo design firm should have nothing less than a professional looking website and professional work to go along with it to be taken serious. Please don't be discouraged or offended by the comments posted, they're meant to give you the input and advise you requested. Good luck and hope to see some work from you here sometime soon.

Ren

[upperV03]

One of your so called "designs" is a carbon copy of the logo that a high school team in my area uses. The only difference is the name. That is not professional work, that is just taking an existing stock logo and slapping on a generic wordmark to it. You need to work on actually being creative and coming up with your own ideas before you advertise your "professional" company.

[FFWally]

My 2c, and its as we said in the fire service, "cruel, but fair".

Spend a year on this board, post new designs and ask for C&C. Get as many eyes on your work as possible, and listen to the C&C, its harsh, but if you really want to be successful there are a lot of people here who will help you indirectly.

I'm by a mile not even close to being one of the better designers on here, so I post my stuff to get better, because I know there are many on here who will say, "dude, that sux, but if you did this, it would look good". Or "you are on the right path, but clean up X or Y and its solid".

And there are times I think, yeah this is good, then post it and a week later, after taking all the comments and trying each of them (some are good, some are bad) come up with something that is mine, but something that is normally 180 degrees removed from the original post.

Since I've been on here, my design craft has improved light years, and I have worked in design every day for a living for a long time. And its from doing it all day every day, and a lot of really constructive C&C on here, and trust me, I look at the logo work I did a decade ago and cringe, and painfully it is still out there!

Keep working and use color and design to give depth, and lose the drop shadows.

All that said, its just not good enough to be out there.