Website design company logo

[goforbroke]

I really hope this doesn't come off as a spam ad... but since i've been a member of these boards for 6 years now hopefully no one thinks that, I really am just looking for everyone's thoughts on the logos I had designed for my website design company. Not my concept, I used 99designs.com to have it made.

The name is basically the business model, which is building high quality websites for small businesses for only $50 per month. www.WebsiteFor50.com

There's two version of the primary logo (one with the URL, one without) and two versions of the partial logo too. I know a lot of people don't love gradients (myself included) but it think it works here.

[quantum]

I personally only object to gradients in sports logos. In this context, it is fine. The only caveat is for print purposes. You should have a line art version that is for faxing, invoicing, etc.

[goforbroke]

Thanks quantum, yeah I do have a two tone version .. and I have two tone (not greyscale) black and white version too.

[Mings]

Make sure the month this is expressly stated, in a completely obvious and explicit manner. People are going to look at your logo and just think that it is $50 period. I think for that reason a new look at the name/website might be warranted, as it really just makes it come off as "Hey, we give you stuff for cheap". Do you really want to be known as the cheap place or the place that is reasonable in price yet does high-quality work? Right now, this screams "The Cheap Place".

[goforbroke]

It's a good point. I do put the info all over the website and advertising. I def don't want people to be confused. But I don't want to clutter up the logo itself. I also wanted something descriptive as a name, because really what would be the point of calling it joes web design or infinity web design. In SUCH a competitive industry u need to stand out. And this company's standout is that it is very affordable. So that's what I wanted to convey in the name and logo. But I think with a high quality logo it doesn't come off as poor quality and cheap, just affordable.

[oddball]

As soon as I saw this, the first thing that screamed out at me was, "You're doing a website for $50?!?" Even though you've put on your site that it's $50 per month, a lot of people are going to walk away from you because your logo tells them that they get it all for $50 period.

[north dakota]

I agree with oddball.

[goforbroke]

I think thats kind of the point though. People are impressed by the price. And thats what draws them in They immediately find out it's per month which is still a very good deal. I'm not trying to scam anyone, the logo is never going to be seen unless it's on an ad or website itself where it's clearly stated it's per month. It just doesn't make sense to put all that info on a logo though.

I just think website for $50 dot com is miles better than website for $50 per month dot com. and it's also much better than joes web design because that doesn't tell u anything.

Anyway I really appreciate the comments about the business itself and the business plan, but I really was looking for for comments on the logo itself. Do u guys think it's nice looking and gets the message across. Would u think of a competent web design company by looking at this logo.

[Shmee]

This is going to be hard to put into words, but it looks like a logo for something that is too good to be true. You know those companies that buy popup ads on pro wrestling dirt sheet websites or celebrity gossip sites that promote a web service that doesn't seem possible? It looks like one of those. To me, the bright orange and blue combination (a very popular color combo in things like movie posters right now for being very visually appealing and easy to pull off) seems like it's taking the easy route, the giant $50 screams cheap to me (not in a good way), and the arrow doesn't actually say anything to me except "I am an arrow, because really what else would you put here?" This really looks to me like something that would appear in a popup while browsing some trashy website, with that female voice that yells "Congratulations! You've been chosen for an opportunity to have a website for only $50!" And that's just the logo.

As for the actual business model, I'll keep it short and sweet. I don't trust a web design company that gets its logo from 99designs.com. I REALLY don't trust a web design company whose example gallery leads to templates from intuit.com

[goforbroke]

Don't worry about the intuit templates they're just placeholders. Everything is in very very early stages. Intuits just the platform.

[pcgd]

Compositionally this isn't bad, but it looks like the thousands of other internet company logos out there. If you hired a designer you would have gotten something unique and that explained the company graphically and personally.

Change the words and this could be for any number of companies in different industries. Take out the $50 and put in a dollar sign and now it's an investment logo or a check cashing place. Put a baseball in there and it's for a personal coach. I could go on. It wouldn't surprise me if the same logo was out there with different elements.

I'm glad you are happy with it and what you are doing isn't against any rules, just I think you would have got better results working directly, personally with a single designer instead of using a design contest. Use spec art and you are libal to get a template logo. You get what you pay for.

[pcgd]

Double post

[goforbroke]

I wish I had the money to hire a personal graphic designer. 99designs may be a shortcut but you get a nice variety of logos to choose from for under $300. For the money I'm happy, and hopefully if I have more money in the future I can do a redesign and hire a graphic designer, preferable one of the really talented people from these boards.

That's not to say this has to be the logo. I'm open to suggestions. I appreciate people saying it's genetic or misleading, but I'd love some suggestions on what would work better.

[Mings]

The hell? You are on this board and you paid them $300? I'm sure one of the plethora of designers here would have worked on something for you for that.

[oddball]

The hell? You are on this board and you paid them $300? I'm sure one of the plethora of designers here would have worked on something for you for that.

Sometimes people make questionable decisions...

[goforbroke]

The hell? You are on this board and you paid them $300? I'm sure one of the plethora of designers here would have worked on something for you for that.

Sometimes people make questionable decisions...

I've been on these boards for a long time. I would not ask anyone to design me a logo, its very rude and frowned upon.

The concepts forum is for designing your own graphics and getting feedback and hoping to improve them. I worked on my own logos for a while, but I really wasn't happy with any of the directions it was going. I try, but I'm really not the most talented graphic designer.

The requests forum is not for people to solicit designers to make their logos for free. people hate that. I could have offered a little payment, which i did try once 5 years ago for a poker logo, and I did get one really nice design back, but I decided to go a different route this time. If I offered $300 on these boards, It would have started a whole agrument about how desginers usually cost thousands and i am insulting them by offering so little. I would not want to start that debate for the umpteenth time.

The way 99designs works is you offer a prize and you get a good 2 dozen desgins back, and you can choose one that you like, or choose none and not pay anything. I found one that I liked and decided it was worth paying for.

What I'd really like to do is go back to talking about the logo itself. What suggestions can people make that you think would make it better. Pleas keep in mind I am not going to change the name of the business at this time.

[oddball]

Actually $300 sounds about right for a logo of this magnitude, depending on the designer. If you want to talk about the logo, then go back and read what people have said. It's a logo that makes you and your services look cheap, so in that respect, it's not good. You've completely missed what people are telling you, you paid $300 for a bad logo. If it looks like a popup ad, then it's a bad logo. I don't know what more you need to know.

[Mings]

Pretty much. You glance at it for a second, think "popup/place for something cheap but not good" and move on. Instead of being unique, you look like everyone else. If I didn't know enough to tinker with my own website, I still woukd pass over a "Websitefor50" type site. Business branding should never be about the affordability of your product, unless you are Walmart, and even then its a tagline, not the entire brand.

[goforbroke]

Actually $300 sounds about right for a logo of this magnitude, depending on the designer. If you want to talk about the logo, then go back and read what people have said. It's a logo that makes you and your services look cheap, so in that respect, it's not good. You've completely missed what people are telling you, you paid $300 for a bad logo. If it looks like a popup ad, then it's a bad logo. I don't know what more you need to know.

I would really love some suggestions on how to make it better, some direction you think I should take.

Like I said, I was trying to move away from "Infinity Web Design" or "Alpha Milleenium Web Design" or something with an edgy, creative title. The target market for this business is older, small business owners that dont have a website still in 2011 and arent really interested in spending a lot of money but do realize they need some type of web presence, I would like to help them out by bulding very attractive, simple website at a very affordable price.

I think that demographic will have a different opinion of this logo. I don't think they are expecting a web 2.0 logo with lots of interesting negative space and creative colors. The audience that I'm trying to reach I think needs it spelled out literally what I am offering. I really belive that this logo does reflect that.

However, like I said I am open to suggestions. I hear what everyone is saying that it looks cliche, cheap, etc. But I would love to know what can be different or some other direction.

[drdougfresh]

Compositionally this isn't bad, but it looks like the thousands of other internet company logos out there. If you hired a designer you would have gotten something unique and that explained the company graphically and personally.

Change the words and this could be for any number of companies in different industries. Take out the $50 and put in a dollar sign and now it's an investment logo or a check cashing place. Put a baseball in there and it's for a personal coach. I could go on. It wouldn't surprise me if the same logo was out there with different elements.

I'm glad you are happy with it and what you are doing isn't against any rules, just I think you would have got better results working directly, personally with a single designer instead of using a design contest. Use spec art and you are libal to get a template logo. You get what you pay for.

Also ironic: pcgd's logo is quite similar as well.

I agree with the general sentiment here. Something about this screams "adware" or "cheap" (and not in a good way). Also, the arrow and blue text don't match. Why?