The world economy is a beautiful thing! I just had a kid from Bangladesh build a beautiful logo for the First Monday Club for $25 in a 3 day turnaround.
Thing is, I have some graphic design skills, but logos are not my thing! But, I am always amazed at how easily a good logo can set your work apart. Logos have a way of creating an identity for your group, project or organization.
They do not have to be perfect, but they do have to be simple with a single idea. Often while working in the nonprofit world, we do logos by committee. We buttonhole a friend with Adobe Illustrator and give eight different ideas to be incorporated into one logo. I work with a year-long residential rehab discipleship organization. The logo they picked (without my consent) is a logo of a pixelated 19th century life raft with three empty masts cut-and-pasted in the top. But wait! It is actually the three crosses of Calvary! They say to me, “Look, it is a ‘disciple-ship’. Get it?!” Listen, I love these guys. Seriously, loves these people and the work they do! And they should not be allowed to do their own graphic design anymore!
Here are a few ideas to live by:
- Go with one global idea for your graphic. Keep it simple and to the point.
- This won’t be your logo forever. Don’t sweat this one.
- Use a VERY small group of poeple as your taste makers. Everyone else won’t care after the first minute they notice it.
- Ask for something simple. One or two colors at the most. It is the new black — it will go with anything!
- Use a professional. There’s enough crappy work being used in the church already!
I have done a few projects through Fiverr.com. Frankly, the quality has been mixed. This time I got some great work by the designer, anickkiller76. I ordered just the logo with downloadable editable digital files so I can modify it over time as I wish. For our Monday Morning Group, I wanted something I could quickly transform into anything we would need. With Photoshop, I can do this in five minutes.
This level of custom work used to cost hundreds of dollars. Now, with the advent of Fiverr.com, a scrappy graphic artist can live pretty well on creating logos for guys like me for $25! I looked at the reviews and thought I’d take a chance on this one, but not a big chance! It is only $25! But it turns out I like this designer’s work, so I have already started another project. I am looking forward to seeing what I get for Sacramento Camps new logo!
I have found that our church needs more than one logo. The youth group and Kids Zone need their own logos. Each service many get their own logo. Different service projects and fund raising campaigns can get their own identity with logo! And at the price you can afford to take a chance! So, jump in!