Six ultimate tips for hiring a professional logo designer

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If you have the necessary skills as well as the time, you could choose to design the logo yourself. If not, it would be advisable to engage the services of a professional.

So, how do you go about hiring a professional logo designer?

Know where to look

One of the best ways of finding a professional and reliable logo designer is through word-of-mouth. Ask your business associates or friends to recommend a designer they have done business with before. Alternatively, look around for designs similar to what you are looking for and find out who created them.

Besides referral, there are several sites you could visit to find professional logo designers. This includes Elance, CarbonMade, Upwork, Coroflot, Behance, AIGA and Creative Hotlist. The other option you might want to consider is crowd-sourced design sites such as Designhill, CrowdSpring, 99 Designs, DesignCrowd and LogoMyWay. Such sites are especially ideal for one-off logo design projects.

Know your message

Your logo should convey a certain message about your business or brand. This message could be your purpose, values or beliefs. For instance, if your business is service oriented, you might want to convey reliability and professionalism to your audience. Therefore, before hiring a designer, you need to know who your target audience is and what message you want to get across to them.

Check their portfolio

A designer's portfolio will give you a good indication about their ability to handle your project. For instance, someone who only has experience in designing graphics for print might not be suitable for a web-based project. Therefore, you need to find out if the designer has done any work previously which is similar to what you want. In addition, take time to read reviews about them from some of their clients.

Try out before committing

When starting out with a designer, it would be advisable to begin with a small project before fully committing yourself. For instance, you could ask them to re-design an existing design. This will give you a chance to learn a few things about them. Are they easy to work with? Are they affable? Are they passionate about your project? Do they keep their promises? Are they competent? If they fall short of your expectations, simply terminate the relationship and look for someone else.

Set clear expectations

Before getting into serious business with a designer, you need to draft a letter of agreement or contract. This document should contain details such as:

• What exactly the designer is expected to deliver

• Due dates for the first draft and the complete work
• A statement showing who will own the final work
• The number of revisions included

• How payment will be made

Establish a payment schedule

Payment is a very important aspect of hiring a professional logo designer. Usually, it would not be advisable to make the full payment upfront. Instead, you can give a down payment at the beginning of the project and then settle the balance when the job is complete. Paying in installments protects you as well as the designer.