Why Logo Design Contests Don't Work

BusinessBranding

Feb 16

You’re ready to take the next step and brand your business! The prospect of having a visual image that represents your company is exciting. At the same time, the task of finding a designer feels daunting. There are lots of options out there, and you’re busy with so many other things in your business that sorting through them seems too time consuming.

It might seem tempting to hop on the logo design contest bandwagon. This will allow you to receive many design options, and then you can choose the logo you like best—what could be easier or more appealing than that? And a lot of businesses that run design contests are well-intentioned, citing things like “community engagement” as the driving reason behind the contest.

You might be thinking, “this sounds like a win-win!” Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that design contests are actually bad for your business and can do more harm than good—for both you and designers.

Here’s why:

1. Logo design contests neglect your overall brand and the soul of your company.

Any professional designer will begin the branding process by getting to know your business. The purpose of design is to communicate, and in order to communicate correctly, a conversation needs to happen. The designer needs to deeply understand your business’s mission, values, goals, audience, personality, and more.

When your logo and branding is designed with the heart of your business in mind, it delivers a much more effective message and resonates with your audience. And when your brand resonates with your audience, that builds loyalty and trust and converts your audience to customers. Logos designed without this strong foundation of who your business is lack authenticity or any real connection to what you’re trying to communicate about your company.

With design contests, there’s no opportunity to form a relationship with a designer. Sure, you might put out a checklist of business qualities, but the essence of your business won’t be uncovered. Most designers entering contests are submitting work based on their personal preferences, on design trends, or on other designs (see point 2 below). But truthfully, your logo shouldn’t be designed based on someone else’s taste; it should be designed based on deep thought, reason, and what will connect best with your audience.

2. You won’t receive the files you need.

CONSIDER THIS QUESTION: do you think your business deserves less-than-professional design?

Here’s the thing: logo design contests don’t typically attract professional designers. The majority of people who enter these contests are hobbyists, students, or people looking to make some quick cash on the side.

With design contests, you’ll probably get a handful of entries that are using repurposed designs or stock images, but there’s no way for you to tell other than to do more work on your end double checking entries. This might not seem like a big deal at first, but it’s incredibly important to note that you can face legal issues if your logo is infringing on another’s copyright. Further, even if it’s using legally downloaded stock art, you would not be able to copyright or trademark your logo in the future.

Beyond these ethical aspects of the design, in a contest, your final deliverables will most likely be lacking, as well. A professional designer will always consider the long term usage of your logo.

For example, it’s important for you to have several variations (such as horizontal, vertical, and round) for different types of spaces, different color formats for print and web, different file formats for different situations. Professional designers will also deliver a brand guide that outlines your colors, fonts, and instructions that help keep all of your future visual pieces consistent. Saving all of these files is a lot of work, but ensures that your logo will serve you well for many, many years. With contests, you’re likely only going to receive one or two files, with no consideration for the longevity of your brand.

3. You’re exploiting the design industry by soliciting free work.

Most logo design contests work something like this: you put out a call for entries, offering a monetary prize to the winning designer. A bunch of people get to work crafting a design that they hope will win. Everyone puts in time and thought, but no one except the winner receives any payment for their work.

Think about other services you invest in. Would you hold a contest to choose your accountant, lawyer, plumber? Do you think any of these professionals would even enter such a contest? Or, would you go to a restaurant, order five dishes, and choose to pay for only the one you liked most? Probably not—so why is this acceptable for graphic design?

Design is a professional service. Quality design by a professional designer takes a huge amount of experience, thought, process, time, and energy. Holding a contest doesn’t provide payment for every entry, which devalues the industry and intentional design solutions.

Design contests fall into the category of “spec work,” or work done for free with the hope of getting paid. AIGA, the national professional association for design, has a great article on spec work if you’re curious to read more about why it’s frowned upon.

You might be thinking, “Alright, I’m convinced. But without running a contest, I’m not sure where to start.”

That’s a completely valid feeling! Like I mentioned above, there are so many options out there. When making such a big and meaningful investment in your business, it can be difficult to know if you’ve found the best fit. Stay tuned for next month’s post where I’ll share some tips on how to find the right graphic designer!