Logo frustrations

I've tried and tried to come up with a logo. I can't even decide on a FONT! much less a logo design.

Here's what I DO know:
I will be using a black background for everything, except letterheads/invoicing.
I want my logo to look good on all media in all sizes - website, facebook banner, t-shirt, apron, booth banner (so enlarged), business card (shrunken down). This is a given, right?
I want my logo to "speak" to my target customer base, so it needs to be child-friendly, but sophisticated enough to appeal to adults.
I want my logo to say, "I'm worth every penny and more."
I want it to be bold and colorful, but not loud and obnoxious.
I do not want my logo to be gender specific - too feminine.

So, I've been working on this for waaaay too long. I'm in a crunch to get some marketing material printed for the peak season. I need to get this done and I'm so frustrated about the ridiculous amount of time I've spent on this already. Unbelievable amount of time. Ugh!

I've ordered numerous gigs from FIVERR from numerous "graphic designers." Either they don't get our industry or they don't understand English.

I sent the pic I'll be using in conjunction with my logo for much of my material. I sent it for color samples and for them to get a feel for what I need.



And yes - I sent this pic to Mark and asked how he felt about me using this design and he loved it and was very supportive and enthusiastic about me using it as my promotional image. He's an amazing teacher

Anyway - told the fiverrs that I wanted swirls and teardrops incorporated (sent samples of those too) and a PAINTBRUSH incorporated into the design... such as painting the font on the business name or the swirls or a face... something that says I'm a face painter, right?

Here's the BEST design that was offered. And it's pretty cool, except that the feedback I've gotten is, "Scary", "Evil", "Demonic"... "Looks like a tattoo shop sign, not a face painter's sign", "Looks like it belongs on the strip in Vegas"...



NONE of the designs had a paintbrush in them. One of them had CANDLES, but no paintbrush. Candles??!

I'm not kidding when I say the others are too stupid to even share for a second look. A child could do better.

So, there's a lot I like about this logo - I think it would look good embroidered on a shirt or apron - with some modifications. The face is not exactly "happy". Pretty cool that they took it from my tiger pic and made a graphic straight from that, but the face outline is wrong and the eyes look "hollow, dark, and evil" - I'm in agreement with my family on that.

What do you guys think? Anybody have any suggestions or guidance? I'm so ready to forget about it and move on, but I really want to take advantage of this season's window to create some branding for myself.

Ugh.

Here are the sample swirls I sent the graphic designers.

Told them to make their own that would incorporate well into the logo - but to base it on these concepts.

Here's the last one.

I'll be honest, I don't like the one with the face, for all the reasons you posted.

I love the swirls you sent them, and I'm surprised they don't really look more like your samples.

I don't have much advice, other than this. As you create your brand, find what you love, that will stand the test of time. Don't settle for anything less than that.

Good luck! And I love your tiger. Mark was very sweet to be supportive.

My husband says, "You're too trusting. They're milking you. At $5 per revision, how many gigs is each one going to get out of you? What are you willing to pay to have someone ignore your instructions?" He says, "That's how they make their money. Play nicey-nicey and act like they're doing you a favor when in reality they're purposefully dragging it out." Hmph.

Am I really that naive? I'm beginning to think so.

Making logos for someone else is hard work. Nobody can ever really be inside your head and see exactly what you are thinking. I have made logos for people on here and came up with a bunch of designs and they told me what they liked from each one, then I would make one incorporating those ideas together into a logo... Then revise what they didn't like about that... etc. etc.... Real life logos cost hundreds of dollars and the $5 logos are just that... $5.00 logos. Putting all of the work into them for $5 is ridiculous. I mean would you do about an hour worth of work for $5?? You aren't going to get something fabulous.

It also depends how experienced they are at making logos. I can make logos but have never had any training or anything... they aren't the greatest either. Perhaps I can help you a bit for free... .Not sure I can meet all of your expectations though. And you should be picky when it comes to your business

I understand it takes a lot of work and I don't mind paying for revisions one piece at a time as long as the designer can follow my instructions/requests as we go along.

A paintbrush and a candle are two different things. $5 lost on translation is $5 down the drain for me and a waste of time for both of us.

A simple swirl (samples sent) and a fleur de lis or whatever it's called - again, are two different things.

I was willing to work at it and pay along the way as the design progressed, but I feel like a fool when I keep buying gigs in an attempt to get my concept across and they are either blatantly ignoring my instruction/explanation or don't understand plain English.

And btw, Suzy - you are most generous in offering to help! I am going to work at it a bit myself and maybe once I get it honed down to what I want in terms of specific font, design, and layout - maybe then I can ask you or someone to do the final graphic for me, since I don't know how to do that part?

I should really learn how to use this lovely photoshop program I have, but alas... I do not have the time to invest in that right now.

THANK you for offering, sweet lady Much appreciated.

In the meantime, I'm going to take the heat off myself for awhile and just order 500 of my last business cards to tie me over until I get this figured out.

Time to de-stress over this mess.

Onward!

I've been at this for 4 years and JUST got a logo... I was pretty much just using images of my clown face for a long time as a way to recognize me, not really a logo but something consistent anyway. It wasn't until I was designing a new name tag for my latest costume that the image for the name tag turned into the logo on my website, facebook page, car wrap, business cards, banners... etc. And really, it's just my name in a font from GIMP called "noteworthy" that I can't find in any other program with a little flower drawn around the dot of the i.

Keep it SIMPLE. Logos are supposed to be recognizable if shrunk down to practically nothing and instantly associated with your brand. Think pepsi ball, nike swoosh, even the words Coca-Cola in that swirly script if shrunk down to almost nothing or even just the C in that script and you would instantly know, "a white swirly C on a red background is Coke."

Your tiger face is so colorful and attractive and looks spectacular against a black background. Have you thought of using IT as a "logo"? You could choose a cool font and color for your business name and run it next to the picture, maybe overlapping a bit, or just beneath the picture as if the face is floating on the words. It might be a good way to start, just to get on with things (like festival season? ). If people see that same image and your name in a bright bold color, they would make the association with you each time. You could even have it printed on your banners ...

Yeah... take a look at mine... I use my fav photo and then just made the rest to go along with it....
www.suzysparkles.org

SuzySparkles wrote:Yeah... take a look at mine... I use my fav photo and then just made the rest to go along with it....
www.suzysparkles.org

WOW! How weird! I just downloaded a font from dafont last night and was playing around with it just now before I came on here and checked out yours, Suzy!



We sure have similar style, my friend

Great minds think a like!!!

So why cant you use the card (the evil one!) as it is just use the actual photo and black out the background the same colour as the card? I think if you did this it would be just awesome.
It is actually quite striking witht the colours.
I dont see why you would replace a photo of your actual work with a pic like that.
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Sorry not sure why the pic double posted, but you get the idea ok?

i like it like Dex did it...use your photo