Logo Workshop Resources

If you're not a designer by trade, it can be awfully daunting to move past the simplicity of the One-Step Logo in an attempt to create something more complex and nuanced. These are some resources I recommend to those interested in starting their graphic design self-education. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it should help you to kick-start your foray into the wide world of design.

Comprehensive design course: Hack Design , Teach Yourself Design

Ted talk:  Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

Typography: Font Squirrel, Google Fonts, Typography for Lawyers, H&FJ,  Lost Type, Type Kit, What the Font

Vector Images: The Noun Project

Colour Selection: Adobe Kuler, Colour Scheme Designer

Design Communities and Inspiration: Design Subreddit, Graphic Design Subreddit, Dribble, Logopond

If, at the end of the day, you decide you want to reach out to a professional, make sure you have the knowledge to hire someone skilled and appropriate. Now go forth, research, sketch, iterate, and create.

The Noun Project sent you $14.76

You may remember a while back I wrote about The Noun Project, praising it for making design more accessible. Well a few months ago they started allowing designers to enable their icons for purchase at $1.99 each (receiving 50% of sales).

I'm a huge fan of passive income projects—provided they can actually manage to be passive—so I checked off all the ones I'd uploaded and put a few more up for good measure. Then I did my favorite thing ever: I forgot all about it.

Dear Designer, Thank you for contributing your symbols to the world's visual language. We're excited to tell you you made money this month just by giving users the right to waive the attribution for your symbols. Keep up the great work! —The Noun Team
Last month I got an email from the friendly Noun Project robots letting me know that they had sent me $14.76 from sales of my icons. While that may seem a pretty small sum to end up in my pocket, that's roughly 15 people who thought my icons were valuable enough to purchase. Coming from a business where I work and get paid once, there is something I love about the idea that I can continue making money on work that I've finished.

Another interesting thing I noticed was that between October (when they enabled sales) and February (when I got paid) I had only 11 icons up. In the past month I brought that number up to 26. Sales are a great motivator.

While $14.76 may not be enough to live on, I'm pleased just being able to pad my monthly Scotch budget. I encourage you to sign up to make some of your own and take a look at some of mine too.

Finding a Designer

Problem?

Finding a designer is hard. The industry is flooded with all sorts of riffraff toting their wares alongside the studied professionals. This can make it difficult to know where to look.

Do not despair! Many of these designers are very talented individuals making a name for themselves in an industry that is too often characterized by mediocrity. So, how might you go about find the good ones?

Educate yourself

The best way to learn who you should hire is to learn about design. The more you understand about your needs the better equipped you will be to find a solution.

If you were planning to buy wine for a fancy party, but didn’t know what good wine tasted like, what would you do to make sure yours was up to par? Even after tasting the selection, you would be no better off unless you were taught what makes good wine good. The same is true for design.

If you want to ensure that the design you are paying for is high-caliber, you have to understand what that means. Do this by studying the basic principles of design. Remember, you only have to be able identify good design, not recreate it. Leave that part up to your designer.

Just the facts ma’am

Look at their portfolio. If you need a logo designed, look at the logos they have made. If you need a site, look at the sites. Nothing will tell you more about a designer’s capacity then work that they have done previously. Keep in mind that projects done in large groups may be less representative of the abilities of that particular designer.

Now take everything you’ve learned about design and consider it when you look at their work. Pick it apart, and evaluate how effective they are at communicating. Look for flaws, clutter, overly decorated, and out of place elements. Consider how well they follow existing design conventions.

Get a recommendation

Ask people you trust who they hire. Networking is one of the best ways to find a good designer because people will only recommend someone they have had a good experience with.

Talk with people that know more than you do. Show them some of the work you are looking at and get their take. Ask them whether they would hire the designer and have them explain why or why not. Because of the subconscious nature of design, gut feelings can sometimes be useful in making these decisions. However, you should try to rely on solid evidence as much as possible.

Coda

You are just as responsible for hiring a competent designer as they are for the product they deliver. You need to know who to look for in order to ensure your own success. The more you understand about what you are paying for, the less likely you are to get burned.

When you aren't completely sure about someone you can always hire them for a small job to learn about their process and see how good they are. If you are satisfied with their work then keep hiring them.