I’m excited about some changes to The Thriving Small Business website. We now have an official logo and custom “look” thanks to the help of crowdSPRING . TTSB was officially launched in June of 2009. In January of 2010, I made a personal commitment to spend more time developing the website. As part of that development I recognized the need to have a logo developed in an effort to begin the process of branding TTSB.
At this stage of the website, I didn’t want to invest a lot of money for an ad agency or professional designer. I tried the “friend-of-a-friend” designer who was just starting out and found a lack of interest or commitment. I shared my frustration with a friend who told me about crowdSPRING so I decided to try it out.
crowdSPRING describes themselves as the world’s best creative team and uses the expertise of over 70,000 designers and writers to help with creative projects such as logo design, stationary, web design, company name or general design and writing projects. The process allows dozens of designers or writers to submit concepts for your project and you get to pick the one you want. Prices start at $200 with a $39 standard fee plus 15% commission for hosting the project. Since my project was $200 it cost me $269. Not bad, huh?
The first thing you do is sign up, name your project and submit it to crowdSPRING. Part of the submission process is describing who you are, what you are trying to do and to give creative direction to the designers. Being one of those dorky business people I recognize my shortcomings when it comes to aesthetic creativity so I felt at a bit of a disadvantage as far as giving direction. I said I wanted something that communicated a few things that I felt were important about the website and simply stated that I like earth tone colors. That is about all the direction I gave because I really didn’t know what I wanted.
The entire process took just short of three weeks. The first week is spent reviewing design submissions, grading the designs and offering feedback/guidance on how to get the design closer to what I was looking for.
The second week is spent picking a final design. This was very difficult because there were so many good designs to choose from. This is where I used others to give perspective and help me look at all the options and think through what it was I was hoping to communicate with the design. But I was the one who had to make the final decision.
Once I picked a final design, it took another week or so to work with the designer on minor changes, getting the right formats and having all files transferred over. This was another surprise that took longer than I would have expected. Having said that, I am not a technical person so some of the time was me trying to understand the different file formats, etc. My particular designer recognized my weakness in this area and was very patient (thank you Shannon!).
The process was relatively painless and I’m really happy with the design I got for merely $200. If I could start over, there are some things I wish I would have known or thought about ahead of time.
Things I wish I would have known before I started the process:
- I made the mistake and didn’t review the CrowdSPRING website and read all the answers to questions BEFORE I started the process. If I had I probably would have been better prepared.
- One thing I found out about after the fact was the fee (in addition to the cost of the design) that goes to CrowdSPRING. I don’t think the fee is unreasonable but for my own budgeting purposes I wish I would have known about it ahead of time.
- I have to say I got a bit overwhelmed with all the design options I received. While having so much to choose from is GREAT, I wasn’t prepared to spend the time needed to look at, study, grade and give feedback.
- The entire process took just short of three weeks which is not an unreasonable amount of time but I just wasn’t prepared for the time commitment and level of involvement in the process. In hindsight, this is a no “duh”. The lesson learned here is timing the beginning of a project with a realistic time commitment to it.
Now that I know the ropes and have this figured out, I would definitely use CrowdSPRING again and will share my experience with others who may have the same need. If you are a small business owner on a tight budget this is a great resource. Check it out!
photo courtesy of: maher berro
{ 1 trackback }