#1. Find a Logo Design Competition
Head to DesignCrowd's design jobs board and search for logo design competitions. The jobs board can be searched by deadline and budget. If you're looking for other design categories, check out jobs boards for web design competitions, packaging design competitions, t-shirt design to business card and graphic design competitions design. There are 40+ design categories and more than 800 open design competitions worth $200,000 in prize money looking for designers like yourself to enter designs.
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Which logo competition should you pick? Elisha Leo, ranked #23 on DesignCrowd has won more than $30,000 in logo competition wins. Elisha
told DesignCrowd:
Know your strengths: "Some designers are good at creating logos some are better at web designs. Some are good in Photoshop, some in Illustrator. Some have a talent for web 2.0 style logos, some are good at creating 3D style logos. Some have an aptitude for bold and strong symbols, or freehand drawing and cartoons. What are your favourite styles? Analyse your portfolio and the designs that your peers and clients like to work out your strengths."
Logos by Elisha Leo
#2. Read the Logo Competition Brief
Pay attention to the brief!
- What's the deadline for submission?
- What does the client like and dislike about the current design?
- Is the client an agency? Submit early if it's an ad agency. Agencies don't like to surprise clients with late design ideas
- Is the client a project manager? They will have deadlines set around presentation meetings so you'll need to work efficiently
Sounds like a no-brainer but the brief is where you get the clues you need to create a killer design. Don't forger to research client and their competition (just head to Google) and check out the existing logo and the competition's logo, so you can avoid submitting a design similar to their competitor.
Pay attention to the target market. Who are they? What problem do they have? Where are they? This data directly informs tip #3!
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#3. Brainstorm Concepts
What themes jump out at you? Grab a pen and paper and start sketching. Try and find several visual metaphors that help communicate the heart of the brand. You could use the the vision of the company (if available) or key benefit of the product. Think big and brainstorm 50 or 100 ideas. Then filter and organise your ideas into themes. Words, images, shapes should emerge. From that point you can start to group ideas into types of logo executions (wordmark, illustrative, typographic, for example). Clients have the option to add the style of logo they want to their brief, so pay attention to that detail too.
Then strategize! Submit at least two designs. Find out why in tip #4.
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#4. Submit Two Designs!
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Submit two designs! Top designers on DesignCrowd submit at least two designs when submitting to logo competitions.
Boost your chances and submit a conservative or safe design to the competition. Choose a conservative color palette and a logo that aligns to the industry archetype. Clients might not feel comfortable roaming too far from their industry's design conventions.
Be more creative with Design #2. Imagine it's your company, what do you want the design to communicate? Take more risks with this design to show the client another perspective. Now you have two solid entries in the logo competition putting you in the running to win!
Preview Images + Background Colors: Offset logo designs on light grey, cream, off-white, white, and black backgrounds as these colours will boost the presentation of your logo designs. You could also go for bright colors or consider the client's context and display the designs in a meaningful way. Preview images should be 1200px x 1000 px (300 dpi) and uploaded in .JPG format.
Check out DesignCrowd's Design Competition Quality Standards for more detail.
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#5. Provide a Design Rationale
It's really important to submit a written concept as well as a graphic design! This is your opportunity to explain the heavy-lifting thinking that went into the design concept. Why you followed a particular agreement and prioritised this element, how the color palette boosts the impact of the design, and that the design is suitable for a range of formats or scales. This is important for print, packaging and signage design jobs as well as logos.
Go here for more strategies on winning graphic design competitions.
#6. Be Responsive to Feedback
Prioritise client feedback. This is the #1 tip from UK designer PB, who's also the #1 designer on DesignCrowd with total earnings well in excess of $300,000.
As you enter more logo competitions you need to manage client feedback. Focus on client requests, then work on new projects and designs.
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#7. Start Now!
Start entering logo competitions now! Immediately you'll start building a profile and get exposure to real-world clients (great lead generation!) with real problems that require a designer brain like yours. free to register too. Need another reason?
"The more you work the faster you become with ideas and your skills get better."
Inspiral, the #1 female designer on DesignCrowd
Freelancing gives you the freedom to be your own boss and set your own timetable. Keep entering new competitions. Don't sit around, dive in!
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Written by Jo Sabin on Thursday, August 8, 2013
Jo Sabin is Head of Designer Community at DesignCrowd. She's led the company's public relations and social media programs since 2012. With more than ten years' experience working with Australian and international tech startups in the creative industries, Jo has been instrumental in meeting DesignCrowd's objectives in Australia and abroad. Get in touch via Twitter.
