Logo Commission

Ludious

Hi guys,

My wife is starting up an I.T., games and technology related Blog from a woman's perspective. It's not really a Frag Doll type venture, more of an average working girl who happens to be into geek culture and who works in the I.T. industry type thing. This is a serious venture for her and she's pouring a lot of her free time away from her day job on getting this going. Unfortunately, she's only one person. I am helping as I can, but again, this is from a woman's perspective so all I can do is offer up ideas and angles.

Right now the site isn't "live" yet really. It's out there, you can go to it. In the interest of not being an idiot, I won't post the link unless a mod says it's ok.

Basically, her logo sucks. She spent a lot of time on it in gimp, but neither one of us is artistically inclined.

She has a very definite view of what her logo should be, but she can't commit it to a canvas as she never had the artist expansion installed.

So err..how does one go about commissioning an artist to create a logo based on your ideas?

I'm not sure what she wants specifically. I know she wants it to have a "comicy" type style. Something in between penny arcade style and a more pulp style.

I thought about posting this in AC, but I've heard they eat outsiders over there so I decided I'd post this here and maybe someone from AC would respond, or maybe someone here knows how one goes about this.

Also, and I realize this varies greatly, but still, what would a fair market value be on commissioning a logo like this? Are we talking $60, or $200, or $2000?


Thanks for your help.

Scosglen

I don't know why people are so afraid of the AC.

The AC devours people who walk in and ask for free art. You're prepared to actually commission though and so those kinds of requests are more than welcome in the AC, and you wouldn't be the first to do it.

If you're looking for a local person to do the work for you, posting a job offer at a local college and seeing if any graphic design students are up for some extra cash is one way to go. Online, many art forums and networking sites have job posting sections where you can either post a job description and let people contact you, or look for artists you like and message them personally.

A simple logo is a relatively straightforward job. I would guess you could probably get a nice one done by a student or young professional for $100-200, depending on the specifics of the logo and who you're contracting.

Ludious

Well we're not really interested in it being a local person. I don't need to sit down and face to face with someone on this. Plus, honestly, I'd rather give it to a PA person than any random person on the internets or locally. I feel some odd sense of loyalty to a community so full of damn good artists.

So, do mods mind if commissions are requested in AC? It's been done as you've said I suppose, but is it something you're allowed to outright ask about or do I need to look around ac and try to find an artist I like and contact them privately?

Scosglen

Mod don't mind at all, I'm sure they're probably happy to see it going on if anything.

Just don't make a new thread for it. Post it in the chat or the questions/discussions thread (you could probably get away with posting in both for extra coverage)-- We have a rule about not starting a new thread if it does not contain any artwork.

Conversely, if you're up to it you can prune through the doodle thread or various people's personal artwork threads and find somebody you like, and PM them directly if that's how to you want to operate. The worst that will happen is they will be flattered and they might say they're too busy.

supabeast

Also, and I realize this varies greatly, but still, what would a fair market value be on commissioning a logo like this? Are we talking $60, or $200, or $2000?

Given your location and the size of the business involved, I can’t see this going beyond $1000, much less if you aren’t in a hurry. I’m a designer and I don’t normally freelance, but right now things are slow at work and school, so if you’re interested I can work something out for a pretty low rate. I’ll PM you some information.

RNEMESiS42

I'll do it for $50!

EDIT: 45? Seriously.

Ludious

Hmm. Well I have another question in regards to this. What does a contract need to look like? Basically, when we commission the logo, we want it to be ours. No royalties etc if the site got popular. However, if it did, then obviously we might want additional things from the artist down the road so there's always that potential for a working relationship.

What does this type of contract, what does it entail? Does it need to be typed up and signed to be legally binding?

supabeast

The contract will be something simple, along the lines of “the client will pay $X and receive the logo and all rights to the logo, in the following formats, etc...” To be a binding contract it does need to be signed by both parties. You shouldn’t encounter and royalty or rights issues, though, because any reputable designer knows that he isn’t getting royalties from a logo.