I've had this blog 'theme' of colours for a good couple of years now, and I really do love it. But one thing I don't have, is a logo. Do I need one? Whether I do or I don't, I was recently offered the opportunity to design my own logo over a logojoy.com purely to write about my experience in using their service.
The package I'm going to be reviewing today is the Premium Package, usually costing $65US, which is just under 50 quid to you and me, in the UK.
First up, choose from a variety of logos on-screen that you like the look of. Pretty simple, and if I'm honest, I did wonder why this was required - surely it wouldn't be churning out the same type of logos just changing the text? Open mind Jo, keep an open mind!
Secondly, there is an array of colour themes, of which I can choose as many or as little. I opted for the bluey greens and pinks - relatively similar to my blog theme in general.
After you've done this, I was asked for my company name and slogan. Now this isn't something I really have. I'm not a business, I just write a lot and my slogan is not existent, in all reality. So, I thought I'd use my web address as the company name, with the slogan being what it is. Logojoy sensed my difficulty in choosing what to put, hence the tip that shows up which you can see below. It wasn't mandatory that I had to amend my original wording though, which is great. So, you can take or leave their tip depending on what works for you.
The next step brings an icon search engine, where you can find potential icon's that suit your brand. For me I opted for the bunting, which tends to be the first thing visitors see when they visit this here blog! You can see that I selected several different types too, just so I can see variations of the finished product.
After this you are taken to a page that supplies a couple of example logos that they have generated, specific to your requirements or current likes/dislikes. Whilst this is very clever, I didn't see any I particularly wanted to represent my brand here, so, I click on the empty box that states, see more logos, and it continues to offer new examples until...
OOOOOH! I like!!
Clicking manically, I head over to a dashboard of options. This is where we start making this logo mine.
Note from the image that you can select fonts, colours, layout and symbol - essentially, starting from scratch if you wish. As much as I love this just the way it is, you've got to have a dabble haven't you!
After half an hour of tinkering, purely because I'm fussy like that, I'm happy. I purchase my logo using my complimentary code. The difference between the Free logo and the Premium is that I get a high resolution vector file including the font name & colours. It is print ready - perfect for business cards or any other marketing collateral... perhaps a notepad if I wanted to create one etc.
I came across no snags or issues whilst using the site and was actually very impressed by it's innovative use of my tastes. There was so real effort on my part in creating a logo. I just told it what I liked! I'm thrilled to bits with mine. Absolutely love it, and feel very adult all of a sudden ha! Is it value for money? Most definitely. I always say, you can't buy time. This saved me hours of planning and designing, and fine tuning by utilising by simple choices during the initial set-up.
So... opinions please. What do you all think?!