It’s becoming common knowledge that custom design graphics, such as logos and ads, are vital to a company’s professional image and brand identity strength. Your logo is essentially your company’s face; it is that image that’s conjured up in one’s mind when thinking of your company.  It represents not only what your company does or sells, but also who the company is, as its own entity. And the same is true for every ad that has your company name or URL on it. For most of the general public, it’s all they know about you, what they experience and feel when they happen across one of your ads. So we all agree that appealing, customized graphics are important, but the question is: where do you get them? Do you pick a fancy advertising agency out of the yellow pages, get your best suit pressed, and head downtown for a big meeting with them? If that seems like overkill, perhaps the best solution for you is an online design service.

How does a business owner know if they’re “big enough” to require the full-line of services that would be provided by an advertising agency along with logo development or one design project? When does a need for a logo design warrant a room full of account executives, copywriters and graphic designers?

Traditional advertising agencies approach the process of logo development from a very different viewpoint than that of an online design service. With ad agencies, the logo is comparable to the maraschino cherry set atop a complex, multi-layer ice cream dessert. It isn’t meant to be much more than a garnish and receives about as much attention as one.

Advertising agencies want to focus on the comprehensive marketing campaign package. They want to help you reach as many consumers as possible; not just with one little ad, but with a whole array of elements. They want to gain an in-depth understanding of your target audience through focus groups, surveys and interviews. They want to help you understand the best vehicles to use for your specialty and even negotiate a great media buy of those vehicles. They want to track the performance of the campaign and determine if your return on investment validates continuing it. They want to provide you with many services you didn’t even realize you needed when you asked for a logo. Furthermore, most large advertising agencies wouldn’t want to commit time and resources to a one-time ad-design project that would not generate repeat business – i.e., “anniversaried” marketing campaigns year after year.

With an online design service, however, the logo IS the main course! The ad IS the campaign! While they may not be equipped to handle your research and media buys, they do want to give your design need their focused, undivided attention. They want your logo to be a proud representation of their finished product. They want your logo to meet your vision, correctly represent your company identity, and set the tone for a great relationship with all who come across it.

There is usually a large cost difference between the services provided by a traditional advertising agency with a large staff and office space, and that of an online design service with no significant overhead to speak of. Ad agencies usually assign an account manager to service each client and act as a go-between from the client to the design team working on his or her project. For the account service and design work during the logo development stage, it is not uncommon to see charges from about $2,000 - $10,000.

Recent advances in technology and software, however, have made the Internet the new office for creative design brainstorming meetings. The account manager now IS the designer so who needs a go-between? There are less resources involved that jack up the charges, and less people involved to misconstrue the direction.

All of the critical information needed to communicate a company’s image is gathered from the client at the initiation of the design request. Before the creative process begins, information-gathering takes place that is very similar to, yet not as costly as, the boardroom meetings filled with retro furniture and fine art wall hangings. A face-to-face meeting isn’t necessary to hear a client’s priorities and preferences; undivided attention combined with creative vision are the real key ingredients. A teleconference or a questionnaire can serve the same purpose equally well, and not involve air fares.

For example, our clients simply fill out an online questionnaire to inform the graphic artist of their preferences and expectations, of the size of the ad needed or the color scheme to incorporate into the design. They can choose the imagery to be included, the type of animation they’d like to have, and just about anything else they want. With a logo, questions can be included to capture the image the client wants to project in a logo and even to clearly express what he doesn’t want to see.

With much give-and-take between client and designer, proofs submitted and reviewed until the client is satisfied; I really don’t see how one could go wrong with the much less costly, yet equally competent, service of design services online.