How to Get a Cheap Logo for a New Wordpress Blog – Fiverr Test, Part 1

The general rule is simple: Really good logo design is very expensive but at the same time also definitely worth it if you can afford to pay. Designing a good logo, which will be the first thing visitors to your blog see and shape the brand identity of your site, is not a simple matter and would require a professional designer, who takes the necessary time to consider your site’s specific requirements.

That is all nice and well, but the problem is: If you are starting a brand new WordPress weblog you usually can not afford to pay much. But despair not! Luckily there are quite a few ways online which allow you to obtain a cheap logo for a new WordPress blog in relatively little time.

With my recently started relaunch of WPscoop I found myself in the same boat: I wanted to find a logo for the new site but at the same time I was not ready to invest much money into the site yet. Because of that I decided to give what might be the cheapest way to get a logo made for a new site a try – Fiverr.

Fiverr is a popular website where anyone can offer to do any kinds of services, including logo design, for the low price of $5. I first learned of Fiverr in a bad way 2 years ago, when someone distributed pirated copies of my premium WP Robot plugin through the site for $5 and I had to intervene. Still, I found the concept very interesting and so I was eager to use this chance to give it a try.

Searching and Choosing a Logo Designer on Fiverr

After signing up for a free buyer account I started by searching the Logo Design category for possible designers. I found it helpful to order the results by rating, which gives you a long list of designers with hundreds of positive reviews and almost no negative ones. In the end I simply chose two designers out of the list without too much research but while keeping the following points in mind:

• Check the recent reviews of the designer and look if they seem authentic (not overly positive, more than 1 word, etc). Also avoid designers with hundreds of positive reviews and no negative at all! What those are probably doing is simply refunding every order by an unsatisfied customer, which allows them to remove the bad review. Getting a refund is not the worst thing that could happen, but it does also not bring you any closer to having a logo for your new blog.
• Check how many orders the designer has in queue. If there are dozens of orders waiting for completion that does not say the best about the designer and could affect how long it takes him to get to working on yours.
• Avoid people who offer express services and design logos in 1 day. Of course this will not always hold true but in general the designers who offer to complete the design in just a day will have to rush the job, which can negatively affect the quality. Rather choose someone who promises completion in 3-5 days for example.

Hiring and Briefing Your Fiverr Logo Designer

Most designers, including the two I chose, offer extras like faster delivery, more drafts, revisions or file types with their project for an additional payment. Since I wanted to try what kind of logo you can get for the least amount possible I skipped those and only paid the default $5 for the logo design. After the payment through Paypal the next step is to send the designer instructions on what kind of logo you want. Here I recommend to do the following:

• Be specific and clear about what you want. For $5 you can’t expect the designer to brainstorm and come up with a great idea for your site. Instead you should communicate clearly what you want and how the logo for your new weblog is supposed to look. Many designers offering their services on Fiverr already have a list of questions that they will send you – if not be sure to include the desired color, shape, text, target audience and style of the logo in your request.
• Request a simple logo. You can’t expect any great graphical work either, so rather ask for something simple directly before being disappointed later.
• Include logos you like or other guidelines the designer can use as a reference. Images say more than 1,000 words as you know and communicating with graphics can prevent a missunderstanding.

My First Fiverr Test Results: 2 Mediocre Logos

I sent both designers I chose detailed specifications, asking for a logo involving the text WPscoop and a small ice cream cone icon or ice cream on a spoon. Both designers delivered their first draft only 1-2 days later and I asked both to make changes and revisions two times, which they also did quite quickly. I think I could have asked for more revisions (some designers specify that in their job description) but I decided not to, because the logos were not moving into the right direction.

All in all the results are rather mediocre and I will probably not use them. I would however say that they are definitely worth the $5 I paid and both designers made an honest effort. In the end you get what you pay for:

But even though the results were not perfect I decided to give Fiverr another try. I already hired three new designers on Fiverr, which I selected and briefed slightly differently, to create a logo for WPscoop. I will show you the results as soon as possible in part two of my Fiverr test!

Alternatives to Fiverr to Get a Cheap Logo for a New WordPress Blog

If you want to spend a little more I recommend you to try a logo design contest. There are lots of sites out there offering these and for as little as a $50 – $100 prize you can expect a big amount of entries. During the content you can work with the designers and help them improve their submission and in the end you simply select your favorite. For my website CMS Commander I held a design contest on DesignCrowd.com in 2012 and was very please with the response and final result.

Update: Part 2 of the series has now been published. Read Part 2 of the Cheap Logo Design with Fiverr Test for more design results by Fiverr designers and my own conclusions.

Do you have other ideas or recommendations for cheap logo design? Let us know in the comments!