Having settled on a name, it was time to find a logo. The penny-pincher in me was tempted to scrape an image from somewhere and call it good, but I had this idea to use the Japanese character or kanji for moto. If the logo was going to turn out sensational, I knew I needed to do some visual brainstorming with someone who could crank out graphics quickly.
Engaging with Fiverr
On the advice of another small business owner, I decided to try Fiverr, the freelance services site. I thought Fiverr was a community of graphic artists, which it is, but it’s so much more than that! There are lots of different communities from career coaches to developers to accountants. But I digress.
The first thing I did was browse the Logo and Brand Identity category. It’s great for seeing the variety of freelancers on Fiverr, but honestly there are too many to try to search for the one that might work for you. Even filtering for specific styles like “modern” or “vintage,” using budget parameters, or adding delivery constraints results in hundreds of freelancers. Here’s a live sample.
Have them come to you
I recommend posting a request. Here, you provide a description of what you want done and some budget parameters. It’s helpful to have browsed some freelancers ahead of time because you can provide a reasonable budget relative to what you want done. Too little and you can expect very junior people responding to your post; too much and you’ll get so many responses you won’t have time to review them all.
- In your request, make sure you’re honest about what you want. If you already have an idea, share it. Don’t expect the artist to read your mind or magically hit on your idea just because it makes sense to you.
- Share samples that illustrate things you’d like to see in your logo. I recommend using Fiverr’s Logo Maker for this purpose. It instantly returns dozens of logo samples. If you see something you like, click into it to see variations of that same logo (mostly different colors and fonts). If you really like what you see, you can go straight to that graphic artist and ask for a quote. It will be super inexpensive because the artwork is already done!
- I took screenshots of three samples and included another image of the kanji I wanted to use. I wrote a detailed description of my business and what I wanted the logo to convey, set a budget of $100, and posted it. Within 15 minutes I had five responses. I picked the artist that best understood my request, negotiated a bit on the price, and signed a contract.
Process is everything
I think the most valuable part of the project was iterating toward a final logo. I’m pretty low on whatever the scale is for creative expression. I can’t tell you what I’m looking for, but I can tell you when I don’t like something. So each time the artist sent me a version of what she thought I wanted, I would tell her what I didn’t like about it. It was awful for her. But it really helped me figure out what I wanted.
I figured it out on the fifth version. Technically, the contract only included three versions but she played along. I was very timely and detailed with my responses. From the perspective of the freelancer, the most inefficient jobs are those where the client takes too long to respond or provides unclear feedback. If you help the freelancer be efficient, you’re more likely to get premium service. Fiverr gives you an opportunity to provide the artist with a review and a tip after the job is complete. I did both.
The final logo
When I started this post I intended to share each of the versions to show the progression. But I can hear someone saying, “get to the end already!”
I reviewed a bunch of different styles, but ended up liking the clean, simple, and modern look of line art. It should show up nicely in a variety of colors and backgrounds, especially when laser engraved in wood, which was one of my criteria.
The kanji in the center tree is the Japanese character for moto. I explain more about the name in a separate post. I love how the design of the kanji blends perfectly with the trees. And I’m proud to have this “tip of the hat” to my heritage and family name. Did you notice how the kanji is also my website icon? I wasn’t thinking about my website icon when I was working on the logo, but it turned out well. Bonus!
As part of the contract with the graphic artist, I received the logo in several file types as well as vector and raster formats. I still need to create my own versions for social media and other advertising media, but all of that is within my skillset now that I have the raw artwork. Many artists will add social media icons and banners for a minor upcharge – don’t hesitate to ask!
Disclosure and endorsement
I participate in the Fiverr affiliate program. If you click one of the Fiverr links in this post and subsequently make a purchase, I will earn a commission. Note that I joined Fiverr’s affiliate program after using Fiverr’s services. It was only because I had such an enjoyable experience developing my logo that I decided to join. Affiliate marketing is a very small part of my business.
Like all small business owners, I’m constantly faced with decisions to outsource something or do it myself. Outsourcing my logo development to a freelancer on Fiverr was absolutely the right decision for me. It saved me time and helped me turn an idea into reality – that’s a great return on a reasonable investment!
