I recently stumbled upon the site fiverr.com; a site where you can buy services for a fiver ($5). As I looked around the site, there was a wide variety of services you could buy. Everything from a video testimonial, some content for your website, or some graphic design work like a new logo.  I had two thoughts right out of the gate about fiverr:

1. Woah!  Only $5 to get a logo designed!
2. Wow, that really diminishes the art of true graphic design.

Both my Dad and my brother are graphic artists, so it is interesting to see how this profession has changed and evolved over the years.  So it was a little hard for me to want to try this out, but I thought heck, why not see what you can get for $5!

The search begins

As a fiverr artist, you have the opportunity to list a Gig, a service you want to provide someone for a whopping $5.  As you start looking through the many gigs listed on fiverr, you find a wide range of skills, styles, and ratings.  Before you can start thinking about who you want to hire, you need some idea of what you need built.  I had two things in mind:

• Since my college days, I have run a website for my own software company: sunkencity software.  My brother created the logo for sunkencity way back then as well, but I thought maybe it needs some updating.
• My wife also has her own business making cakes called Laura Lou Cakes.  She still only has a facebook page as her official website and at some point I need to make her a real one. So again, I thought a fresh look would be one place to start.

So with a new logo for both sunkencity software and Laura Lou Cakes in mind, I started looking at the gigs available on fiverr.  You can spend hours looking through gigs trying to find someone who you think might match your style.  Fiverr offers you a way to collect artists that you are interested, so I started creating a couple of collections as I saw things that peeked my interest.  As I looked at the artists profiles, you can view their portfolio, and numerous reviews that other customers have left for them.  You also see an average turn around time and how many orders they have in their queue, which is some good info to know to set your expectations.

Taking the plunge

So I decided on two different artists to design my logos.  Before I took the plunge, I had a few questions.  On each artists page, they can offer extras along with the $5 gig.  This is where they start making their money.  Some of these artist had an extra about adding a copyright release.  Wait…so I commission you to build me a logo and I don’t own the copyright for it?  I searched around a bit and found many conflicting reports about what the law says, but really it came down to what the artist says.  So I sent many of the artists I liked a message asking them who owns the copyright of the logo they create.  I got many different answers.  Some said yes, you own the copyright.  Some said you have to pay extra for the copyright.  One said that he owned the copyright and you couldn’t buy it from him!  Not sure who would go with that guy…Once I had my answers, I was ready to choose and buy a gig.

sunkencity software

The first was a guy named Laze who I thought looked pretty decent from his portfolio on fiverr.  He had good reviews and lots of satisfied customers.  My current sunkencity logo designed by my brother almost 10 years ago looks like this:

When I bought the gig, I was immediately greeted with an automated email asking for some basic information.  He wanted to know the following:

A description of your company/website
Anything specific I would like him to incorporate into the logo
A few examples of logos you like so he could understand my taste

I was looking for a more modern look.  Maybe something along the lines of a more flat design. And he didn’t need to worry about the animation.  I sent that off and hoped I would hear back soon!

Laura Lou Cakes

I ran across an artist named “Sum_Design” who looked like she specialized in more girly looking designs that I thought would fit my wife a bit better.  So I thought I would get her to take a stab at the Laura Lou Cakes logo.  This is the current logo that was designed by my Dad:

After I bought the gig, I was again greeted by the automated email asking for info.  She wanted to know the following:

The full brand, business or company name
A Tagline
Color of logo
All necessary requirements

So we sent that one off too.

And now we wait…

After we submitted our requirements for the logos, I assumed I would at least get an actual response from the artists.  I didn’t get anything from them.  The system told me that my payment had been processed and the orders were in process, but I never got anything from either artists even saying “Thanks for the info.  I’ll get on it in a few days.”  So we just sat and waited…All I had to go off of was the average turn around times that were listed on their profiles (remember, expectations!).  I also found that fiverr has a deadline they impose on the artists and if that deadline is hit (I think it is 10 days) then you have the right to cancel the order if you want.

Response #1!

So first, after six days, we got our first logos for Laura Lou Cakes!  Here they are below:

 

Now we have to decide if we like any of them or if we want to make changes.  I liked that she sent over 3 different versions.  They aren’t bad, but right out of the gate, we don’t LOVE any of them.  They are a bit complicated, and some are just a bit big.  The artist gives us the opportunity to make changes, so we will likely go back to her with some feedback and see what we can get.

Response #2!

So fiverr sent me a warning that my second order was about to reach it’s deadline and that I would be able to cancel it.  Almost at the same time, I got a message from the artist saying he has been without power, sorry for the delay.  So it took 10 days for Laze to complete my order which was his avereage.  Here are his results:

I like the logo, but I don’t like the font at all.  The kerning is horrible.   I’m not in love with it, but it’s a good start any way!  I’ll see how else we can change it to make it stick.  One thing I didn’t like is he only gave me one design, but that is all I paid for, so I can’t complain too much.  It was nice of sum_design to provide us a few options.

An issue…

So actually, while I’ve been writing this, I noticed that my order from sum_design has moved to Completed.  I was like Whaaaa?!  We still haven’t sent feedback to her and now it is complete and looks like I can’t.  I had three days to respond before the order autocompleted.  So that I don’t like about this process.  Hopefully she will still be willing to help us out.  All of these artists claim that they want 100% satisfied customers, and that should include good customer service.  We’ll see what $5 customer service is like.  I’ll update when we get some more movement!

What’s next?

I hope to get some updates from both artists that I can share.  If you have comments on what you like and don’t like about the logos above, please let me know!!  I’d love to hear!

Another thing that still needs to be done is to get more than just previews of the logos.  I didn’t opt to buy the extras on the assumption (based on responses I got) that I could add the extras for the vector graphics and copyright releases later.  So I still have to see how that process works.  I am also curious if you are given the opportunity to tip an artist, but I haven’t seen how so far.

After everything is finished up, I’ll try to do another post about how it all went.  But for now, this has been my experience with trying to get a great logo for only $5.  I think it is a very viable option for many people.  For a large business, I still recommend getting some real brand development from a design studio like my brother at Serff Creative.  I haven’t had much opportunity to really describe my desires to these fiverr artitst like you would have with a real design firm.  So if that is what you looking for, contact him!  If you are just working on an open source project, doing a passion project, or are truly a startup on a tight budget, fiverr.com might be a good choice for you!