5 reasons to avoid a premade logo

You desperately need a new logo to represent your new company or to replace the outdated old friend you have used for too long.

You have maybe had a look around and realised that these days your can easily and quickly buy a premade logo on Etsy or through one of the many image stock companies. I completely get how it might seem like a really nice, quick and easy option instead of spending time and money with a designer. I really do get the temptation, but there are several good reasons why you might want to think twice before adding one of these to your shopping cart and integrating it into all your marketing materials. It is unlikely to accurately reflect your company Your logo represents your company, your services and act as your fingerprint in your industry. A designer will spend lots of time making sure it does these things, and a ready-made template based logo is unlikely to be able to capture your 'essence' and and appeal to your customer base in a similar way.

It is not unique The lovely premade logo that you found can also be found by everyone else, and unless it is sold as a one off, there is nothing to stop your competitors from also using it.

How does it sit with your other visual assets? Normally a logo forms one part of a bigger visual brand, where the logo, type, colours and visual elements come together in a coercive visual language. If the logo is brought in separately it will be harder to get all these elements working in harmony and the result often looks unprofessional. In most cases the logo is also just be supplied in one format, when you are likely to need one version for your website, a slightly different version for your letterhead and another version again for your social media.

What is your rights? It is crucial to check the licence properly before you start using a premade logo. In most cases, you will not own the full rights to such a logo. You often buy a license for one use only, and if you are not careful, you may have to buy a new license every time you use your logo. I have also come across several suppliers of premade logos where the license agreement states that they can not be used as logos. In other words, the 'simple solution' can turn both complicated and expensive. Changing the logo can get costly It can get expensive to change your logo so it's worth putting the effort in to get it right. You might have to reprint stationery, signage and amend your website to suit the new logo. Changing your logo frequently will also make you appear rather unprofessional, and your customers might not recognise your product. Although the premade logos can look tempting, it is worth the investment of a designer to get a logo that is designed especially for you and which you have full ownership now and in the future.