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29 Comments

I am building a new product, where to get brand identity from?

Hi everyone!

I am planing on releasing a new product. I know the product name, what the product will be, who the target audience is and I already have most of the MVP ready. I need all the graphic assets associated with a new product brand (logo, color pallete, typography, some presentational images for the features, etc.).

Where do you usually get all your graphic assets from? So far I made everything myself, but I want to save some time and either hire someone else to do them or get an agency. My budget is not that big, I would prefer to spend under $500-$1000 for everything.

The options I thought of:

  • Hire a freelancer from upwork or freelancer.com (it takes time to find one, can be risky and might require a lot of back and forth)
  • Use an established platform such as 99designs where I can post a "contest" for my branding package
  • Use one of those unlimited designs services, but from what I've seen they only work on one item at a time, not on a full package at once
  • Find a traditional branding/graphics agency

Any suggestions on how to quickly get product branding within an indie-hacker budget are appreciated!

Thank you! 😊

How do you get brand identity for a new product?
  1. Make it myself
  2. Use platforms like 99designs or DesignCrowd to get more options
  3. Subscribe to an unlimited-designs service
  4. Hire freelancer
  5. In-house design team
  6. Hire design/brand agency
  7. Other (comment below)
Vote
  1. 3

    Hey Cristian,

    I wrote a couple of lessons about brand.

    https://nugget.one/brand
    https://nugget.one/logo

    Sounds like you already have the brand (but still worth a read) the logo one might help you if you don't mind a cheap and cheerful logo.

    Hope this helps!

    1. 1

      Hi Justin,

      Thank you! I received several suggestions with tips about design/branding, but in my case I want to spend as little time as possible on it and outsource it. I was a graphic designer myself at some point, I could probably create something decent, but at the cost of time and energy. I think this new project is a good opportunity for me to start and test outsourcing some of my tasks so I can focus more on what really matters.

    2. 2

      This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

      1. 1

        @baloghgergo Are you talking about the bootcamp? If yes I might just have to quote you on the home page!....... :D

        1. 2

          This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

          1. 1

            Aww, thanks for the kind words :) I'm really glad it's helping. Do feel free to connect in our Slack and brainstorm, ask questions, etc :)

  2. 3

    Hello Cristian,

    I would work with a senior branding designer to get the overall branding right. Don't focus on the number of delivrable but on quality.
    This person should be able to elevate your brand.

    For the other delivrable you need (social images, websitew assets, ... use fiverr, send them the branding deck the senior designer made and list of specific delivrables.

    Good luck !

    1. 1

      Thanks Madeleine! This is a really good suggestion that I haven't considered. I think you are right that the initial branding book as to be as good as possible and then it can serve as a guide for less experienced designers.

      1. 1

        Let me know how you get on - I can help you with the branding brief if you need. Don't hesitate. Best

  3. 2

    Websites that you can hire professional designer:

    1. 1

      Thank you!

      Did you use any of them? What was your experience? How did you find the right designer?
      How is the pricing compared to other freelancing sites or design agencies?

      1. 1

        I haven't hired freelancer on neither. Though, I'm a freefrequent user on dribbble.com (post and get inspiration). They are 2 of the biggest design communities online.

        I can't tell you about the hiring experience, but if anyone haven't about:

        • Variety of options: design agency, team, personal designer and rookies
        • Pricing is ofcourse depending on who design it, and what you want. (i.e develop a 2-person PropTech startup brand for $5000 in 6 weeks)

        When looking for a designers here:

        • Look at their profile, see if you like the style
        • Send an email for a meetup, video call
        • Ask for previous project, contact the project owner for their experience

        ----
        Hey @XCS, connected with you on Twitter (not for freelancing ofcouse 😄)

        1. 2

          Thanks for the explanation! I was also a frequent dribbble user (knew also about behance, but not so much of an user), but I always thought of them as usually showcasing the highest talent out there, which would come at a really premium price, so I never really considered it for hiring nor know any other IH who did so.

  4. 1

    Hey Cristian,
    Shameless plug here, but I've been building a branding solution dedicated to startups for a couple of years now. Our main selling point are:

    • every logo design is made by an experienced designer
    • you can see tons of options without paying
    • you get full branding guidelines (how to use the proper font and colors)
    • you have different price points that can scale with your product (mvp stage; product market fit stage; grow and scale stage)

    Please check it out and let me know what you think. We have quite a lot of original designs in the marketing section, which could be a great fit for you.

    Logology

    Cheers!

    1. 1

      Oh, and one more thing about the login form, it doesn't even show me what I will get if I register, or if I have to pay, or if I would even see the logos. If you are going to keep the login screen after the questions I would at least say what I will get after registering or show a blured overview of the brand identity.

    2. 1

      Hi Dagobert,

      Thanks for the suggestion!

      I was not really looking for an automatic-logo builder (if that what the product is, I was a bit confused), but I decided to have a look at your tool.

      Initially Logology seemed cool and with a nice idea/UI, but once I started the questionare about my company it all went downhil, up to the point that where I can say I hate Logology .

      First of all, the UX of the questionare is on the worse side, it does look cool, but only I finished the questionare I saw the progress and how long it is (16 questions, marked in a very low contrast, barely ligible text even on a good monitor).

      Once I started filling the questions, I realized there is SO MUCH TO READ. Why would I describe my product as an animal? It's just really confusing. Why am I reading about movies? I just want a logo.

      The cherry on the top was the (somewhat expected) sign-up form at the end of this very long questionare. This is really bad UX and a deal-breaker for me. It's a lot more powerful to show some logo options (watermarked) and then ask for something in return. Now you're asking me, after I spent time filling your survey, to also give you my email and create an account before I received anything from you, or any proof that I will receive anything.

      Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against you or your product, I think the idea is cool and the UI looks nice, but the UX and customer funnel is just bad (so bad that I had to take the time to write this comment).

      I wish you luck with Logology in the future. Here are some (personal) suggestions for improving it:

      • Survey is confusing and laborious and unexpectedly long. Consider making the progress 0/16 clearly visible, maybe with a progress bar or even make it one of the most visible things on the page. I personally couldn't trust a company with my logo if they have low contrast text with poor accessibility on their site. If you use Chrome, you can just inspect a text and it will tell you if the contrast is high enough, the progress has a contrast ratio of 2.61 where the minimum is at least 3 or 4.
      • Too many and long answers to choose from. It's a lot easier to choose between 2-3 short answers instead of 6 long answers.
      • Show results without logging in, I left before I could see any logo, so I had no chance to convert. If I saw some results and even liked one of them, there was at least a chance that I would convert. I wouldn't be worried about people "stealing", you could show a watermark over, or just show them as small thumbnails and you have to pay/register to download the SVG.

      Cristian

      1. 1

        Hey Cristian, thanks for taking the time to write your review.
        We’re actually working on an update to the onboarding process, as you’re not the only one to feel frustrated. Basically allowing people to view logos without signing up, the progress bar, and a better explanation on why the questions matter.
        The reason why we ask these abstract questions is that it’s a very effective way to understand the values of a client, and with that, we’re able to present the colors, fonts and symbol that match the most.
        You might think that you know what you want, but we ask you to trust our expertise (15years designing custom logos for startups). Design is a very subtle domain, and even though you can get something descent by picking everything yourself, trusting the design process might surprise you.
        Anyway thank you for taking the time to write the is review. It makes me want to fix the onboarding super fast.
        I’m still a bit disappointed that you didn’t get to see logos, since it’s really where a lot of our value becomes visible. If you still have a tiny bit of interest in it, you can just use a temporary email address (your questionnaire progress should be saved in your browser), or I can send you a couple of results that might suit you via dm. Best regards, Dagobert

        1. 1

          Thanks! I did use a temp email to see the logos, they look pretty, but as I expected most of them just look like stock icon + text that has nothing to do with the actual business itself or is memorable.

          The top 2-3 recommended suggestions are actually pretty nice, I really like them, but they're too generic for a real brand identity. I see the tool more as a quick way to get an (almost unique) logo to get your business started, but not something that you would use if you are real serious about your brand.

  5. 1

    For me my strategy has been to half ass it myself, then upon reaching 5k MRR hiring a top of the line freelancer to do it right.

    1. 1

      I also did the same thing for all my previous projects, but this one is different as it's a product launched on a marketplace and the initial branding is really important.

      If I do something poor I will miss a lot of potential traction from the initial launch feature.

  6. 1

    I would definitely recommend to either go for something quick, online and cheap or do it yourself. I think your cash would be better spent in marketing or improving your product at this stage. Maybe in the future if all goes well, you can change your logo.

    1. 1

      Thanks for the feedback!

      I am releasing my product on CodeCanyon (a marketplace), so in my view the money spent on branding is actually money invested in marketing, as a better identity can really make the product stand out at launch.

  7. 1

    Yeah with your budget, just go on reddit. Lots of subreddits with talented designers. Fiverr is also an option but seriously could have some copyright infringement issues (although this is possible with any platform, just make sure to reverse image search any design you are given). Good luck!

  8. 1

    I use upwork/fiverr.

  9. 0

    For color palette I made this.
    Colorsandfonts.com

    Bit if you want a kick ass app coolors.com is the cream of the crop.

    If you need help I can help you to choose a color palette or anything else, I won't charge you. Just have fun.

    For illustrations browse ph illustration category.

    I have built and design this.

    Colorsandfonts.com
    Wickedtemplates.com
    Unicornsfeed.com

    Reach me out on [email protected] or twitter

    Https://Twitter.com/Mike_andreuzza

    1. 1

      Thank you!

      I was not asking for designer tools, as I don't want to spend the time myself to create the brand identity. The question was about what's the best way of outsourcing this kind of work.

      1. 3

        Ohhh.

        My bad, I misunderstood... sorry mate.

        Well, in that case my biggest recommendation is to go to Dribbble or Behance.

        Dribbble just made a whole new system to hire designers.

        https://dribbble.com/shots/following/branding

        1. 1

          Nice, I didn't know about the Dribbble system. I will check it out, thank you!

          I am a bit afraid going to such dedicated platforms as the good designers there tend to have above-IH-budget prices, but I might ask for a few offers.

          1. 1

            Well, is just to ask tjem I guess...

  10. 1

    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

    1. 1

      Thanks domz, I will check out the DM.

  11. 2

    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

    1. 1

      I'd say it would be overkill on mvp stage

      It's not really an MVP, it's more of a variation of an existing product but for a slightly different target audience. So I already pretty confident that the product will have at least some traction and I want to have the brand established from the start.

      Also you may share your idea and the name, maybe a designer feels generous. #buildinpublic

      I am not a fan of the free work idea, I think all work should be compensated in some way (be it monetary, through exposure or something else). The name that I ended up on is "wplytic" and it will be a WordPress Analytics platform, mostly a simpler, more lightweight version of my usertrack.net platform.

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