Living the creative lifestyle she always dreamed of thanks to multiple revenue streams

Lucie Baratte built Logology with two cofounders and grew it to $2.5k/mo, but differences in vision cost her the team — and her marriage.

Now, she's building it solo and supplementing her revenue by freelancing, teaching, and writing novels.

Here's Lucie on how she's doing it all. 👇

Coming up with Logology

I was a dreamy little girl who fantasized about becoming a painter or a writer. I grew into a creative adult who works as a graphic and type designer specializing in visual identities, a startup founder, a semiology teacher, a speaker on women's history in pop music, and a gothic novel writer.

By 2018, I had worked as a freelance logo designer for years, and most of my clients were indie startup founders. At some point, I realized that many had great business ideas and a lot of motivation but not enough money for a bespoke logo. I felt frustrated that I couldn’t help them.

Some founders turned to online logo generators, but none of the existing platforms provided professional design, brand advice, or ethical revenue for designers. That's how we came up with the idea of building an online alternative that offers brand expertise and a flexible financial model.

Logology was cofounded in 2019 with my ex-husband and a friend. Since 2023, I’ve been running it on my own.

It's an online branding tool based on a unique catalog of over 700 logos, each one designed by me. Through a quick questionnaire, the platform automatically suggests logos that align with a company's values and message. The recommended shapes, colors, and typefaces effortlessly define the brand’s visual identity.

Making ends meet

The logos are ready to use, starting at $69 with packages up to $119. Alternatively, you can request a tailored customization for $799.

This way, founders can start with the most affordable package, test their product, and launch their business. Then, when needed, they can upgrade their brand design with a custom package.

Since Logology’s launch in 2020, revenue has fluctuated from $200 per month to $2,500 per month, and now averages around $450 per month.

Most sales come from the Starter and Growth packages. I design two or three custom logos per year and 1 or 2 fully bespoke logos with brand guidelines annually. A bespoke logo with extended brand guidelines costs around $3,000.

My various activities allow me to pay the bills, even if it’s not always easy. My teachings and lectures bring in around $1,200 per month, my freelancing jobs earn me $700, and my novels provide a few extra euros.

I can afford to rent my fancy apartment and even save for leisure and holidays. But most importantly, I’m deeply happy and grateful to earn enough to create every week — to write, design, and share my passion with others.

I couldn’t wait to be an adult when I was a child — I wanted to be free and make my own choices. Adulthood has kept its promise. But of course, as we all know, choices come at a cost, and life is priceless.

Finding the time

We started as a team: Dagobert handled the tech side, Xavier took care of marketing, and I was the designer. It took us months to find the right interface, and I spent a year designing the first 200 logos and color schemes, experimenting with different fonts and persona combinations.

We used our savings to get by, and I continued working — I was earning around €25k per year from freelancing and teaching. I had €30k in savings. I gave up some projects to free up time to build our product and it took a year and a half to get the MVP version of Logology.

We made our first sale in April 2020, and by 2022, we were able to maintain a regular salary of $1.8k for the two of us — mostly thanks to Dagobert launching his huge side project: a successful Twitter course.

Xavier left us in September 2020, and Dagobert followed in June 2023 after experiencing burnout.

During this time, I dedicated three days a week to Logology, one day to teaching, and one day to writing. This past year, in order to finish my second novel, I worked on it full-time (including weekends) for three months. And over the last nine months, I’ve been balancing all my activities, doing my best in each. But writing and promoting my novel remains my top priority.

The risk and reward of being naïve and optimistic

Is being naïve and optimistic a mistake? It sounds like asking whether falling in love is a mistake. I don’t think so. But reality is often harsher than we expect, and being more cautious and pragmatic would have made a big difference.

We should have thought about the business model and marketing needs from the very beginning. Instead, we did what many tech and designer founders do — we focused on the product first, obsessing over perfection and forgetting to build a sustainable communication strategy.

One of the hardest challenges came from unspoken or unconsidered differences in expectations among the cofounders. Each of us had our own motivations and visions for Logology, and in the end, it became very difficult to find a balance between them.

But despite all these challenges and failures along the way — which cost me not only the loss of my cofounder but also the end of my marriage — I wouldn’t have done things differently. I needed this journey to learn. I wasn’t as experienced then as I am now.

So, let’s embrace the adventure! (With a slightly smaller dose of naivety.)

Growth, then and now

In the beginning, we listed Logology on every possible directory, promoted the product within relevant communities, built our social media presence, participated in newsletters, wrote blog articles, and more. But it was mostly Dagobert’s success on Twitter that made Logology known and brought significant traffic to the site.

Today, the site is well-ranked, the affiliate program is running smoothly, and satisfied customers keep coming back and spreading the word.

I have developed the newsletter and blog to further support customers in building their brand identity. I plan to communicate more regularly on social media and through the newsletter's mini-magazine.

For my novels, all this work is handled by my publishers. They collaborate with book distributors and sellers. A press officer did all the outreach to journalists, and we received excellent feedback! As for me, I make myself available whenever needed to meet readers and talk about the book in bookstores, libraries, and schools.

Instinct and community

The most helpful moments in my journey happened thanks to the kindness and support of fellow founders. Their energy truly lifted me up along the way — on bad days, they offered encouragement and advice, and on good days, it was a blessing to share the joy.

Over the past five years, two communities have been especially meaningful to me:

• The indie hacker community on IH, Twitter, and LinkedIn — too many amazing people to name here.

• Inspiration Space — a huge special thanks to their inspirer-in-chief, Liana Fricker!

Another major source of strength came from listening to my inner voice. Being alone at the helm allowed me to reconnect with my personal vision and forced me to trust my instincts. Even though I haven’t yet reached the level of monthly revenue I’d like with Logology, I feel more confident about the future.

I rely on my 20 years of experience as a graphic and type designer, and on my inspiration. It’s much easier this way than trying to fit into someone else’s vision. And if things ever go south — though I pray they won’t! — I won’t have any regrets.

Advice for new founders

To new founders, I'd say this:

• To me, one of the biggest mistakes when starting a project is believing it will be either excessively easy or excessively difficult.

• Meet other founders, talk to business owners, and surround yourself with inspiring, supportive, and kind people.

• Finally, be careful what you wish for and take good care of your mental and physical health! Patience is everything.

What's next?

My main challenge for the future is to achieve a monthly revenue of $2,000 with Logology while writing my third novel. But my first goal is $700 per month — I’d rather climb the mountain step by step.

To do so, I want to improve communication about the offer and add new logos and fonts every month to keep the catalog fresh and dynamic.

I must admit, it’s hard to do this on my own, as I had a cofounder who was incredibly talented in marketing, and I enjoyed working with a team. But I’m gaining confidence in myself every day, allowing myself to trust my instincts and take things slowly rather than rushing and panicking.

Building a startup is a lot like writing a novel — an enormous amount of work with very few certainties. Based on everything I’ve experienced over the past five years, the journey is tough but incredibly enlightening!

If you'd like to learn more, you can take the Logology’s questionnaire on logology.co, sign in if you’d like, and subscribe to the newsletter. You can also read my blog about branding on logology.co/blog, explore my graphic design work on kaleidoscopeye.com, check out my novels on my publisher’s website, and read (in French) my book about my journey following the footsteps of Janis Joplin. And you can find me on X and Instagram.

Additionally, you can listen to my podcast Rebelles Rebelles (in French) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or SoundCloud, and watch this interview on French television about my projects.