Review of Logo Tournament

I came across a new service called Logo Tournament that has an interesting model.  Logo Tournament is a type of marketplace for custom designed logos.  The main difference between Logo Tournament and other sites that design logos is that Logo Tournament allows you to create a requirements list and have multiple designers compete to win the contract. 

The site allows you to check out not only a gallery of some of their past work, but also a look at the current contest that are actively receiving submissions.  I browsed through both these sections, and I was really impressed.  So I decided to try it out on a couple logos I needed done for personal projects.

I started with my personal blog logo, Filthy Lucre.  I submitted the information and set a winning fee.  The fee is a minimum of $250, which is incredibly cheap for a logo.  I pushed mine up to $300 to try to get a little better submissions.

I started receiving logos within a couple hours.  After the first few submissions, I was starting to think I got screwed.  Nothing was very good.  But over time the logos started to get better.

Logo Tournament lets you set the time length of anything from a couple days, all the way to 10 days.  I selected the longest time period, figuring the more time, the better the submission.  This ended up being a good idea.  The best submission definitely came toward the end of the project.

During the process I would get emails letting me know that new logos were submitted.  When I log into the site, there is a nice and simple tool that allows you to view, and rank your submissions.  There is even a simple posting board style system that allows you to communicate with the designers in a semi-public forum.  I should also add that you have the option, for an extra $50, to make the submissions private.  In private mode, no one can see who the project is for, or the designs.

After all was said and done, and the contest ended, I had my winner.  To be honest, I wasn’t a fan of any of the submissions.  They were all off mark.  I found the communication tool helpful, but some designers clearly don’t read it.  For example, the first few submissions contained a silluete of a stripper on a pole.  How I can appreciate the image, it was pretty unprofessional and silly to put into a logo.  I left a message on my board to not include strippers into my logo, and they stopped.

A bigger trend that I couldn’t stop was the inclusion of clovers in my design.  For some reason over half ot the design submissions contained clovers.  I posted on the board that neither my site, nor I, are Irish, so they should stop with the clovers.  That went unnoticed and the clovers continued.

In the end, I wish there was the option of ending the contest without picking a winner. I get why there isn’t that option, people would abuse that all the time, but I was not really happy with any of the submissions.

A Second Chance for Logo Tournament

I decided that Filthy Lucre was a difficult logo to start with.  I couldn’t come up with a good idea after months of having a website up, so it may have been unfair to judge the site based on that request.  I was really impressed with some of the other contest going on, so I decided to try again.

This time I selected a much more straight forward site for a logo,  an ecommerce site that sells candy, eSnacks.  I posted a request that the logos have some sort of old fashioned candy store feel to them.  I also made the prize $400 in an attempt to attract better quality designers.

The first few submissions were not very good, but I was getting them very fast.  I should mention that Logo Tournament guarantees at least 30 submissions, but Filthy Lucre got well over 40.

As time went on, the submissions got better and better.  I was starting to see much better results than I did with Filthy Lucre.  As the logos became better, I got very dilligent on ranking the submissions in order.  This seemed to help the designers a lot.  Each day the logos improved in quality.

I went through a few days with what I thought was a clear winner, but then another designer pushed out some logos that blew all the others away.  I should also mention that the designers have little trophy’s under their screen name that shows how many they have won.  I have to admit that the final decision between the top two Filthy Lucre logos was that one of the designers hadn’t won at over 40 submissions.  The logos were equally good, so we gave the guy his first win.

The designers are from all over the globe.  Looking through the site, I found designers from Poland, Indonesia, Germany, etc...  There are quite a few from the U.S., but overall the site is very international.

The biggest submission of quality logos came at the last few hours.  There were some really great logos, but my current #1 choice remained.   In the end, I awarded the contract to a U.S. designer with the screen name Illumina.  Although I have to say that the Indonesian designer that goes by crayons gave a really solid effort.  I was pretty happy with the logo submissions that eSnacks brought in.

Recommendations for Logo Tournament

I think the site is great.  But I would like to see a couple more options.  First, I would love have the ability to invite designers to my projects.  This seems like such a common sense option for people who have seen success through the system that I was certain I must be missing it.  I would love to post a project that I knew I would get some good designers on.  For example, was impressed with some of the other designers work on other contest, and would liked to had them take a crack at Filthy Lucre.

Another option I would love to see is an API for development firms.  We often get clients who want logos, but I don’t think we want to send them logo tournament directly.  It would be great if developers could set the contest as private, and allow our clients to review the comps on our site.

And speaking of the private feature; $50 is way to high for that service.  I understand that Logo Tournament wants to discourage people from selecting this option, it’s much better that Logo Tournament have a big selection of logos for people to see, but it really adds a lot to the price point and makes it more less attractive to agencies wanting to keep things discreet for their clients.

Another welcomed feature would be a tip jar.  Even though I didn’t aware the contract to “crayons”, I would liked to have given him a tip.  He did very good work, and I would like to encourage him to submit to my future projects.

Summary of Logo Tournament

Overall I had a fair experience.  Logo Tournament is a service I would strongly recommend to anyone looking for the best logo they can get.  The fact that it’s inexpensive is a plus, but it’s the quality that really makes the service unique.

Logo Tournament removes the headache of outsourcing logo design to one designer, and then being stuck with either sunk expense, or something you don’t really like.  Designers find an idea they like, and then revise that idea until they think it’s good enough.  But there is a huge benefit in getting multiple designers, all with different ideas, submitting in comps.

Some tips on using Logo Tournament

I learned a couple of things while using the system.  First, make sure to review and rank often.  This really helps designers hone in on what you like and dislike.

Second, don’t be afraid to communicate with the designers.  It can make a big difference.

Third, go with the longest time you can.  The best designs came at the end.

Fourth, pay as much as you can legitimize for the project.  You will not only get more, and better submissions, the extra carrot of more money seems to make the good designers more will to revise and re-submit a lot of designs with your feedback.

Fifth, don’t be afraid to extend the contest.  I kicked myself because I didn’t see this for the Filthy Lucre contest.  I really wish I had, because I think I would have gotten a much better logo out of the deal.