Because many of the WineMcGee readers are also business men and women, I wanted to tell you about a new website that I recently founded – Logolance.com. Over the last several years, the internet has become flooded with inexperienced designers offering dirt-cheap design services. Many of the most popular logo design sites host “design contests”, in which designers actually work for free at the prospect of possibly getting paid in the event that their logo is chosen as the final design. Other websites offer software for quick do-it-yourself logos. The mean cost for identity design services on the first two pages of Google is $150. This is not at all representative of the real-world brand identity market.
For companies that are serious about obtaining an iconic brand identity, there is little help for them online. The cheap logo contests, do-it-yourself software, and spec-based design websites all create the impression that corporate logo design is a commodity. No, your brand identity is not a commodity, it is an important investment.
Logolance addresses this gap in the marketplace and offers premium design services for startups, small businesses, and larger corporate branding projects. The website allows you to post a project and connect to the world’s most talented brand and identity designers. Through Logolance, small and medium-sized businesses can follow the same design process used by the world’s biggest companies and brands. After choosing your budget and posting a project, you quickly receive proposals from top freelance logo designers that are interested in working on your project.
From there, you are able to build your own design team (between 1 and 5 designers, depending on your budget). Each designer will operate independently and work with you directly. Typically, after 1-2 weeks, your designers will begin to deliver their design concepts. The website offers an easy-to-use project management interface where you can seamlessly manage your project, communicate, and stay on top of milestones and to-do lists. After the initial concepts, you’ll continue to work with each designer on your team to further refine your logo. Once you’ve created a logo you love, the chosen designer will create the final production files and deliver them to you.
Logolance has received great response from the design community, and we have tremendous designers on board, including some that have worked with Jack Daniels, Wal-Mart, Target, MTV, and other large clients. We’d love to help you with your next brand identity project – whether its for your next startup or popular brand release from a large corporation.
Last night I tested the theory that drinking large quantities of delicious Sauvignon Blanc would not cause me to wake up with a headache. The theory did not hold up, but another did: It’s a good thing to be a wine blogger. It was the long awaited night of the Wines of Chile Sauvignon Blanc Blogger tasting – an event that put us in the room (albeit virtually) with eight great winemakers from Chile and Master Sommelier Fred Dexhelmer – one of only 180 Master Sommeliers in the world.
Perhaps the fermentation went a little too wild. I’m not certain that the winemakers could see the chat from the bloggers, but I think they could. It was heartbreaking to see the look on winemaker Brett Jackson’s face as nearly all the bloggers pointed out that “this wine is flawed”, “tastes very yeasty”, and “almost like sherry.” I have to agree with everyone. There was something off with this wine that imparted slight aromas of alcohol and nail polish remover, and which made the wine taste somewhat like a fortified wine.
