Hey guys, I have searched and could not find anything on this topic.. Anyway.. im starting to get into designing on 99designs, and i was just wondering, when you guys design logo's what size should the image be? Btw.. at the moment i still haven't learn illustrator so i'm still using photoshop for my designs. Any help would be greatly appreciated -Jase
Don't use Photoshop for logos. Just, don't do it. Do them in Illustrator and then do them any size you want. If you HAVE to do it in Photoshop, you're going to want at least 1000x1000
But Photoshop helps make logos better since Illustrator is hard to use if you've never used it before. If you're a pen tool user in PS, then can you use the Illustrator easily for making logos?
You can use Photoshop to create logos easily, just make sure that the dimensions are very large; 3000x3000 is sufficient for the most part. I have some experience on 99designs and I can tell you that a lot of people who request logos want it done in Illustrator (because that program can create vector graphics). So be sure to pick requests that allow a PSD or obtain a little experience with Illustrator.
Any application is hard to use if you've never used it before. Doesn't mean you should pus.sy out and use Photoshop when Illustrator is clearly a better application for this. Also, 99designs fails. Sh!t like that demeans and de.values the entire graphic design industry.
What he might have meant to say was that the website 99designs is contributing to bad-mouthing the Graphic Design industry. It isn't capable of being the #1 design website and so on...
Thanx for the help guys.. and i am also starting to learn illustrator.. i just feel a lot more at home when using photoshop.
I can't tell you how many times I've been talking to potential clients regarding logo designs, web designs, pamplets/flyers etc etc, and when I tell them my going rate I get the reply "But for that much or cheaper I could go on 99designs and get as many logos as I want, and if I don't like them I don't have to pay", or how many clients I've had back out of paying because they simply assumed that they had the right to not pay if they decided they didn't like the final design (many of them don't even read the contracts I send them). 99designs encourages speculative work, and gives the impression that the only pre-requisite for being a graphic designer is owning the software. A few amateurs might make a few dollars off of it, but 99designs and all the other websites like it cause a huge influx of terrible to average design being passed off as ----- work. I don't know if you've ever tried to earn your living freelancing as a designer, but it's hard work, and these sites make people think speculative work is okay. /end rant.
I take it that you charge insane amounts for designs. People on sitepoints will often design quite decent logos for $250 and full web sites for well over $500. Sitepoint, rather the buyers, have recently started to pre-pay for contest. This requires winners to be paid. I know some number of designers which live off graphic design (dementia being one of them). If your clients say that they want to get more attempts at their requests from sitepoint, it's obvious that you are either A. charging too much or B. sub-par designs. Web design is a popular field now, and will always be. Young designers are getting into web graphics everyday, so you'll always compete for jobs with kids. Sitepoint just makes it easier for the buyers.
Regardless of whether or not someone is paid for the contest, many people put in a LOT of effort (and are required to) and still recieve absolutely nothing. You can't make a living working like that, and I hate it when people expect me to. I charge a pretty standard rate for my services, and the fact I might be undercut by a website filled with amateurs, shouldn't have any effect on my right to charge what I believe to be a reasonable price for my time and effort. Talk to any graphic designer (especially freelancers) and they will most likely agree that Speculative Work and Crowdsourcing sites are damaging the industry. When you hire a ----- designer, you're getting more than just a basic layout (and I've seen most of the ones here and on sites like sitepoint, 99designs, they are very basic, and normally whored versions of better web designs). If you actually think the designs on 99designs are good (bar a few Hydro74 clones), then maybe it is the site for you. But I take offense when people think it's reasonable for me to work my ass of on dozens of concepts, make tons of changes and alterations, and then have them say "I don't really like any of these" and walk away. Go look at Freelance Switch, Smashing Magazine, GoMediaZine, you'll find plenty of industry leaders who agree with me.