Blog: Saving Money and Killing Your Brand?

I am fortunate to have been able to design over 250 logos and brands in my career. I love it as it’s the base for all else: brochures, business cards, website, advertising, etc. Unfortunately with the explosion of cut rate design services out there great logos/brands can easily be ruined. I get it, times have been tough and budgets are constantly being cut, so it can be very tempting to use a lesser designer at a lower cost. But you do get what you pay for and producing a poorly designed piece can substantially harm your overall brand.

From stretching or squashing the logo to fit a specific space, to using it on a overly busy background, to showing it out of scale for a piece, to creating drastically different looks for every design, there are a number of ways I see a great logo negatively transformed by a poor design. The crazy thing is these companies will spend thousands of dollars on the logo but then pay $50 for a cut rate brochure whose design ruins the logo.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with some companies who’ve gone down this saving money on design path, only to think they need a new logo since their material looks so bad. In more than one instance I’ve been able to look over their original brand guidelines and point out that the brand wasn’t the problem. No, it was the implementation that was making the brand look poor. And after a few months of strategically redesigning their material, they realize their original brand is, indeed, great.

I would urge decision makers to really consider the long term effects of going cheap. Yes you may save some money this quarter but when your brand is lessened you will have lost thousands. The key to any great brand is consistency and quality. If you don’t have the budget, maybe you put off the brochure a month or two and wait until you can do it right (or even ask your designer if there are any ways to reduce the cost this time). Believe me, your brand will be stronger and loner lasting and you will probably save money in the long run.

— Hovie Hawk

< Back to Blog