We had a contest among our community of freelance designers that contribute to Logoworks. We received a lot of great entries, so the task of narrowing them down was difficult. Here are the results of our Best Logo of 2010 Contest:

1st place WINNER: zurek
Project: Coroico
Evaluation: This iconic logo designed by zurek was the consensus favorite in this year’s contest–it appealed to voters probably for several reasons. First of all, it’s simple, unique, and has great recognition value: not a lot of unnecessary detail or clutter in the logo. Second, it conveys emotion with the abstract light rays for the lion’s mane; and even though the pose is straight on, the face is above center which adds a great dynamic to the illustration. Finally, it uses simple yet clean and classic typography that will be an asset in this company’s branding efforts. Even something very subtle like making the first and last letters of the name larger helped give the typography that little touch of customization to make the logo that much better. Congratulations, zurek, the $300 prize for this year’s contest is yours!

2nd place: shahdan
Project: Honey Maze
Evaluation: Combining two ideas or aspects of a company into one not only makes a great company name, but helps inspire great logo design as well! In this great iconic design, shahdan has transformed a honeycomb into a maze: what a brilliant idea followed by creative execution! Since some viewers may not catch on that the hexagon is a honeycomb, shahdan added just the right amount of extra detail in the honey drops to polish off the idea. Without the honey drops, the logo may have fallen short in its concept. Way to go shahdan, $200 is coming your way! Shahdan is now doing awesome design for BusinessLogos.

3rd place: longkangkung
Project: Home Organic
Evaluation: Tree and leaf logos seem to have been done just about every way imaginable, but our voters were pleased with longkangkung’s creative execution of an oft-used idea. Using large abstract leaves to fill out the tree’s shape helped drive home the organic aspect of this company without being boring and too literal. The small door in the trunk also helped communicate the message of home to the viewer. In short, just the right amount of detail to communicate a powerful concept. This logo is simple enough it would reproduce well in one color, and the typography is also elegant and refined. Thanks longkangkung for a great design, worthy of $100 and third place!

Honorable Mention: reyespadilla
Project: The Taco Tank
Evaluation: This illustrative design by reyespadilla was also popular with our voters and earns our first spot for Honorable Mention! Combining a taco and a fish in a creative and fun illustration will really make this company stand out with its competitors. We also liked the use of hash marks to create a little shading and flair in the design that we don’t normally see.

Honorable Mention: tjost
Project: Airwaves
Evaluation: Congratulations to tjost for providing the top-rated logotype of this year’s contest! By substituting the letter “i” with a radio tower, tjost takes this logo to the next level; without the tower, the message would not have the same visual impact or right amount of creative touch. The colors are complementary and play off each other quite well. Also, putting those two clouds in the other letters was another great added touch of detail that really sells the logo as being top-notch, custom design.

Honorable Mention: gax
Project: Coffee Park
Evaluation: This logo by gax has a nice hand-drawn quality to it, using just the right amount of color, line, and abstract shapes to combine into a whimsical yet professional design. The arc shape in the background with the hashmarks for texture provides a unique visual foil to the foreground illustration, and also ties in the typography quite nicely to form a nice overall crest design.

Honorable Mention: webcore
Project: Queen of Tarts
Evaluation: This logo by webcore is perhaps one of the better examples of picking the right font to match the style of the icon: both the typography and icon definitely go together! We also really liked the iconic representation of a tart that also doubles as a crown: genius! The icon is simply executed with just the right amount of detail. All in all, this design epitomizes what makes logo design a great medium of art and communication! Well done!

Thanks to Luke for his evaluations! You can see more work from these talented designers at BusinessLogos.com.

Ever since feudal knights and lords held aloft their shields, people have been trying to communicate their brand through crests. Whether it be your family lineage or your sports team, a crest, or enclosure-style logo is a good way to keep the logo contained and attractive. Here’s a few good examples of this style.

This crest was created for the International Racquetball Tournament. The client chose a different logo, but we recently received a call about it from ManCaves, a popular show in the DIY Channel. They were creating a special mancave for a racquetball enthusiast, and used this crest to make a plaque.

Designed by Paul, one of Logoworks

You can see that the artwork doesn’t necessarily have to be perfectly balanced to create a beautiful logo. Nor does it have to be completely contained by a stroke. Sometimes it’s good to give a little break in the border to give the eye a sense of freedom.

Designed by Aaron, one of Logoworks

Sports logos are commonly crest logos, since they work well on promotional gear and clothing.Here’s one we did for the San Diego Open.

Another composition by Paul

Cafes and eateries are also good candidates for this style, since they create a fun atmosphere and are versatile for different moods.

Another composition by Paul

Yet another composition by Paul

This outdoor supply company wanted to incorporate a canoe or kayak (and maybe mountains) to show that they are New York’s largest canoe and kayak dealer. They also hoped we could add some mountains since they’re located in the Adirondacks. We gave them various styles to choose from, but the standouts were designed by Tom. Check out these beautifully elegant designs.

Designed by Tom, one of Logoworks

The crest logo is a great way to go, but it’s a challenge to keep it simple and beautiful like a logo should be. If you need help with your logo designs, contact the experts at our logo design shop.

I ran across an interesting article the other day about how much several well-known brands paid for their logos or logo redesigns. Check some of these numbers out…

Pepsi spent about $1 million dollars to go from this:

To this:

Starz spent $25 million to change this:

To this:

And BP, spent $136 million (yes, $136 million) to update this:

To this:

The 2012 London Olympics spent almost $1 million on this:

Any way you look at it, that’s a lot of money for a logo.

Okay, I know these companies didn’t spend all that money on just a logo. They also got brand standards and guidelines for applying the logo on everything from business cards to environmental signage. They got months of consultation, competitive analysis, brand audits, and hand holding. They went through scads of research to identify the exact right colors, fonts, positioning, and to make sure the new logos appealed to customers. No doubt they went through a few hundred revisions. And these prices likely include some media and production expenses.

But $136 million?

That still feels like too much to pay for a logo, or a redesign, even with all this other stuff thrown in.

So, what should a logo cost you?

Not that much.

If you simply need a logo to get your business up and running, you probably don’t have millions (or even thousands) to spend on a logo design. You just need a professional looking logo to go on your business card, or your website, or possibly a sign in front of your store. Something that allows you to spend your money on what really matters—getting your business started. What should that logo cost?

Somewhere between $299 to $599.

For that price, you should get a team of talented designers working on your project. Not just kids on to a contest design site, but award-winning designers with an average of almost 10 years experience. Check out the kind of work you should expect at that price in our logo design portfolio.

You should also get access to an account manager (via phone, email, or even in person if you want to visit our offices in Utah) to help you through your projects.

You should see a wide variety of work—anywhere from six to twelve (sometimes more) unique concepts all based on the information you provide about your company. And then enough revisions to get it just right.

And, at the end of the process, you should get all the logo files you need—from .jpgs to .eps files—that make using your logo easy.

Can you find logo design services that charge less? We’d be lying if we said no.

But before you choose a bargain-basement provider, ask them a few questions: Are the logos guaranteed to be original? What happens if they’re not? Can I trademark mine? Do I own the final design? Has anyone vetted the designers I am working with? Can I see their work? What final files will I get? Can you speak to someone if there is a problem? How easy are you to reach at a moment’s notice? Have you done work for any clients I’ve heard of before? How many designers will be working on my logo (can I have their names)?

Or save yourself the trouble and click here to put the world’s largest logo design studio to work on your project.

And pay about $999,600 less for your logo than what Pepsi paid for theirs.

We promise you’ll like the result.

We recently announced that we had just started our 200,000th project here in our logo design studio. Most of those projects were logos for small businesses, though many were websites, brochures, custom illustrations, and even word and powerpoint templates. And a lot of those projects were for products, services, or companies with “monkey” in the name. You might say we’ve done barrels of them—all unique in some way. (Of course, we wouldn’t say that, it’s a little too silly, but you might.) Here are a few of my favorites:

The first is a custom illustration we did a few years ago for Math Monkey (an organization that teaches kids math in a fun, easier-to-learn ways).

Next up is a logo we recently completed for a new media company. Our instructions were “the sillier, the better.”  It’s a lot of fun:

Last monkey logo for today was created not too long ago for a new start-up. They asked for a logo with “splat.” This one delivers:

If you need a monkey, bear, rooster, beaver, gopher, giraffe, dog, hippo, or any other animal in your next design project , visit the logo design experts at Logoworks. We’d love to help.

It’s Cinco de Mayo, which we have traditionally celebrated with more than twenty bags of tortilla chips and gallons of salsa here in the design studio. This year we’re once again thinking about Mexico and logos, which naturally enough, we’ve done a bunch of. From salsa (the stuff you eat as well as the dance steps) to holiday celebrations, several clients have asked us to help create identities to match their Cinco de Mayo-ish products. Here are a couple from the archive, two concepts we put together a few years ago for a Cinco de Mayo celebration in St. Louis from a few years back.

Here’s hoping you have a great Cinco de Mayo from your favorite logo design studio, Logoworks.

We were thrilled to find out a few days ago that several of our designers will have their work featured in Logo Lounge 6—the latest in a series of well-respected design publications by Bill Gardner set to be published in February 2011. Nine of the logos in the upcoming book were created by the designers at Logoworks. Here’s a preview of what you’ll see in the book next year:

As you can see, the selected artwork covers a wide range of styles and creativity in logo design. We’re grateful to Logo Lounge for selecting our work for inclusion in the book again this year (we have several logos in last year’s book too). Congratulations to Jerron, Josh, Justin, Paul, Curt, and Jose who created the “winning” marks.

As always, our design team would love to put together a few ideas for your next project. Check us out at Logoworks to get started.

A few days ago, we wrote about three things you should never include in your logo. You can read that entry here. Of course, there are more than three things to avoid when you are working on your logo. Here are two more:

#1 Avoid using too many colors in your logo. When it comes to helping your customers remember your company and visual identity, simplicity is the key. The best brands choose a single color (in some cases two) to represent their business. Coke uses red—and only red. It’s not likely you’ll ever see a blue Coca-cola logo (but Pepsi uses blue). Prudential Financial uses blue. Starbucks uses green. And all of these brands have a version of their logo in black and white that is just as recognizable as the color version.

Over time, colors help customers easily recognize brands. We read color and shape before we read the information in those shapes, so your brain recognizes a Coke can before you can even read the name printed on it. Your logo deserves no less.

In addition, if you ever need to embroider your logo onto a uniform, promotional give-away, or materials in a retail store or office, having a logo with just one or two colors will help make it possible. Gradients and multiple colors make it far more difficult and in some cases impossible to create these products. The same is true if you need to print your logo in a small area, a simple one color logo will make the job much easier.

#2 Avoid using too many fonts in your logo. How many is too many? In most cases, two fonts would be too many. Once again, it’s all about creating a simple mark and avoiding anything that can make reading it more confusing or complex. Unless you have a very compelling reason to do otherwise, one font should be enough for your logo. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, make your mark as simple as possible. Choose fonts that are easily readable and represent what your company stands for.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule. There are logos that effectively use more than one color—the discontinued rainbow Apple logo is an example. (Although Apple had a single color version to use when necessary, which has since become their “official” logo.) And there are logos that effectively use more than one font, but usually one font is the mark, and the second font is a simple descriptor to help give context to the mark.

Bottom line: keep it simple.

Read about more things to avoid when creating your logo, here.

The vast majority of logo projects we get ask for an icon as part of the logo. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course. There are plenty of successful organizations with iconic logos—Nike, Apple, Major League Baseball, and AT&T, to name just four.

But there’s another option when it comes to your logo, the wordmark or logotype. There are plenty of successful companies that use this kind of logo as well: IBM, Fedex, Exxon, Disney and Microsoft.

So why do so many entrepreneurs ask for icons rather than wordmarks? I’m not sure I have a good answer for that question, except maybe people are trained to think of logos as images or pictures, rather than words. (This is true of both iconic logos and logotypes—we see them as pictures.) So, when customers think about logos, they literally think of icons and ask for them, rather than having the designer try to do something unique with the type.

In addition to iconic logos, our designers have come up with some pretty amazing logotypes. Here are two of my favorites from the Logoworks archive. The first was a concept we presented to Sonoma Vinegar Works that makes use of colors and shapes to communicate the idea of grapes. I love this logo:

The second is for a small start-up down the street called Needle. Given the track record of the founders, it’s pretty likely you’ll be hearing more from them in the future.

Both of these logos include hidden elements (though not that hidden) and strong font choices, demonstrating that when they are done right, a logotype can be every bit as effective as an iconic logo—maybe more so. Something to consider if you’re thinking about creating a new logo for your organization.

Note: This is the first post on the new blog by Paul, one of our talented designers, and the illustrator who did this…

Ever since a client asked me to change the Helvetica font in her logo to “something more timeless like Papyrus”, I’ve been thinking about this. More timeless than Helvetica? I should be used to requests like this by now. After all, clients don’t always use terms like “timeless” the same way a designer does. It’s like asking to re-typeset a book, changing it from that new-fangled, flash-in-the pan Caslon font to something classic like Umbra. So I tried it…

I began seeing the world in a whole new light. What if all the logos that used Helvetica were “updated” to the font Papyrus? How would the world look?

American Airlines would have to change their entire website.

Better or worse? You decide.