SoHo Trends

As a part of starting a new company, I’m currently working on some of the more mundane tasks associated with the startup of a new venture, like registering the LLC, setting up bank accounts, looking into options for office space, etc.  To balance these tasks, I’m also in the middle of getting a logo designed also.

I’m currently using a web site called 99designs to host a contest for the design of the logo for my new company and it’s worked very well so far.  Here’s how it works.

99designs hosts several different design competitions.  They include:

• web page design
• stationery design
• logo design
• button and icon design
• t-shirt design
• banner ad design
• print design.

People looking for one of these designs launch a contest on the 99designs web site and create a design brief that describes what they’re looking for.  For instance, my design brief says that I’m looking for:

• Simple, clean, professional and modern
• Include the words “Agile Media Ventures” with emphasis on the word “agile”
• Logo should be scalable
• Logo should look good in color and grayscale
• Prefer logo to include both text and graphics; however, I’m open to a design that only contains words
• Logo should be in vector format.

Designers review the brief, look at the amount of money awarded as the prize (more on that later) and decide whether or not to submit a design.  As designs are submitted, the contest owner can review designs, provide feedback (both public and private) to designers and, ultimately, select a winner.

A regular contest is seven days long; you can “fast track” a contest so that it’s completed in just two days.  I just launched my contest yesterday. As you can see, I’ve received a total of 50 designs already in less than 24 hours.  I’ve been blown away and how creative and talented many of the designers are.  Take a look at their online portfolios; there are some very talented designers on 99designs.com.

I’ll post updates as the process moves along.  I’m very encouraged by the entries I’ve received so far.