Choosing and Ownership of Simple Company Logo

For a small-medium enterprise or startup business owner, you know how a simple company logo and graphic designs play an integral role in your company's branding campaign. However, you may also learn how expensive hiring a professional graphic designer is. Most small companies will not have a fund for this. Therefore, business owners need to have basic knowledge about graphic design tasks. The better you can design the graphic designs, the better you will be in control of your branding personality.

 

How Do I Choose a Simple Company Logo?

The first step of an average company toward a solid branding campaign would be your brand guide and the company logo. Before starting with the basics of logo design, you need to understand the personality you want your business to evoke. Understand that even a simple logo for your company is all about your brand's personality. If it doesn't do its purpose, then you have a problem. The character of your company will serve as the blueprint that will guide you in making crucial decisions throughout the logo design project. Here are a couple of things to remember.

 

Choosing the Font

 

Your typography will be a crucial element of your simple company logo. It helps in communicating your business name and personality. After redesigning their typeface, most companies claim that there was around 20% increase in their company profit. We've had a more thorough discussion about this in the past, so go check that article about Font Style for Cleaning Business Logos. Just a quick refresher; serif fonts are traditional but have a tendency to appear boring; the script seems complex but has a more flexible option in defining your personality; Sans serif offers a minimalistic and clean approach to logo design.

 

Choosing Simple Colors

 

According to the reports, at least 80% of the customers claimed that colors help them recognize the brand. Check this article about the Best Colors for your Cleaning Company Logo, which will help you understand the psychological impact of colors on the human mind. Red is good if you want to incite excitement. Green symbolizes growth, nature, and health. Blue suggests credibility, reliability, and professionalism. The shade of the chosen color can change its influence. Intense colors can lead to something negative.

 

Knowing the Purpose

 

When designing a simple company logo, it is always better to know about the purpose that it is trying to accomplish. We've always reminded people that the logo represents your business. It helps your existing and potential clients recognize your business and what you can offer them. It must serve as a visual reminder to your prospects. Be sure that it also contributes to the credibility of your business and that it represents the value that you can offer to the people.

 

Do I Own the Rights for My Simple Company Logo?

 

To most of us, we will most probably hire the service of a professional graphic designer. Others who will try to handle this on their own will utilize a program with premade templates and icons. So, you are probably wondering if you own the exclusive rights to this logo. The thing is, there are different issues in the ownership of the logo. Let's discuss them further in this section.

 

Why Is It Important to Determine the Logo Ownership?

 

Before we tell you about the ownership of the logo, we will tell you first why it is important. Hopefully, you will be able to settle the logo rights to enjoy some of these benefits.

 

·         Freedom- If you have full ownership of the simple company logo, you will be able to use this on various platforms. It is a crucial asset for your brand marketing, and it only makes sense to use it in your various campaigns. Therefore, you want to verify the full ownership of the logo before using it without being flagged for copyrights violation.

 

·         Getting Copyrights- If you have full ownership, you can apply for patent rights in your local area. With this, you can guarantee that you are protected with your Intellectual Property Rights. You can be certain that no one will try to infringe on your logo design. Having a logo that can be plagiarized by other companies exposes you to branding issues.

 

·         Avoid Conflicts- If there is no clear understanding of the ownership of the logo before the beginning of the project, this will lead to conflict and argument. As a business owner, you don't want to start this with a problem.

 

Why Are Some Designers Not Giving the Client the Ownership?

 

When hiring a graphic designer to design a simple company logo, you may think you instantly have the rights to the final output. However, that is not really the case. Here are some of the reasons why most designers will do that.

 

Some Designers are Possessive

 

It is too common for designers to be possessive of their arts and creation. The concept and composition that they conceive will be valuable to them, and it is not easy to part things to the things you value. The skills to create a memorable logo will not be easy, and the entire work they invested in it is precious to them. Most designers can be very possessive and will not part ways with the ownership of their designs.

 

Reusing the Design

 

Some designers will use their past projects for inspiration. Some people will not have an idea on how to separate the line between inspiration and creativity theft. They will try to evade the topic of logo ownership to ensure that they can still reuse this logo design in the future. Nonetheless, understand that you should never justify or encourage this trait. The only thing they can do is add this to their portfolio.

 

Hold Your Logo for Ransom

 

Most designers (particularly the novice in the field of design) would try to avoid talking about the concept of logo ownership. This gives them an advantage in the negotiation process. You may think it is unethical, but it happened a couple of times, even to some professional designers. This allows them to demand royalty from the client whenever it is used in different marketing campaigns or channels.

 

So, Who Really Owns the Logo?

 

Based on our experience, the concerns about the ownership of the simple company logo happen when someone ignores due diligence. Here are some circumstances that will help you identify the complete ownership of the logo.

 

The Employee Developing the Logo

 

Based on copyright law, the developer of the logo must be the rightful owner of the creation. This is unless, of course, if the logo is designed with the employee during their years of employment. In this case, the logo is owned by the employer. Remember that this could be in the course of the person's employment. For instance, if you ask the engineer (who is not a member of your design team) to develop a logo, you want to make sure that they will be transferring the full rights to you.

 

The Design Agency Creating the Logo

 

If you hired a professional graphic design agency to create a logo, the rights would be possessed by the employer of the graphic designer assigned to your project. That remains the case until they decide to transfer the ownership to you.

 

Your Friend Designing Your Logo

 

Perhaps you are running a business with a partner or a friend, and since your friend has a knack for graphic design, you allowed them to handle this tricky work. Like before, you will have to ask them to transfer the ownership to you.

 

How to Transfer the Ownership Rights of Your Logo

 

If you decide to work with third-party designers, you must have an understanding of the duties and obligations for things to be clear. The agency does not always include a term that forces them to transfer their logo ownership rights. At the least, they will only provide a non-exclusive license for their logo. Based on the existing copyright law, there should be a written agreement signed by the original owner of the simple company logo to pass the copyright ownership. All the concerned parties will also sign this. If you encounter issues on the transfer, some agencies will help you deal with the dispute. Disputes around ownership of the logo are much more common than what you could imagine. All matters and terms related with the copyright and the ownership of the logo must be deliberately explained in the contract.

 

In an ideal situation, the simple company logo should belong to the client. However, there are instances when things become more complex. It is always best to talk about this to your designer before hiring them. Choosing the appropriate designers can be difficult, but with the right things in mind, you will be able to choose one that suits you. Remember only to sign a contract if you are cleared on the ownership and copyright infringement issues. If you do not discuss things in full detail, you will be exposed to uncertainties.