BrandCrowd Blog

30 Top Logos From April

BrandCrowd — Tue, 01 May 2012 09:18:17 +0000

Last month BrandCrowd designers uploaded a hundreds of amazing and unique logo designs to peruse and buy. These are some of the best playful designs we laid eyes on and they showcase the range of designer talent in the community. If you’re a designer, get inspired and if you have just launched a new business or know someone who has, then share this post with your friends, there is plenty of logo design eye candy to get excited over and deals to grab, like WiredrawnCI‘s Ink Head logo (third row, centre) reduced from $1,800 to $400. The following logos are looking for new homes. Enjoy!

For more logo inspiration or to buy a logo, head over to our recently-added logos for sale page on BrandCrowd.

BrandCrowd’s $5,000 Logo Contest Winners!

BrandCrowd — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:57:11 +0000

We announced the Shortlisted Logo Designs several weeks ago and after much thought and intense debate amongst the team here at BrandCrowd HQ, we’re pleased to unveil the winners of the BrandCrowd $5,000 logo contest! The winning logos have been selected from the short list. Plus there is a new category prize due to the high number of ’animal’ themed logos submitted, we’ve added a new $250 prize for Best Animal Logo.The quality of designs submitted reflects the impressive talent amongst BrandCrowd designers. In this announcement we’ve showcased a few more exceptional logo designs to give you a sense of the variety and quality of logos uploaded during the contest. Check out ‘honorable mentions’ for the highlights.To re-cap, the prize categories are as follows:

Best Logo – $2,000 cash prize – as voted by BrandCrowd staff
Most Sprung/Likes – $1,000 cash prize – the best logo as chosen by you
Most Logos Uploaded – $1,000 cash prize – we’re looking for quality and quantity
Speciality Prizes – 5 x $250 cash prize each

Best Overall Logo – $2,000

“Animal Welfare Center” – By Ancitis

Most Liked/Sprung Logo – $1,000

“inkboutique” – By maflewdesigns

Best Negative Space Logo – $250

Fear Door – By VikkiV

Negative Space – Honorable Mentions
Winedom – By ancitis	Unreadable By Vast	Panda – By MDS

Best Typographic Logo – $250

“Code Moon” – By Ryo Respati

Typographic Logo – Honorable Mentions
Nostalgia – By Jemza	Bicycle – By sameerg	Left – By maliciadigital

Best Illustrative Logo – $250

“Sport War” – By Shtef Sokolovich

Illustrative Logos – Honorable Mentions
Tiny Robot Murashkame	Pen King – By Creative Concept	Twisted Design – By davidflopez

Best Animal Logo – $250

“OKStag” – By anghelaht

Animal Logo – Honorable Mentions
Mishka – By tieatie	Goodfox – By Aleksandar	New York Fish – By Milovanovic

Best Web 2.0 Logo – $250

“O-range Speaker” – By goh

Web 2.0 Logos – Honorable Mentions
Geeky By Murashkame	Piece of Cake – By MDS	iTV – By logopoint

Most Logos Uploaded – $1,000
	Sky,44 logos approved for sale

Congratulations to Ancitis and all the other logo winners!Please share these results with the world and let us know: which logo is your favourite? Do you agree or disagree with the logos selected as honourable mentions and winners? Let us know in the comments below.

New Feature: Free Design Consultations!

BrandCrowd — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 03:56:46 +0000

Introducing our “new” and “personal” design consultation service to the BrandCrowd marketplace! What if you could collaborate with a design professional to clarify you requirements and then choose from a curated selection of designs they believe best meet your design requirements? It’d be like having a personal shopper for logo design.We created this feature to assist our customers in defining their criteria and requirements for a logo design. You can expect top quality advice from our consultants who are professional designers and can assist you to locate and buy your dream logo at lightening speed.

How does it work?

1) Request a design consultation. Here you will outline your top level requirements and one of our BrandCrowd design consultants will contact you by telephone and discuss your logo design brief in more detail.2) Once the consultant has mapped out the criteria they will provide a short list of logos for you to review.3) You can request the designer to customise your logo with your business name and other modifications and then share your top choices with your network for feedback.We’re here to help you find and buy the design what you want. With 10,000+ logos for sale on BrandCrowd, we’re confident you’ll find your dream logo for a great price.

Launched: 100% Free Design Consultancy Service.

Have you tried the service? Did you buy a logo with the help of this service? Let us know in the comments.

5 Tips To Fast-Track Your Design Career Using DesignCrowd

BrandCrowd — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 04:45:40 +0000

This guest post is from Joshua Borja, a graphic designer at DesignCrowd and final-year design student from Sydney, Australia.I’m a 4th year B Design (Visual Communication) honours student that studies in Australia. I have been experimenting with using DesignCrowd to improve my design skills; at first it was just to fill up the summer uni break, and with the prospects of getting a little more cash for the holidays. My experience on DesignCrowd has developed my skills and have shifted my thinking about how the creative process is managed. Here are a few things that I have learned through my experience using DesignCrowd.Projects are an exercise in reading briefs.Some of my student peers refuse to follow the guidelines and marking criteria the university tutors set for assignments. Frequently those students barely pass their subjects. I learned quickly to accept that each university project is a working brief and you have to please the tutor to get those distinctions that you deserve.The same is true with the projects, but instead of a tutor it’s a real world client and they will pay for the student who gets top of the class.Tips for using DesignCrowd:

Read the brief carefully, make sure that you are hitting each point that the client is trying to make.
Develop a critical discourse around your own work and that of others, especially see what could’ve been improved.
Also, look at the winner and critically review the work. It will make you a better designer in the long run.
You need to look for the project gems.
Look for detailed, unique briefs. There you will find more chance to let your creativity flow.

Build up your portfolio with projects you are passionate and proud of.Be choosy. I only do the projects that interest me and that I think I would be able to do a good enough job to have it as a portfolio piece. I admit I’m not a logo designer and have a penchant for typography, so I look at the stationery and flyer design projects as these are the type of briefs I enjoy. If I don’t win, and I think the work is better than what I have done before, I will shift the design into my portfolio as a personal work project. In my eyes, it was a win-win situation.Working local has its benefits.In my first project, I discovered the client was based in Australia, which helped to fast-track our collaboration. We got through the design process quickly. The client liked my work, and we now have a continuing customer-designer relationship where the client sends me projects from time-to-time. Key learning: The DesignCrowd platform provided an excellent opportunity to build client relationships that provide ongoing work.Tight Deadlines and Flexible Work Hours.A university student’s life can be hectic, but in the idle time, I recommend you substitute You Tube and Facebook for browsing available jobs on DesignCrowd. Generally you’ll have a small amount of time in your schedule to submit a design, which is a great way to build up your portfolio.Commercial design is competitive, get used to it.This is the most important point. Get a head start in your design career and learn how to pip opponents out of the competition. The more experience that you have in the field, the more of a chance that you will get the job that you want later on. Having a range of professional design experiences means your chances of generating consistent earnings for yourself grows with each new project, whether that’s on DesignCrowd or as a freelancer working within a traditional design model.In Conclusion …DesignCrowd provided me with a series of exercises to explore my boundaries and skills as a designer. As an emerging designer, your focus should be on building your design practice, so I recommend setting goals around the output, diversity and range of design experience you can explore. A key strength of DesignCrowd is the diversity of design briefs, or design briefs you can work on. Uni life is already stressful as it is, use the DesignCrowd platform to stimulate your design problem-solving skills while you figure out what areas of design you’re most passionate about.

Interview with Serbian Logo Designer Marko Jovanovic aka MDS

BrandCrowd — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 06:56:20 +0000

You probably know logo designer Marko Jovanovic’s portfolio via his BrandCrowd moniker, MDS. Marko has been working in as a freelance and in-house graphic designer for 12 years, based primarily in the Serbian capital Belgrade. Marko’s portfolio is filled with minimalist, spare designs that reflect a direct design style that is very focused: he uses highlight colours, limiting these to one or two references in his palette, and his designs are literal and easy to understand. Marko excels at quickly communicating a company or product’s key values and activities in a logo design. Let’s get to Marko better.How much training/experience do you have in Graphic Design? I have more than ten years experience in graphics, print and design. I studied graphic design at the High School of Design (Belgrade) then qualified as a professional designer from College of Fine and Applied Arts in Belgrade. From there I worked with four companies from Belgrade as a graphic designer, graphic operator and prepress.What type of design is your speciality? I work in all facets of graphic design – from advertisements to billboards to magazines – but what I like to do is the logos. I always try to improve my work in that category.Briefly describe your design/creative process. The first thing I do is study the client’s company to understand its main activity sand style of business. I transfer my creative thinking to paper, where in fact it all begins. Sketches are the real beginning of my work. At the end [of the process], the project is finalized on the computer in graphic programs.What does your workspace consist of? I use a PC, laptop and desktop. Most freelance work I do with a laptop from home. Yes, sometimes I used to connect my laptop to the TV of 42 inches.What/Who are the major influences on your style? Nature. All forms come from nature.Where do you draw your inspiration? Depends on the project on which I work. Nothing specific.What hobbies do you do outside of design? Sport, society, friends, movies (Sci-Fi), traveling, and driving a car – very fast!Describe yourself in 3 words. Equitable. Emotional. Durable.Name your top 3 favourite designs in your portfolio.

Wrench Bike

Piece of Cake

Chilliout

Your Favourite BrandCrowd or DesignCrowd Designer. Viosix. His work is perfect, clean, neat and modern.

Voxsix Profile

winecastle by Viosix

Where can we find you online?

Thanks Marko, and good luck selling your designs on BrandCrowd. Designers and Customers enjoy reviewing MDS’s portfolio!Who’s coming up next week for next’s designer showcase interview? Tell us who you’d like to see profiled next in the comments below.

March Roundup – 24 Cool Logo Designs For Sale

BrandCrowd — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 03:21:49 +0000

This month, BrandCrowd designers have been busy uploading hot, contemporary logo designs for your viewing and buying pleasure. From sexy typographic logos to minimalist negative space logos, our designers continue to push the boundaries of logo design in unique and creative ways. We’ve showcased 24 outstanding logo designs uploaded in March that would do a stellar job representing your business or new product for your next venture. The following logos are looking for new homes. Enjoy!

To buy any of these showcased logos, head over to BrandCrowd and check out the range of recently-added logos for sale. We’re sure you’ll find the one you’re looking for. What do you think of our selection? Let us know in the comments below.PS. We’re on Pinterest! Pin this blog post, and follow our boards to check out our favourite BrandCrowd logo designs!

BrandCrowd’s $5,000 Logo Contest Shortlist!

BrandCrowd — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:19:58 +0000

We’re delighted to announce the specialty logo design category shortlist! The major category winners will be announced shortly. Thank you to all our current and recently joined designers for enthusiastically submitting your unused logos in our $5,000 give-away logo design contest. We received thousands of awesome logo designs from our design community and have been impressed by the quality and quantity of design submissions during the contest. To kick things off, we’re showcasing the speciality logo categories here, with the major prizes to be announced shortly.To re-cap, the prize categories are as follows:

Best Logo – $2,000 cash prize – as voted by BrandCrowd staff
Most Sprung/Likes – $1,000 cash prize – the best logo as chosen by you
Most Logos Uploaded – $1,000 cash prize – we’re looking for quality and quantity
Speciality Prizes – 4 x $250 cash prize each

Once again, a huge thank you and big-ups to everyone for being part of this event! Check out the speciality categories below for a taste of what’s to come when the full list of winners is announced.

Best Negative Space Logo
Fear Door – By VickyV	Animal Welfare Center – By ancitis	Unreadable By Vast
Best Typographic Logo
Nostalgia By Jemza	Left – By maliciadigital	Code Moon – By Ryo-respati
Best Illustrative Logo
GoodFox – By Aleksandar	Sport War – By Shtef Sokolovich	New York Fish – By Milovanovic
OK Stag – By anghelaht	Twisted Design – By davidflopez	Let’s Cook: Little Chefs – By Vicez
Best Web 2.0 Logo
awi – By Jarotea	O-range Speaker – By goh	Favorite Cloud – By Murashkame

PS. We’re on Pinterest. Pin this blog post, and follow our boards to check out our favourite BrandCrowd logo designs!

Meet Mark Curran, the Music-Making BrandCrowd Logo Designer From the UK

BrandCrowd — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 02:30:29 +0000

You may know Mark by his moniker, BigBlueCurrant on BrandCrowd and our sister site, DesignCrowd. Mark is active on BrandCrowd and regularly submitting unused logo designs. Did you know he is also one of DesignCrowd’s most in-demand designers? We’ve asked him to share with the community some insights into his design practice and the influences that shape his work. Today the spotlight is on Mark, let’s get to know him better! Enjoy, and tell us who you’d like to see profiled next in the comments below.How much training/experience do you have in Graphic Design? I’ve been designing and coding since 2008. Initially I learnt my skills via evening classes, web tutorials, DesignCrowd and opportunities friends had given me to design their websites, logos, stationery, wedding invitations etc. This all still applies and I am still learning but now I have good experience and a growing portfolio to boot. DesignCrowd has been a great asset in enabling me to get experience with dealing with clients, improving my skills and has also generated additional work.What type of design is your specialty? Right now, I’d say my speciality was working in the smaller spaces like logo and stationery work. I enjoy this type of design because it is the birth place of new ideas, it’s how an idea, product or service will be presented to the world and branding is an exciting part of the development process to be involved in.What does your workspace consist of? My home is my workspace and I have recently ordered an upgrade for it. It’s an i5-processor based PC with two monitors; one 24″ screen and one smaller 17″ screen, generally split for design and code respectively. I’d say that being constantly stared at by a Wedgwood speckled glass owl paperweight makes my workspace unique. That and a Big Lebowski rug mousemat.What hobbies do you do outside of design? Sport is my way of screaming off the edge of a cliff and I play Football and Squash on a regular basis. I prefer high intensity sports that make me feel exhausted afterwards; Squash is great for that. Music is an alternative creative outlet for me and I sing, play guitar & write songs in a band that occasionally plays the local circuit.Links to your top 3 favourite designs in your portfolio and why they’re your favourite.My own 3 (to 4) favourite designs would probably have to be:Island Power – It’s one of those where the name does all the hard work, I just had to apply the design to it.Knickerbocker Gory- I like designs that cleverly disguise one element within another and this is probably my best design to date illustrating this. It’s a kitchen knife styled to be a Knickerbocker Glory.NoMarginForError.net (Web Design) – The NoMarginForError website design satisfies the coding side of me. It’s pretty simple and uses CSS coding to coin the phrase. I’ve set up a web page for this to demonstrate it.Globalponics – It’s a nice simple design which incorporates what the business is about; growing plants using methods such as hydroponics, which uses water solutions and not soil.Tell us who your favourite BrandCrowd or DesignCrowd designer is, and a link to their most noteworthy designs, and why you like their work. I’m more familiar with the work of logo designers on DesignCrowd because I’m quite new to BrandCrowd. It’s hard to pick one because each has their own style but I’m always impressed by the work of Elisha Leo, Inspiral, BlueJet and Redcrackers to name a few.On BrandCrowd, I’d say my favourite designer is maliciadigital The detail in the simplicity is wonderful and I think I can learn a thing or two from their work.I particularly like:

: Fright by Malicia Digital

: CoffeeBites by MaliciaDigital

Briefly describe your design process.Well, I like to get the customer involved as much as possible from the outset and get a good understanding of their needs. Then I’ll go away, sketch a few ideas and put them to screen and then it evolves from there. It’s very important to remember that a client’s needs come first and regular client-designer interaction is also key. Of course, sometimes there’ll be blank canvas opportunities and they’re fun, they could go one of two ways!Describe the major influences on your style?I would say there was one major influence that stems from being in bands and writing music. I’ve always believed in the principle of “less is more”, like don’t overdo a chorus, don’t play guitar if it doesn’t need to be played and I believe that’s a principle I carry over into my designs. Trying to keep things meaningful, creative and yet simple is how I like to work.Where do you draw your inspiration?I draw my inspiration from learning. The fact is that I always want to be better so I look around, try things out and see where that takes me. I didn’t imagine I’d be getting this interview back in July 2008 so I must be doing something right.Describe yourself in 3 words.Working on itWhere do you hang out online?

24 Hot Logos For Sale From 2012

BrandCrowd — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:46:31 +0000

We’re nearly through February (whoa!) and BrandCrowd designers have been busy uploading fresh, gorgeous logo designs to BrandCrowd. We’ve showcased 24 outstanding logos for your viewing and buying pleasure. If you’ve started a new business or launched a new blog this year and you need a logo, take a look at our roundup of the best logos uploaded in January and February. The following logos are looking for new homes. Enjoy!

7 Big Improvements on BrandCrowd

BrandCrowd — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:54:06 +0000

Late last year we rescued Brandstack from going bust and launched BrandCrowd in its place. We’ve been humbled by the positive feedback we’ve received from our customers and designers. We’re delighted that the majority of BrandCrowders have embraced the change, and continue to enjoy the benefits of using the world’s largest premium logo template marketplace.Whether you’re hunting down a gorgeous (and original) ready-made logo for your new business, or keen to make some cash for unused logo designs, BrandCrowd can help you. Over the last couple of months, we’ve made a stack of improvements to the website. Here they are.

7 Big Site Improvements

#1 Live chat Chat instantly to one of our customer service ninjas anytime during your business day, from anywhere in the world. #2 Free-call number – 1. 800. 30. 30. 546Pick up the phone and call our customer service team any business day of the week. You can reach us any hour of the day – your Monday to Friday anywhere in the world. #3 Email contact page

#4 Replaced Upstack with DesignCrowd’s Custom Design ServiceCan’t find the logo design you’re looking for on BrandCrowd, don’t worry! DesignCrowd’s 50,000+ designers can help. Post a logo design project on DesignCrowd today and get 25-100 designs. Whether your after a new website design, a captivating business card design, new office stationery or something else, DesignCrowd is the place to go.#5 Over 4,000 new logo designs!We’ve been inundated by enthusiastic and talented designers who’ve uploaded thousands of new ready-made logos to the BrandCrowd platform. We’ve approved 4,000 awesome logo designs since we launched BrandCrowd. There are literally thousands of quality logos available for sale on the BrandCrowd marketplace!#6 BrandCrowd blog is back!We thought the Brandstack blog was pretty awesome, so we’ve brought it back. You can catch up on all the community goss here. We’ll be posting regularly and invite you to contribute a guest blog posts and make some suggestions about what you want to hear about. We want to have a lively community with lots of discussion between members. So don’t forget to share posts you like with your friends, and leave a comment if you loved (or hated) something you saw on the blog. #7 Quick links between DesignCrowd and BrandCrowd sitesNow it is easier for you to switch between BrandCrowd and DesignCrowd. If you don’t fall in love with a logo on BrandCrowd, you can post a project to get it created on DesignCrowd. Simple.

3 Improvements Designers

#1 Reduced commission (No longer the $100 minimum commission)#2 Ability to ‘spring’ a logo is back!#3 Ability to receive payment via Moneybookers (as well as PayPal)

Talk to Us!

The site will evolve and new features will be introduced. What improvements would you like made to the site? Share your ideas in the comments below.

BrandCrowd Blog

30 Top Logos From April

BrandCrowd’s $5,000 Logo Contest Winners!

Best Overall Logo – $2,000

“Animal Welfare Center” – By Ancitis

Most Liked/Sprung Logo – $1,000

“inkboutique” – By maflewdesigns

Best Negative Space Logo – $250

Fear Door – By VikkiV

Negative Space – Honorable Mentions

Best Typographic Logo – $250

“Code Moon” – By Ryo Respati

Typographic Logo – Honorable Mentions

Best Illustrative Logo – $250

“Sport War” – By Shtef Sokolovich

Illustrative Logos – Honorable Mentions

Best Animal Logo – $250

“OKStag” – By anghelaht

Animal Logo – Honorable Mentions

Best Web 2.0 Logo – $250

“O-range Speaker” – By goh

Web 2.0 Logos – Honorable Mentions

Most Logos Uploaded – $1,000

Sky,44 logos approved for sale