I don’t know how to progress

baya

New Member
I’m trying to start a logo business but I don’t know how to even begin. I’ve posted my work and many others on my social media but no bites and I’ve also offered to do my first customers free for their first work but no one responds or even pays it any attention.
I don’t know what to do or how to progress forwards can someone help.
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This is going to sound harsh, but you are such a long way from being able to start a business doing this.

My advice would be to go and get an education. First of all find out if you have an aptitude. To my mind what you have presented look like first doodlings. They are definitely not serious communication tools.

Look at people who do it for a living and are successful. Look at the best. Pentagram Massimo Vignelli, Wally Olins, Louise Filli. Paula Scher, to name a few.

Learn what logos are about. Clue, it’s not art and they are never – or should not be – designed in isolation. They have a job to do as part of a brand’s identity..

Learn and understand typography and lettering. It takes years.

it is definitely not about the software, but you do need to know the correct software to use.

You need to understand print production, opitical sizing/space.

Read, read and read some more.

Is it a passion, or just a cool way to make a living?

i am not saying this to crucify or dishearten. It is a very competitive market and unless you know what you are doing, then you will spend years disappointed that no one is biting.

Learn your craft and for god‘s sake don’t do it because it’s cool. There are parts of it that are, but they come with hard graft.

This, I am sure, is not what you wanted to hear, but I hope it helps steer you in the right direction.
 
No no by all means I am very thankful you’ve said it all the way you did. In my art school they taught us to understand and appreciate criticism because it’ll help us. I’ve been drawing since I was little and I really started taking it serious when I got in my early teen years then I decided I wanted to be a graphic designer, I just never knew where to begin or how to go about it. Those pieces I posted are my first works with illustrator on a tablet. But I am very thankful you answered me, I will study more on my work and eventually get up to that level.
 
Glad I wasn’t too hard.

As I said previously, I would strongly recommend that if you really want to build a long-term, sustainable career, get an education. It is such a competitive field now.

It always was. Back when I did my degree, I was up against 32 others for my place and afterwards it took a fair bit of pavement pounding with a portfolio around London to get my first break.

However, the difference now is that technology allows people who have no knowledge or talent to enter the field, as there is no regulation as there is in other industries. This has the net effect of bringing overall expectations (and budgets) down. This is especially true in web design and logo design.

Logo design has become such a huge thing in recent years. I am not a fan, per se. A logo as a pretty adornment is fairly useless. It should part of the wider discipline of branding and identity building, otherwise you risk it becoming self-expression, rather than a needs-based problem-solving exercise.

It is possible that you may need to make a bit of a head flip if you have been down the art school route. Did you study fine art?

If so, then design is almost the exact opposite (apologies if you know all this already). Fine art is about self-initiated expression. Design is about communicating someone else’s ideas, or, depending on the discipline, communicating given information in the right way to the right people.

You need to stand out from the crowd. Your portfolio needs to be super polished.

I think there will be a turnaround – and I believe that it is beginning, slowly – in that people will realise that you get what you pay for and that cheap always comes at a cost.

Be something worth paying for.

It’ll be a hard slog, but it’s worth it, in the long run.

Anyway, I can rant for Britain, so I’ll stop here. Besides I’ve got deadlines to hit!
 
I do not know fine arts I went for graphic design but more of a beginners graphic design that's why my work may not look perfect but it looks at least decent. I've made money doing redesigns for people that seem to like it so I'm really just trying to find my flow and where I sit in the graphic design world. But thank you so much. I hope you meet your deadlines.
 
Get a free trial on Lynda.com https://www.lynda.com/in/linkedin-l...fPQNjyxazuTQjWAorKOMjArjm8zDXL1caAvtOEALw_wcB

And do some logo design tutorials

 
I’m trying to start a logo business but I don’t know how to even begin.
Which by definition means you're not ready to start a logo business.... running a business if far more than just being able to do a picture.

Honestly the work you put up just isn't good enough to make this into a career, in this industry the work you showed isn't even newly qualified level, ie the person applying for junior designer roles, and the expectations of a company these days is far higher even straight out of school.

Just look at some of the work people on this forum are putting out in threads where we're showing recent work etc and you'll see how behind you are, just because someone paid you some money doesn't mean the work is good.
 
From the work you have posted, you are two or three years away from making a living with graphic design, it is GCSE level at best.
If you can't see the difference between those pieces of work and the kind of designs you see around you every day on packaging, websites and advertising etc
then graphic design may not be for you.
 
Even getting an education is no guarantee. I'm degree educated and I still couldn't get into the field of Graphic Design. No offence but my design skills are better than yours, I'm not saying this to be nasty but just to explain that even someone with better design skills than you can't get paid work in the industry.

It's competitive so you need to work at your skills - once your up to a reasonable standard it would be good to try to get real world experience in a design agency. Although in the current climate Graphic Design will be more competitive, less businesses = less design work needed. I wouldn't fancy being a graduate this year put it like that. People have got more important things to spend money on and I can see design being thrown to the wayside to some extent for quite some time, not big corporations but smaller/medium companies are going to put off off anything non-essential. However it will eventually pick up so getting a design educated right now and graduating in a few years might be a good idea when hopefully things will be on the up - although I still think we will all still be feeling the affects in a few years but the economy might at least be going in the right direction.
 
Which by definition means you're not ready to start a logo business.... running a business if far more than just being able to do a picture.

Honestly the work you put up just isn't good enough to make this into a career, in this industry the work you showed isn't even newly qualified level, ie the person applying for junior designer roles, and the expectations of a company these days is far higher even straight out of school.

Just look at some of the work people on this forum are putting out in threads where we're showing recent work etc and you'll see how behind you are, just because someone paid you some money doesn't mean the work is good.
From looking at my work so far does it look like I will progress at all anywhere or could you tell me where does it look like I'll fit in ? I used to only draw anime and minor portraits, but if anyone's willing to, im all ears for how I can make my designs better. Like where does it look like I fall short at.
 
I’ve posted my work and many others on my social media....
What makes you think people are looking on social media for a logo?

I'd Google, ask on People per Hour, raise a tender on this forum. I wouldn't even consider facebook as a source.
 
What makes you think people are looking on social media for a logo?

I'd Google, ask on People per Hour, raise a tender on this forum. I wouldn't even consider facebook as a source.
Everything's on social media now, all I see is everyone's business on Instagram. Seems like to go global you gotta be on social media.
 
From looking at my work so far does it look like I will progress at all anywhere or could you tell me where does it look like I'll fit in ? I used to only draw anime and minor portraits, but if anyone's willing to, im all ears for how I can make my designs better. Like where does it look like I fall short at.
You wouldn't fit in anywhere in the current market with your current skill set based on what you're showing. You need training, a LOT of training in all honesty and even then you may not find a job in design. Design is literally one of the hardest fields to get a job in.

Everything's on social media now, all I see is everyone's business on Instagram. Seems like to go global you gotta be on social media.
Ah the naivety of the 'instagram generation'.... seeing something on instagram doesn't mean it's real, the amount of faking it on instagram is ridiculous and only a few are really making anything from it.
 
Everything's on social media now, all I see is everyone's business on Instagram. Seems like to go global you gotta be on social media.
Is that where you look if you need a new saucepan? Want medical help? Find an extension for illustrator?

Business don't go to social media for a logo.
 
Is that where you look if you need a new saucepan? Want medical help? Find an extension for illustrator?

Business don't go to social media for a logo.
Ah that does make sense. I wish I would’ve knew this site before I started drawing and everything.
 
Is school really gonna be worth it if no one's gonna need me.

Not sure if this is aimed at what I wrote. But I mentioned the situation with the economy because if you can afford to train now, i.e. hold off looking for work now, your probably going to be better off doing that. If you need to work now to pay the bills then that's a different thing. But there is no guarantee you may find work at the end of training whether that is due to the economy or otherwise.

If your looking at a guarantee of a job at the end of training there's better areas to get into - some areas of employment were very, very, very short of people so as long as you had a degree in a relevant area it didn't matter what grade. I say were as right now who knows what's going to happen.

You need to work on your design skills, there's nothing wrong with that everyone has to start out somewhere. I'm sure you can see the difference between say Nike, Apple, McDonald's, etc and your logos. You don't get there overnight it takes practice.
 
Not sure if this is aimed at what I wrote. But I mentioned the situation with the economy because if you can afford to train now, i.e. hold off looking for work now, your probably going to be better off doing that. If you need to work now to pay the bills then that's a different thing. But there is no guarantee you may find work at the end of training whether that is due to the economy or otherwise.

If your looking at a guarantee of a job at the end of training there's better areas to get into - some areas of employment were very, very, very short of people so as long as you had a degree in a relevant area it didn't matter what grade. I say were as right now who knows what's going to happen.

You need to work on your design skills, there's nothing wrong with that everyone has to start out somewhere. I'm sure you can see the difference between say Nike, Apple, McDonald's, etc and your logos. You don't get there overnight it takes practice.
Yes my apologies it was towards you. The country I am in now no one is working and no one needs artist because they don’t have the money for them at the moment, that’s why I’m taking this time to work on it and get it out there to get criticism and see how I can get better by time this pandemic stops.
 
Yes my apologies it was towards you. The country I am in now no one is working and no one needs artist because they don’t have the money for them at the moment, that’s why I’m taking this time to work on it and get it out there to get criticism and see how I can get better by time this pandemic stops.

I sometimes re-design logos, leaflets whatever that I see. The sort of thing where someone might have got it done on the cheap or designed it themselves on Vistaprint. I like to research the company a bit to get an idea of them, their clients etc I like to think about what they might want - set myself a brief.

It keeps my design skills going. But I do have a design education to start with, I think you need to learn more and then practice those skills like I do.

Your not designing for yourself, it's for a client (even if it's a made up one). I think using existing companies is a good idea because it gives you limits (parameters, or whatever is the best word is to use) otherwise you can go too far and then it can start becoming art not design.
 
… that’s why I’m taking this time to work on it and get it out there to get criticism and see how I can get better by time this pandemic stops.
Honestly, you are going to need a lot more time than the duration of this pandemic.

Have a look at Ayshea’s portfolio. That’s the standard you should aiming for at her age group and experience level (don’t know how and you are, but I am guessing similar ball park). She has some really nice pieces of work in there.

Ayshea, I particularly like the film festival poster. Nice work. Stick with it, you’ll get the break you deserve eventually.
 
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