c/branding-breakdowns

Paid a designer $500 for a logo that looked just like a big brand's mark

I hired someone on a freelance site last month to make a logo for my small coffee cart. Got the files, thought it looked cool, then a friend pointed out it was basically the Starbucks siren but with a coffee bean instead of a crown. I'm out the cash and have to start over. Anyone know a good way to check for logo copies before you pay?

2 comments

emma_young•5d ago

Can we talk about how my old boss changed my view on logo color?

I was working on a logo for a local bakery in Portland, and I used a lot of browns and yellows because, you know, bread. My boss took one look and said, 'It looks like mud on mustard. People buy with their eyes first.' That hit hard. I swapped the main color to a warm, bright orange and kept just a little brown for accent. Their sales went up 15% in the first month after the rebrand, which they said was partly due to the new look. Has anyone else had a simple color change make that big a difference for a client?

2 comments

finleybutler•5d ago

Update: The new library sign in my town is a branding mess

I was at the public library in Oakwood last week and noticed they put up a new sign. It has four different fonts and the colors don't match the building at all. The logo is so small you can't see it from the street. They probably spent a few thousand dollars on it, but it looks cheap and confusing. It's a good example of how too many design choices can ruin a simple brand. Has anyone else seen a public building with a sign that just doesn't work?

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river_wright•5d ago

Just realized I wasted $300 on a logo from a contest site

I needed a logo for my small coffee cart and thought a design contest would be cheap and easy. I paid $300 for the 'premium' package on one of those sites, got over 100 entries, and they all looked generic and low effort. The winner I picked looked okay as a tiny file, but when I went to print it on my cart and cups, the lines were blurry and the colors were off. The designer couldn't provide the right file types and basically ghosted me after winning the prize money. Had to pay a local designer another $400 to fix it from scratch. Anyone else get burned by these contest platforms and have a better way to find a good designer?

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elliotburns•5d ago

I think the new Gap logo is actually an improvement, fight me

Everyone's dunking on it, but the old one was a relic. The blue square with the white letters felt cheap, like a default font from 1998. The new one with the clean, spaced-out type and the darker blue feels more solid. It looks like a brand that knows what it's doing now, not one clinging to the 90s. I saw it on a bag in a Seattle mall last week and it stood out way more than the old one ever did. Am I the only one who thinks the backlash is just people hating change?

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ben_shah93•7d ago

Showerthought: I paid $200 for a 'unique' logo that was just a flipped stock icon

Found the original asset online for $5 after I'd already approved the final files. Anyone else get burned by a 'custom' design that wasn't?

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eric_morgan59•7d ago

I was in an old hardware store in Portland and their hand-painted sign from the 70s still works better than most new logos.

The faded lettering and simple hammer icon feel honest and clear in a way that makes me wonder if we overcomplicate things now, so what's a brand you've seen that nails that kind of timeless simplicity?

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stellag21•8d ago

Just realized a major brand's logo redesign made me forget who they were.

I saw their new packaging at a Target in Springfield last week and walked right past it because the mark was just a generic shape with no clear link to their history. Has anyone else felt a brand lost its identity with a modern update?

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briannguyen•9d ago

I spent 6 months trying to make a logo 'pop' with more colors and it backfired

I was working on a logo for a local coffee shop and kept adding shades of brown and green to make it feel more 'artisanal'. A client's kid, maybe 10 years old, looked at my screen and said, 'That looks like mud.' It hit me that I was overcomplicating the design to show effort, not to make it clear. Now I think simple, bold marks work better than busy, detailed ones. Do you lean towards minimalist logos or do you think more detail adds value?

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rowan_thomas•9d ago

My cousin told me to ditch the tagline from my logo mockup

She said it looked cluttered and the icon should stand alone, so I removed the 'Fitness Solutions' text. The cleaner version got way more positive feedback from my small survey group of 20 people. Has a simpler logo ever worked better for your brand?

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paul_sanchez•11d ago

I used to think a logo needed to be super complex to be good, but a simple coffee cup sketch from a client in Denver totally flipped that for me.

After seeing how their clean, single-line cup drawing became way more recognizable and versatile across their mugs and social media than my initial, overly detailed design with a full mountain scene inside it, I now always start with the simplest possible shape that captures the brand's core idea. Anyone else have a moment where a client's rough idea ended up being the perfect final logo?

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garcia.miles•16d ago

Spent $80 on a font license and it saved my whole rebrand

I was redoing a local cafe's logo and the free font I picked just looked cheap, like a default Word doc. Paid for a proper license to a nicer typeface and suddenly the whole brand felt premium and intentional. Anyone else had a small spend make a huge difference like that?

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thompson.xena•17d ago

My client's logo got wrecked because they used the wrong file type for a billboard

Last week, a cafe owner in Austin sent their new logo for a big street banner. They gave the printer a tiny JPG from their website, not the vector file. The image blew up all pixelated and blurry, a total mess. They had to pay a rush fee to reprint it, which was over $500 extra. Has anyone else had to explain basic file formats to a client after something went wrong?

2 comments

tara345•18d ago

Vent: I had to pick between a clean logo and a 'fun' one for my coffee cart

So I launched a mobile coffee cart here in Portland about six months ago. The big choice was the logo: a simple, modern wordmark with a nice coffee bean icon, or this hand-drawn, quirky design with a smiling steam cloud. My designer friend pushed hard for the clean one, saying it would look more professional on cups and the cart. But I loved the fun one, it felt more like my personality. I went with the clean logo, thinking it was the safe bet. Honestly, I regret it. People see the cart and just walk by, it doesn't stand out at all. A guy last week even said it looked like a bank logo. I'm thinking of switching to the fun design, but I already printed a bunch of stuff. Has anyone else rebranded a small business early on because the logo just didn't connect?

3 comments

garcia.miles•19d ago

I was looking at my own website on my phone and the logo looked like a blob

I was showing my site to a friend and he squinted at his phone and said 'what's that shape supposed to be?' I had this detailed logo that looked great on my computer, but on a small screen it just turned into a messy smudge. I checked it on three other phones and it was the same. I spent all last week redoing it to be way simpler. Has anyone else had to totally change a design because it didn't work on mobile?

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john_ramirez•19d ago

Just read that the original Starbucks siren logo had bare breasts

I was looking at a design history blog last night and found out the 1971 drawing showed her with a full double tail and exposed chest. They changed it in the 80s to be more family friendly, which makes total sense for a global brand now. Did any other major logos start out way more wild than we remember?

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blair_fox7•20d ago

I used to think a logo had to show exactly what a company does

For years, I made logos for my own projects that were way too literal. I made a coffee shop logo with a detailed coffee cup, and a bike repair logo with a wrench and a wheel. I thought it had to be obvious. Then, about two years ago, I saw a talk from a designer in Austin. She said a logo's main job is to be a simple, easy to remember mark that people connect with a feeling, not a full picture. That hit me hard. I redid my own stuff, focusing on simple shapes and a good color instead of a full drawing. My new bike logo is just two clean lines that suggest motion, and people remember it way better. Has anyone else made this switch from literal to simple, and how did you figure out what the 'feeling' should be?

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olivia_barnes97•22d ago

My client's 8-year-old pointed out their logo looked like a sad pickle

We were reviewing the new brand guide on a video call, and her daughter said 'why is the green bean crying?' It was supposed to be a stylized letter 'G'. Has a kid ever given you the most brutally honest brand feedback?

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casey787•27d ago

Saw my local hardware store's sign get a subtle refresh after 15 years

The old, cluttered logo with a tiny saw and hammer is now a clean, bold wordmark with a single tool icon. It feels more trustworthy, like they've kept up with the times. Has anyone else seen a small business rebrand that actually improved their image?

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miles707•28d ago

Just realized my 'simple' logo redesign was missing a huge piece

I stripped a client's old logo down to just the icon and a clean font, thinking it was a clear upgrade. The client said it felt cold and generic, which made me see I'd removed the small, friendly curve in the original lettering that gave it character. Anyone else have a tiny detail they've learned not to overlook?

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simon_black•28d ago

Update: I thought the new Burger King logo was a total miss until I read a study from the University of Cincinnati showing it increased brand recognition by 18% in a test group.

What's a rebrand you guys hated at first that actually worked out?

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emeryking•29d ago

My client in Seattle said our logo looked like a 'sad, deflated balloon' and I had to scrap the whole concept.

We were three weeks into the project and had to go back to the mood board because that one piece of feedback made me see the overly soft, rounded shapes in a totally new light, so has anyone else had a client critique that completely flipped your design direction?

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coleman.derek•1mo ago

My kid pointed at a gas station sign and asked why it looked angry

He was talking about the sharp, red angles on the logo, which made me realize aggressive branding can backfire by scaring off regular folks. Anyone else seen a logo that just feels hostile?

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jessicab70•1mo ago

I finally understood why our bakery's logo looked cheap after seeing it on a delivery van in Portland last month.

The thin script font we loved on our business cards completely disappeared at a distance, so we switched to a bolder, simpler typeface that you can actually read from across the street, has anyone else had to fix a logo that only worked up close?

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grantellis•1mo ago

My old boss in Seattle told me to ditch the tagline from our logo, and he was dead right.

We had this fancy 'Innovating Tomorrow, Today' text under our mark for like two years, and he said it just made the whole thing feel cheap and dated. I finally listened, cut it, and our brand recognition in local surveys jumped 18% in six months. Has anyone else seen a simple text removal make that big of a difference?

3 comments