Is fiverr a good fit for you?

This post is created to address an issue that I see regularly come up in groups business where I am a part of. More regularly than not, by non professionals of the area and by people whose knowledge of the industry is restricted to 5 dollars and 48 hours. Please carry on reading if you think you are seriously getting quality Design services when you decide to outsource your marketing and Graphic Design needs to these platforms.

Please keep in mind I am lending you my perspective, I am letting you know right now I will not try to be gentle and I will talk about the issues I see in a direct manner. I am providing you with an honest observation from someone who´s worked over 15 years in the industry, has seen the trends come and go, has worked both sides of that dicotomy (yes, I have designed a wealth of “logos-for-free” and was quite successful at it) and I have acquired a clear view on what happens with quick cheap services. Upclose. And I will even provide you with a personal example to illustrate what I mean with this post. By the way, if you haven´t read the previous entry on “Should I have 99 designs for my logo”, please click here. It´s a more in-depth analysis of the same issue with a slight variation in service provider. Let´s get straight to the point. $5 logos are just that and most of the times they´re not even worthy of that designation – perhaps you want to know what a logo is, first of all. There is a lot of misconception and in my experience, I´ve regularly heard the “logo” word being used inadequately. Here are some attributes of what makes a logo a logo. The Business Insider also has a very useful article that explains what makes the best logos so good.

Having said that, if you want to look like $5, I will advise you use services that can come up with options in a few hours for how you will portray your business and be regarded in that arena. But know there are perils to using such providers and that there is much “fools gold digging” taking place, in the name of marketing. What I am doing with this post, is hopefully provide valuable information about the matter, so people (especially business owners) can become aware and make informed decisions when going about the most fundamental piece of an identity or brand. So let´s get to it!

I believe Fiverr is a good fit IF:

• IF you are an Art Director, you know exactly your brands core values, visual elements and your identity is well defined in your mind;
• IF you are able to brief a “Designer” (I am using the term loosely here) with great precision on what it is exactly that you need done for your project and you have awareness of how you can leverage (or hurt) your “business face”. After all, you “REALLY just need the hand to do it” because you don´t have the time for it yourself and you possess some real acute marketing / branding knowledge / business acumen allied to Design, Color Psychology and communication skills, plus the metrics to back it up. During my time in this field, I´ve maybe come across a handful of owners who possess all these skills – one handful, not two. If you are that kind of business owner,
• IF you don´t value communication and are willing to take the 1st design that´s thrown at you, like to be cued if you need alterations to your design and believe a direct conversation with your assigned Designer is useless;
• IF you are not worried with copyright issues, don´t mind incurring in thousands of dollars lawsuits and think the likelihood of getting caught while using someone else´s work is slim to none;
• IF you think getting “unlimited reviews” is an advantage when working with someone who´s supposed to know what they´re doing, as opposed to understanding your needs and addressing them in a competent manner;
• IF you don´t mind having a generic identity for your business, one that has been used over and over again with slight color changes and sold to the next competitor in the same industry.
• IF you´re not going to need help managing your own identity, don´t care what happens when you pass your logo to a production manufacturer and colors are strangely printed, shapes are adulterated and you don´t care about a little squash here and there, because it “won´t make much difference” – or if you don´t even believe a consistent look plays a huge part in your brand perception.

Likewise, I don´t believe you will find it a great fit IF:

• IF you are starting out in business, would really benefit from having an experts knowledge who´s willing to work with you to understand your goals, identity its needs and is willing to create an ongoing relationship;
• IF you have no idea of what goes into making an identity unique and completely individual to you, instead of looking like every competitor in your marketplace;
• IF you don´t know what you don´t know (acknowledgement that you are ignorant to your own blind spots);
• IF you think slapping generic overused clipart all over your project is not at all detrimental to your brand / business, becoming seen by others as a cheap “me-too”;
• IF you believe communication is an important part of the process in relaying your message to someone who has a similar cultural background to yours, understands your “filters” and is willing to interpret your vision into a graphic equivalent;
• IF you believe that unqualified “professionals” (term also used loosely here) with a copy of graphics software working from Moms basement during Uni lunch break can capably perform the work of a true professional who´s studied these matters for years but despite the knowledge can´t make a living on $5 a day;
• IF your need be effective takes a backseat to your need to be right (ego) and think you can do it cutting costs by going the “smart route” – after all, if Tim Ferriss and a bunch of other World class marketers did it, you´re sure you belong in that category yourself so it´s time to make your outsourcing work for your business;
• IF you think being able to pick up the phone and talk directly to the person working on your project to ask for an instructed professionals decision, is wasting time and compressing your projects timeline;
• IF you understand one of the most fundamental innerworkings of this Universe, the Law of Reciprocity, which works in the premise that “You Get What You Give”;
• IF you know how much trouble you can get into by using someone´s elses work / image and you know it´s easier than ever to trace instances of copyright protected images, potentially resulting in thousand dollars of penalties;
• IF you don´t believe Good Design equals Good Business;
• IF you don´t need your owners manual with online and offline color references, ideal vinyl matchs, horizontal / vertical signatures, positive and negative signatures, exceptions, monochromatic versions, typography used, forbidden uses, compulsory spacings, scaling ability, production files or any of those “superfluous details”;
• IF you just want a cute image to use on your website and Facebook cover so you can start business.

So these are the situations where I believe this type of design services may or may not work for you. For experimenting purposes, I´ll also let you in on a little test I ran. You know, my Life partner runs a business and she decided to niche down a part of what this main business covers – which is Fitness Equipment. So, for the machines cables selling outlet, she wanted to test the waters and see what came back from a less costly design outsource. The experiment would show us both what would happen and put my allegations to the test when paying a few bucks for a logo that would be the “face” for a small experiment. So, she outsourced the gymcables front to Fiverr and a few hours later she had a few options to look at, out of which she chose the one that now stands as the Facebook and website brand. I took a look at it, saw that I really couldn´t ask for much more than what was offered. I did make a quick assessment and find issues with the logo, but we were just out to get a quick job and this definitely saved my time.

It wasn´t more than 3 working hours later that I found the “source of inspiration”on a stock photography website that I regularly use for my own projects. It didn´t surprise me that much to find the main figure of the logo in there, I have to say. I was looking for fitness related imagery and soon enough, one of the pages returned this image (no, it wasn´t even delivered to us in a vector format, so scalability is out the window). Slap a different color and put the name under it, Voilá! Logo made, end of experiment, point proven.

If it´s convenience you are after, by all means, knock yourself out and save hundreds of bucks and you will have a “face” for your business. It´s a face your competitors will also share with you in different tonalities, but it´s a start. If however, you are after a unique identity to build your brand from, I beg that you at least become conscious of what could be happening to your hard earned money and make decisions that will save you thousands in the long run.

You may be asking yourself why I am so passionate about this issue. And that is a fair question. I should also explain that I´m not just a Designer whose business is being washed away in the global market. That is just a factor I am cognissant of and have learned to deal with. In fact, I had a tremendous teacher in that area. In my working period for a well know “FREE Business Cards” company, I did a range of work that topped sales and did really well for them. Among this work that I was very well rewarded to produce, I was an integral part in the launching of the free logos project that expanded the business portfolio and helped capture market through the design side. For 8 months, all I and a group of other Designers did, was work towards creating logos that would cover several business. We were clearly instructed to create “templates” that would cover industries. Did you read that? “INDUSTRIES” – If possible, more than one!

Believe me, despite the value I recognize in this approach of providing free design, it is a bit like a fish bitting its own tail. It´s a marketing play, a good one at that. The flip side of that coin, is that YOU – the customer – are not being well served by being given the same face as your competitors. You are “offered” your logo IF you use it on printed materials that you get from the same provider. By now, you´ve figured that having FREE Business Cards is better than handing out written napkins with your contacts for business, yes? But in all honesty, what do you think when someone hands you a Business Card that you´ve already seen used in other businesses?… Well, what happens when you see the same approach regarding a logo? I´ll let you answer that one…

So please understand that I see why saving costs is important. But the question I want to leave you with is this: what´s more affordable to your business, to look like the rest or to stand out in its kind?

With the over saturation of the marketplace today, being “original” is a privilege that requires some work and thought. This takes time. And you´ve been around long enough to know that time is not cheap. Keep in mind that by “saving” on this part of your business you could be setting it up for big losses in the future. An investment in uniqueness will no doubt render rewards.

Thanks for reading this post. If you disagree, I would like to hear your reasoning. Or if you think this is useful but is missing one or two points, I am grateful for your opinion. Drop a comment below.

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