Communicable Imagery.

I came across an excellent article concerning the rise of these so-called ‘discount logo shops’ at FreelanceSwitch. From the article:

A logo, like other elements of a business’ brand, is meant to set you out from the crowd. The idea is to make your company more recognizable to prospective customers — to create a unique identifier. But when you purchase a logo through a service that just lets you browse through a collection of pre-designed logos, you won’t be getting a unique identifier. It’s still relatively rare to run into someone who has bought the same logo as you have — but it happens. And as more businesses purchase logos from these sites, the likelihood of encountering someone in your city using the same logo is going up.

The moment your logo is no longer unique, its value drops to nothing. Even if it isn’t being used by a direct competitor, having the same logo as another business in your area can actually harm your business. It creates some confusion on just what your business does, assuming that customers don’t just assume that you copied your logo. Neither option is good for growing your business.

Read the article here.