Logo Design Guru Review and Profile

We set out to review Logo Design Guru and the logo design contests that they offer. This report covers everything that we were able to find about this company by searching the Internet. We start out by profiling the company and its services and finish up with some consumer reviews and feedback from their past clients.

Overview

When we last did a review of Logo Design Guru in 2009, they were involved predominantly in the custom logo design market. However, in 2010 they changed their business model and converted their site to a design marketplace where their customers can hold logo design contests similar to those hosted by 99designs. At the same time they also launched a new brand called Mycroburst. Mycroburst and Logo Design Guru are essentially the same service operating under two separate brand names.

Guru Corporation, which owns Logo Design Guru, Mycroburst and other brands relating to logo design was founded in Pennsylvania in the US in 2003. They provide affordable custom design solutions to startups and small businesses around the world. Collectively, their brands have been responsible for over 20,000 logo designs.

The Wall Street Journal did a review of Logo Design Guru some time ago and compared it with other top logo firms including The Logo Company. They noted that Logo Design Guru had impressive customer service.

Services

Logo Design Guru now operate a design market place where people looking for design work can connect with designers from all around the world. User of the site do this by holding design competitions and having designers all around the world compete for the prize. While they specialize in logo design contests you can also hold a competition for website, stationery, business card, banner ad or invitation design and more.

The site has a large pool of graphic designers. The total was well over 33,000 and climbing when we visited the site but this figure is still small when compared to market leaders 99designs and CrowdSPRING which are both around the 100,000 mark. The LogoDesignGuru.com website states that their average logo design project gets 45+ concepts submitted.

The LogoDesignGuru.com website has a portfolio on their website so you can view many of the designs that clients have received in the past. These are divided into industry categories.

How it Works

The process is very similar to other logo contest websites. Users seeking design work get their contest underway by deciding on the amount of prize money that they want to offer. The minimum is set at $199 but the higher you go the more designers you will likely attract to your project. The site then charges a $19 listing fee and a 7.5% processing fee. Standard projects last seven to ten days although you can pay extra for a faster or extended competition.

You are then guided through the process of writing a design brief. This will give designers an idea of what you want in a logo and what your business is about.

Once designers start uploading their design concepts you then rate them as they come in and you can provide feedback to guide designers in the right direction. Once you have chosen a winner and the final revisions have been made you will then receive the artwork files and a trademark agreement.

Guarantee Policies

Logo Design Guru set out their terms and conditions on their website and a section of this covers refunds. While they do have a refund policy in place you should read the terms and conditions carefully as conditions do apply. The following is our understanding of the terms set out on their website.

When a design contest is held you have the option to 'guarantee' your project or not to. If you do guarantee your project you are committing yourself to choosing a winner no matter what and you won't be able to claim a refund. However, the benefit of putting a guarantee on your project is that you are likely to get many more designs as designers know that there will definitely by a prize awarded.

If you don't guarantee your contest then you are able to request a refund. However, refunds do not include your listing fee and the processing fee. If your project received more than 30 concepts and you wish to refund then you will also lose a $50 fee that will be awarded to the designer who is deemed to be the winner.

User Reviews

We searched the Internet thoroughly for user generated content to see if we could find any complaints or positive reviews relating to Logo Design Guru. As you cannot believe everything that you read online you should bear in mind that there are reasons why reviews may be biased.

Bear in mind that some of the references that we found date back to before Logo Design Guru changed over to their new business model in 2010. We focused mostly on what their customers have had to say about them rather than opinions coming from their designers.

1) A great place to start looking for Logo Design Guru reviews and feedback is the BBB (Better Business Bureau). While LogoDesignGuru is not an accredited member they do have a profile pages on them. They had 14 complaints filed against them over the past three years (only four in the past year) and these have all been resolved.

2) One user posted a Youtube video here stating that he was most impressed with the variety of quality designs resulting from his logo contest. He noted that he would use the service again in the future.

3) We found a number of Logo Design Guru complaints on RipoffReport.com. Several consumers had submitted complaints stating that they had negative experiences using the service. The owner of the company has been active in responding to these complaints.

One person felt ripped off as they had requested the speedy delivery option and paid an extra $100. After waiting three days and still not having received notification that the preliminary designs were complete this person went on to miss their deadline.

Another poster on RipoffReport.com felt that Logo Design Guru is a scam as they had produced designs that they felt were amateurish. They had tried to pursue a refund and finally got one two months later.

4) One person has posted a review of Logo Design Guru on ScamInformer.com. This user felt as though they had received poor quality designs, bad treatment as a customer and had not been given the refund that he wanted. Joe Witte, one of the owners at LogoDesignGuru responded to the complaint.

Overall Rating - 3rd Place

To visit the website for ‘Logo Design Guru’ – www.logodesignguru.com