And heads explode over the internet. While I’ve never been a huge fan of Logoworks‘s back alley logo contest model (here’s how it works), my position and criticism has usually been from a designer position. That criticism remains and I still think Logoworks ‘hides’ their true nature – a network of remote freelancers – from their clientele (though so-called design crowdsourcing and logo design contest sites are starting to make LWs designer network Arteis look positively altruistic by comparison). Granted, there was a nasty bout of plagiarized logos from a few years back (including some of ours) resulting in a month long internet-wide skirmish which certainly made for entertaining reading. That issue seems to have long since died down. According to company spokespeople, that issue has been cleaned up and admittedly there’s been nary a peep about copied logos since.
On the front end, I have to grudgingly give the Utah based company props. Their website is #1 on Google for logo design and according to Alexa, consistently ranks first for actual traffic in the logo niche. The LW site itself is well-designed, easy to navigate and presents their case extremely well – to a potential buyer at least. Logoworks marketing is impressive, and their image damage control using social media is nothing short of amazing. I made a post that could have been seen as critical of Logoworks a few weeks ago, and there was a rebuttal in my comment section within minutes. Though an e-mail request for a nice hi-resolution version of their logo to accompany this feature went unanswered, even though I told them what it was for (which explains the BW version that I pinched from their site). Guess they’re no fan of mine either.
Having Hewlett Packard in Logoworks’ corner certainly doesn’t hurt. In terms of their work product, the logos produced by LW designers are decent, and sometimes more than that, some having won pretty decent industry kudos and awards. Client satisfaction seems to be quite high (from people I’ve talked to, not by reading LW’s satisfaction polls). Any real criticism about the company on logo review sites has often turned out to be fake, placed there by LW competitors, either through avarice or hatred, and often on logo review sites that are connected to LW competitors.
Many of you may disagree. Some may think I’m some sort of sellout. Alas, in the online logo company category the pickings are slim and Logoworks is head and shoulders above everyone else. At the very least they ‘appear’ light years ahead of everyone else in the professionalism department, and in the case of online companies, that’s a pretty important barometer, if not the only one. It may not even be a case of Logoworks rising to the occasion, but the online logo design niche lowering the bar around them. Even so, that still leaves Logoworks ahead of the game. Accordingly, I have no choice but to name Logoworks as the best online logo company of 2008.
As much as that pains me.
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Hi Steve–
Sorry to cause you pain. But we do appreciate the compliment. I’m also sorry I didn’t get your request for a high-res image–it may have gotten lost in my email barrage. It wasn’t malicious or intentional. Hope you have a happy new year. Thanks again.
-rm
They certainly responded quick once you had selected them as best online logo company. It will be interesting to watch them now that they have a fortune 500 company backing them.