LogoGround's Cut
15% of the profit from the sale. We deduct processing fees (like PayPal's commission) before splitting the money.
Your Cut
85% of the profit from the sale. If you indicate that you won't work with the client to make changes to the logo, your cut drops to 70%. Another designer can then step in to earn the extra 15% by working with the client on your behalf. If you indicate that you will work with the client and you do not, your cut will drop to only 40%! If you're not positive that you will be available to work with the client, rather take the 70% option.
Our Reasoning...
Our competitors all split more or less 50-50 with their designers, calling it an "even partnership". They claim to use their 50% for ad campaigns and the like - to find clients for their designers' logos. Maybe they do.
We don't do expensive ad campaigns. We keep 15%, which is enough for us to keep the site going and pay our staff. We believe that happy designers are key to the long-term success of LogoGround. Happy designers mean a strong, loyal community, which in the long term attracts more clients than any ad campaign could ever do.
For now all designers are paid monthly and via PayPal only. We can't promise anything yet, but we will be looking into weekly payments and additional payment methods later this year.
While a logo is in process (the revisions phase after the order) the money from that sale will show in your account, but the money cannot be released to you before the logo is finalized. Only when the final logo has been delivered to a client will the money from that sale be counted towards your next payment.
The exact date of payment cannot be guaranteed. Payments will usually happen around the 20th of each month, but will sometimes happen a couple of days earlier or later.
Very important
Please make sure that we have your correct payment information and correct contact information. Money due to you must be paid out to you within 3 months of it becoming due. If we are unable to pay you due to incorrect payment information and we are unable to contact you at your primary contact email for a period of three months our accountant may have to zero your account - which means you loose your hard-earned money.
We promise to use this as a last resort only. We will make every effort to get you paid or to get in touch with you before zeroing your account. Be sure to set up your telephone number as well, so that we have a second means of reaching you. |
All prices, sales and payments are in US Dollars.
We offer a 30-day, full, money-back guarantee. When we issue a refund, no-one gets paid. The designer who created the logo gets nothing, the designer who worked with the client on the revisions gets nothing and LogoGround gets, you guessed it, nothing. Refunds suck, but it's important that we give unhappy clients the option to bail out. Having a solid, honest money-back guarantee means more sales in the long run.
When working with a client there are certain circumstances where you may charge an additional fee. You may charge extra when:
The client selects more than one revision to be finalized.
The client requests changes to the logo after it was finalized.
The client requests significant changes to the logo image itself (custom logo design).
The revisions process runs past the 30-day limit, provided that you always responded within 1 business day.
We recommend a fee of $50 per additional set of finals (or re-finalization) and $50 per additional week in the revisions process, but the actual fees and the method of payment is up to you. You may give the client your PayPal email address, for example. LogoGround does not take a cut. Additional fees are 100% yours.
You may not charge extra for anything other than the four cases listed above.
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The JPG preview must be 600(w) x 400(h) pixels. |
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The EPS file must be saved as Illustrator 8 or 9 EPS. |
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If the background is not white it must be a solid color or a subtle gradient. No textures. If there is any possibility that a buyer can interpret the background as part of the design, tone it down. |
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Keep the background clear of any watermarks, copyright notices etc. |
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Give the logo enough breathing space (Don't design all the way to the edges of the image area). A margin of around 20% of the image area is recommended. |
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Focus on the image, not the text. Consider leaving the text off completely (preferred). If you include text it must be clear that it serves as placeholder text (something like "Company Name") and it should not dominate the design. |
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Avoid borders. We display the logos in different settings and add CSS borders to the images as needed. Don't add your own borders to the image itself. |
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Before you save your EPS file, convert fonts to outlines (curves) and remove any stray points or unnecessary nodes (a.k.a. 'anchors'). |
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Make sure that your EPS file contains only CMYK colors or only Pantone (PMS) colors. RBG colors won't do and a mix of CMYK and Pantone colors won't work either. |
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Avoid cramming more than one view of the logo into the JPG preview. We are not very strict with this rule, but we will decline a logo if the preview looks cluttered or if there is a chance that the client may be confused about what they are buying. |
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About half of the logos that we decline could have been rescued had the designer spent a little more time. Clean it up. If something is supposed to be symetrical, make sure it really is symetrical. Check alignment and colors. Convert those fonts. Polish it. Make it as good as you can make it. |
Very important
1. We allow only exclusive logos. If your logo is also offered for sale somewhere else, do not upload it to LogoGround. Doing so will get your LogoGround account removed.
2. We allow only original, unique logos. If your logo is copied from an existing design, do not upload it to LogoGround. Doing so will get your LogoGround account removed.
When we remove an account we delete all logos and any information associated with the account. Any money in the account is divided up between the rest of the designers registered at LogoGround. For details about this see our "One Strike Rule". |
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The JPG version must be saved at 300dpi. |
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The EPS file must be saved as Illustrator 8 or 9 EPS. |
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Before you save your EPS file convert fonts to curves and remove any stray points or unnecessary nodes (a.k.a. 'anchors'). |
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Make sure that your EPS file contains only CMYK colors or only Pantone (PMS) colors. RBG colors won't do and a mix of CMYK and Pantone colors won't work either. |
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Any additional files requested by the client should be uploaded together with the JPG and EPS files. |
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Consider including a "readme" file in TXT or PDF format. Use it to explain to the client what all the different formats are for, include a list of other services you offer and your contact details. If the client needs business cards designed a year from now, she'll know where to find you! |
If you are having many of the logos you upload declined, spend some time looking at the logos that are offered for sale. Those were all approved, so they give a good indication of what we are looking for.
As a general guideline, logos should be:
At the moment I am approving only around 10% of the logos uploaded at LogoGround.
LogoGround is not about getting as many logos into the database as quickly as possible. It's about giving you the opportunity to create and sell your very best work at a fair price.
At LogoGround you don't have to worry about client requirements. One of the great upsides of working on pre-made logos is that you get to draw whatever you feel like drawing. Make something that you like. Something you would want as your own logo. Take an extra hour per logo and really polish it. Show the world what you are capable of when you set out to make a brilliant logo.
The majority of the declined logos seem a little, well, slapped together - in under ten minutes. Consider creating fewer, better logos. It's far more rewarding and, at LogoGround, more profitable too.
We offer our clients a one business day turnaround. If you are responsible for delivering logo revisions or logo finals to a client, you must do so within one business day. Business days, as far as LogoGround is concerned, are Monday thru Friday.
LogoGround (and usually the client also) will be very patient if you need more time in order to ensure quality, but you need to keep your client informed. Clients become worried when their messages to you go unanswered. If you need more time, post a message to your client explaining the situation. Post it on the site (don't send an email) so that we can also see that everything is OK.
If you do not respond to client messages/instructions within one business day, LogoGround will have the option to assign another designer or one of our staff designers to the project and you will loose a big chunk of your sale. See the "Money & Payments" tab above for details.
Creating a logo in various formats is usually not very time-consuming, so we offer additional formats free of charge. Apart from the JPG and EPS versions of the logo you should also, within reason, deliver additional formats requested by the client. When you export a logo to a different format, for example PDF or PSD, please open and check those files before sending them on to the client.
Once the final logo is delivered your obligation to the client ends.
You have the option to continue working with the client if you choose to do so, either to refine the logo further or to do additional work like stationery design or web design. You may contact the client directly (she's your client, not LogoGround's) and you may determine your own price for additional work.
We promise not to meddle too much, but we have an obligation to all our clients and our designers to make sure that LogoGround delivers on its promises. If we feel that logo revisions or logo files you submit to a client falls short of the client's requirements or LogoGround's quality requirements we reserve the right to assign the work to another designer or to one of our in-house designers, which means you will loose a percentage of your sale.
We offer a 30-day, full, money-back guarantee. When a client asks for a refund they will not be required to offer a reason for their decision. You may not ask the client for a reason/explanation or argue over the refund. We know it's hard, especially when you've been getting positive feedback from the client just before they asked for the refund, but wrestling with the client is counter-productive. When you loose a sale to a refund, look through the correspondence you had with the client, learn what you can, then close it. Done. Kick the cat, have a cup of tea and move on.
These are some of the lessons we've learned the hard way. View them as guidelines, not rules. Adapt to your liking.
1. Don't argue with the client. Keep your cool. It's part of being a professional. It's tempting sometimes to just let the client have it, especially when you know you are right, but it's always a bad idea. Your job is to design and give calm, honest design advice. If the client decides against your advice, that's fine. They're paying. They can make that call.
2. Humor rarely works, especially when you work with clients from different nationalities and cultures. It is very easily taken the wrong way. You can be fun to work with without being funny.
3. Don't try to rush. Your mission is not to get the job completed ASAP and get paid. Your mission is to make sure the client leaves with a smile on her face. Trust us, that's how you make more money. Most clients need more than just a logo. Treat your clients well and you will gain long-term, repeat business.
4. Don't get into technical details unless the client asks for technical details. Most of our clients are entrepreneurs - and entrepreneurs are always busy. Even if they had the time, the majority of them simply don't care about the tech. They care about having a logo that works.
5. Don't submit just one design in response to client instructions. Test three or four options and show them all to the client. Tell the client which of those options work and which don't - and why. The aim here is to show the client how to talk about designs. It's a good idea to be critical of your own work as well, just to show the client that that's ok. For example, "I like the simplicity in options A and D. I think C is good, but I'm not sure about that font. We should try some alternatives there. I would suggest we scrap option B. It seems too cluttered/busy compared to the others."
6. Tell the client what you need. A short message like "Here you go." will usually create frustration. The client might not know what to do with that. Is this the conclusion of the design process or what? Rather say "Here you go. Let me know what you think of this revision. If you're happy with it I'll get started on preparing the final set of files for this logo." Much better. Now the client knows what you expect from them.
7. The client is not always right. If she wants bright yellow text on white, it's your responsibility to tell her that that's a bad idea. Explain why, then give an alternative. Always give an alternative. No good pointing out a problem if you're not going to offer a solution. If she insists that yellow on white is what she wants, don't argue over it. See point 1 above.
8. Really listen to the client. The relationship goes sour quickly when you make them repeat themselves. When you offer them something better than what they asked for, always offer it as an alternative, not as the only option.
9. If you would not be happy having that as your logo, don't upload it. If you do you'll hit designer burnout within two years. Design has to be fun. You have to be proud of every logo you upload. It's the only way to survive in logo design.
You retain the copyright to all your logos until they are sold. The copyright transfers to the buyer as soon as payment clears. You may not continue to use that logo or resell it as a pre-designed logo on another site. Doing so would be a copyright violation in the same way that stealing another designer's logo is a copyright violation.
You and LogoGround both have the right to show sold logos in our portfolios of past work, without limitation, provided that we do not offer it for sale. When your logo is shown as part of LogoGround's portfolio, the logo will be properly attributed to you.
You are not entitled to royalties or additional payment after the sale. Each sale is final. The buyer receives the copyright and may use the logo anywhere, for any purpose, forever.
You may not send font files to your clients. Fonts are usually protected by copyright. Even if it's a free font there may be restrictions on its use/distribution. All text should be converted to outlines (or to curves if you work in CorelDraw) before the logo is delivered to the client. You may send your client the names of the fonts used in the design and directions for obtaining those fonts legally, but you may not send the actual font files.
When a refund is issued, the copyright to the logo reverts back to the seller and the logo will again be available for sale on LogoGround.
