As many of you know, in my day job I work as a web developer. Most of my skills I’ve picked up in the past 25 years of web design, from Internet marketing to social media, have proven useful once I started writing. One of them was logo design: I’ve helped a number of clients with their logos; something that is often a slow, arduous process.

Well, no more! I was recently approached by a company called DesignEvo to test-drive their online logo designer and I was amazed. Within seconds, I designed my first logo. Thay have a gazillion templates and graphics to choose from, making the process as painless as you can possibly imagine. Best of all, they store your logos for you so you can edit them in the future, should you (or a client) decide on, say, a new color.

So, are you interested in a new logo for your author brand, your book series or even your small publishing house? Look no further!

Here’s a breakdown of the process in 4 easy steps.

Step 1: Pick A Template. Any Template.

You start by picking one of theย thousandsย of logo templates on DesignEvo’s website. Mercifully, they have broken them down thematically. Even better, they allow you to search by keyword, which is what I did when I realized there was no “Publishing” category. I entered “book” and presto–hundreds of ideas. I picked the very first one and ran with it.

DesignEvo logo design | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's book

Step 2: Customize

Choosing a template gets you to the next page, where you can customize it. You have all the usual tools at your disposal, from changing the font properties to adding new shapes and icons. Which means you get a different logo each time.

DesignEvo logo design | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's book

Step 3: Download

Once you’re happy with your logo, save it and download it (or, if you prefer, save it and keep working on it next time you feel like it until you’re happy with it). When you first download, you’re asked to choose a package. You only pay once, and I found the prices very reasonable. You can get a low-res export of your logo (which can be used on, say, a website) for free. If you wish to print it out, you must go for a basic package, which provides you with everything you could ask for: a high-res (5,000×5,000 pixels) file with a transparent background (meaning you can simply paste it onto your book cover) and with the ability to edit and re-download in the future. The basic package costs $19.99–a fraction of what a designer would ask you for creating your logo.

DesignEvo logo design | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's book

I said everything you could ask for, but there’s also an expanded package which allows you to register the logo for a trademark, and to download it in a vector format. This will allow you to edit it on your computer using a program like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw. The Plus package, as it’s called, costs a one-off payment of $39.99, which is still far less than what a designer would ask.

In Conclusion

DesignEvo logo design | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's bookSo, how does DesignEvo fare compared to a designer? Well, it depends on the designer. A brilliant designer/illustrator can give you an original design that may outshine anything a template-software can produce. It will be built to spec and perfectly reflect your ideas. It will also cost up to a thousand bucks.

Compared to that, DesignEvo impressed me–a lot. As a designer, I will be using it to get inspiration and a pretty good first draft for my clients’ logos. As an author, I will be using it to produce new logos for my book series.

Why not try it out for yourselves on designevo.comย and let me know what you think?

Addendum

Daily Logo Challenge has put together a helpful article that test-drives and compares 15+ logo maker apps. If you’re looking for additional logo design software, check it out!