We have chosen to run Seeing Beauty in an unconventional way from the start because we believe that ‘business beginnings’ are the perfect time to explore and establish what we stand for. And as with anything unique, there is always opportunity to be misunderstood. Our recent logo design contest was a great example of this. But our experience has only reinforced our commitment to develop our own authentic set of values while strengthening our rules of engagement.
Although the logo contest we ran last month turned out to be a wild success (check out our new logo at the top of the page – isn’t it awesome!), many people weren’t totally clear on the strategy. Now that it’s over, we wanted to take the time to reflect on this and discuss a few things we learned.
- We actually believe in community.
Realizing quickly that creating a logo is MUCH harder than it looks, we had two choices. We could buy one from a stranger, or we could endeavor to make a new friend. Since collaboration is one of our core values this made our choice clear. By reaching out to other women in our field we would find a female designer with similar business values – someone we wanted to work with in the long run and not just for a single logo design. With an online business especially, design is a HUGE piece of the puzzle and something neither of us had in our core skill sets. Instead of just talking about professionalism and community, we created an opportunity for it to play out in real time.
- Connection is more important than money.
When we sent out our original email to over 150 people, very few came back with names of fabulous female freelancers. This seemed strange at first and led us to ask some questions about women in business and self-promotion. Another thing that came up was money. Many of the contacts and a few designers themselves didn’t seem to understand what we were offering. As businesswomen who have both already started our own small businesses from scratch, we understand that time is money. We also understand the true value of real relationships that go beyond simple business transactions. Frankly, it would have been easier to just hire someone to do the work, to fill out their brief and let them lead us through their process. But we were looking for more than just a logo – we were looking for a strategic partner. We wanted to find someone who holds similar values and who, like us, actually believes that the process (the work) can and should be just as engaging as the outcome (the reward). We were offering strategic business development, co-promotion and a large network of new business clients for the designer to start servicing after the contest. This commitment to long-term value went beyond a simple logo product transaction.
- If you’re not a little bit scared, it’s not worth doing.
To enter our design contest, each participant was provided a link to our website and social media pages, plus given a branding brief about our company. This included info about our colors, values and target market. Participants were then asked to provide a single submission, based on their initial impression of us as a budding brand. We also asked for a personal statement about who they are and why they do what they do.
With this contest we found ourselves working once again with the idea of balance in business; we needed to plan ahead and think about what we wanted as an outcome, but also create a world where we could see how these designers followed their professional artistic intuition. We wanted thinking and feeling, in equal parts.
Of course we had some fear around whether anyone would actually enter our contest, and if they did, would we even like any of their logos? It was definitely riskier than just interviewing a few designers and hiring someone. It also lit a much needed fire under us to create a first draft of our own website before we had any designers’ guidance. (As non-designers this was a bit of a challenge because good designers make this stuff look so easy!) But the outcome of this process was three fold: we went deep to find our core values and articulate them visually, we cultivated a higher appreciation for the difficulty of the design process, and we opened ourselves up to meet new people. This contest introduced us to women all over the world who we may never have otherwise found and who we are now really excited to be in contact with.
We now feel privileged to have had this experience and can’t wait to talk about the new design partner we have chosen. Our new logo has beautiful hand-drawn elements and we are really excited about growing our visual brand in collaboration with this incredibly talented woman! Stay tuned…
*Photo of Shaleah + Karina above by Robin Clark Photography