Being a small to medium sized business owner can be tough – it's a constant balancing act, trying to keep all the balls in the air required to keep the business rolling along. You've got staff, finances, customers, products and day to day operations to look after – who in their right mind would add a logo design project on top of all that? Well, it turns out – a hell of a lot of people.

So, if you're thinking of taking the plunge and designing your own logo, take 5 or 10 minutes to consider these questions, they might just change your mind.

How much time do you really have?

As above, how much spare time do you have after taking away the daily routine of running your business? A few hours a week maybe? A few hours which you would rather spend with your family or relaxing no doubt. Designing a logo to be the face of your business, to represent your company's values and service can take patience and a lot of time. You will spend hours brainstorming concepts, researching techniques and best practices as well as reviewing thousands upon thousands of successful logos looking for inspiration.

On top of all that, you need to then create some initial designs, reviews these, show them to friends/colleagues and finally create the finished product, all of which is no mean feat.

What are your designs skills like?

In most instances, people who design their own logo also run their own business – this means their skillset is most likely not based around freelance logo design. Successful logo and graphic designers spend years honing their skills through study and practice. They can draw (with their hands), use complex software and develop creative ideas that many mere mortals can only dream of.

Logo design goes beyond simply creating a shape which represents your business and putting your company name below it in a stylised font. Real design includes creating something timeless, memorable and beautiful to look at. Have a think if this is something you can do!

Do you have the tools of the trade?

This is something which links directly to the point above. If you feel like you've got the talent, capabilities and creative flair to create your own logo then you are doing well. However, there is another layer which needs to be considered – do you have and can you use the complex design software required to turn those ideas into an actual logo?

Logo designers rely heavily on powerful creative software such as Adobe illustrator or Coral Draw. These packages allow designers to bring ideas to life and provide the final design in a file format that is suitable for both print and the web. Not only that, the initial outlay for these "logo makers" is significant, so a one off use for a logo doesn't really warrant the purchase.

Are you limited by your own involvement in your business?

A large part of being creative and designing a logo that really stands out from the crowd is being able to think outside the box. This means being able to step away from your day to day business, step away from the business process and take a more cryptic look at your business.

You need to be able to see your business through the eyes of a customer, or more importantly the eyes of a potential customer – you need to have the right design perspective.

How your business looks to these potential customers stems in large part from their interpretation of you logo. Being so close to the day to day running of the business often makes it hard for small business operators to create a logo that truly resembles the brand and instils the feelings that they would like potential customers to have.

Do you have some design inspiration?

Even the best logo designers on the planet need inspiration. This is often achieved through collaboration with other designers or via constantly being immersed in the design community

For the rest of us, inspiration is harder to come by and in many cases a small instant of inspiration can often lead to blatant copying! One of the golden rules of logo design is to be unique – sure you can source inspiration, but the step beyond this break all the design rules which will mean your logo is destined for relegation to the scrap heap.

It will be unremarkable, forgettable to boring.

If you are looking for logo design inspiration, check out our logo design gallery.

Wrap Up

So how did you go? Are you still planning on designing your own company logo?

If not, then now is your chance to grab a 50% DesignCrowd discount code and get your logo designed by professional designers from around the world. Thousands of other business have – check out the DesignCrowd Reviews.

Written by Clancy Clarke on Monday, May 19, 2014

Clancy is the Organic Search manager at DesignCrowd. Clancy has over 7 years of online marketing experience and a passion for analytics. Get in touch via Google+.