to leviG
give the guy a break.....
most companies design their own logo or employ someone to do so......
this way the company can get their logo for a nice price, something that suits both parties.....
their doesnt have to be any copyright issues involved here.... unless the final design is used without the designers permission.
example... say you have a friend design you a logo for your business/store/etc do you go into a long legal cycle of who owns what or do you give him/her a gift and agree that the company can use the logo and own its copyright should it need to raise the issue in a proper legal battle...
friends get the same deal as a client does in business - a rule of business (for me anyways) is friends don't make you money, clients do. And I would take a friend to court if they owed me money for work which I have done for them - if they're a friend they wouldn't get that far in the first place.
The op has already said they want the copyright of the chosen design, now the cynic (sp?) in me says who says the op can't look at all the designs and then think ooohhh I like that one but I prefer the text on that one, do a quick cut and paste type job, rework in photoshop or whatever, and then not pay for the job because there was no winner, even though there was a lot of work done by various people.
As to both parties getting a good deal, no, the op will get the better deal, as I said £200 for corporate identity is very very cheap. And as such I feel that anyone doing this should be aware that the op is trying to get several thousand pounds worth of design done for the price of an ipod.
I would quite happily work on the design if I could invoice for my time on it but unfortunately time costs money.
Do it yourself or employing someone to do it - yeah thats fine but running a competition isn't exactly doing it yourself or employing someone is it.
I will give the op a bit of credit though, they have offered something in return, something a lot of people don't do on forums.
However I am happy to give a young budding designer a chance to add a company to their portfolio and to get something in return. There is nothing to say that by paying £2000 I will get a better design than one from a student for less money. Besides your prices seem rather inflated as I am not running the Olympics and my market research suggests that most established designers charge £350-£500 for a logo.
I agree paying 2k will not necessarily get you a good design (look at the olympics). I also think it fair that people know what the work is worth. The olympics was an example of what it can cost for a larger company type design.
A logo can be as cheap as £350-500 but you're technically (or atleast in my view) asking for a corporate identity which is different to a logo. You're also asking for the copyright to be transferred to you which I would nearly guarantee is not included in that price.
