1. Cheap logo is bad logo

The quality of logo design is not depended on the price. It is generally true, that established company making logos for $500 will do good job in most cases. It is clear, that with a lot of money you can pay experienced people. But at the other side you can have the same job for $50 even for $10 if you find skilled designer. Just compare portfolios of some cheap and expensive companies.

2. Do not follow trends, be original

Logo is representing your company, but it is designed for customers, not for you personally. If you look at the biggest companies, lots of them has very simple text based logo with similar font. The color and sometimes easy shape makes the difference. If you know, that your customers' group likes Web 2.0 logos, just make them happy. But remember – following trends does not mean to simply copy someone's job.

3. You have to get vector file from designer

It is important to design logo in vector-based software for quality. But for you as a customer it is not necessary to get vector file unless you are DTP specialist. For general purposes such as web site, banners, print, etc. you only need bitmap in good resolution and size. Basically 72dpi for web, 300 dpi for print and size depends.

4. Do not use stock graphics

It is nice to have 100% hand-made logo, but it is more expensive and your customers will not see the difference. You will also not recognize common pictures made by designer and pictures copied from stock database. If the stock picture is used under the law and it is composed to your logo (not simply copied as the main object), it is OK.

5. The more designers work on your project the better result you get

Every human has individual mind. As we expect designers are humans too, their opinions on the logo design will be different too and their cooperation does not guarantee better or worse result. Better to have more different drafts to choose from at the beginning.