Many design logos for a living, and even more as a hobby. But the worst logo designers are those that make them because they have to. Making a logo for a program or application is even harder than making one for a company or organization; especially since the latter can easily be an abstract work, something to go with the name. But icons and logos for a program need to be exact, they have to fit the "mood" of the application and match it curve for curve. These icons need to display a message that coincides with the functionality of the program to give you the end user a complete user experience that they will never forget – ever.. that is if you plan on keeping and growing your user-base!
What brings this on? After all, it isn't everyday you see a hard-core coder talking about wishy-washy art… Will, the gist of it is if you want something done right, do it yourself. No one knows you or your program better than you do – no one. So when you ask someone to make you a logo for your latest amazing program, no matter how hard they try, they will give you an icon that looks good from their perspective – which isn't always what works for you. In the end, you need to make your own logos, because no matter how little art talent you (as a coder that cant draw a bean's worth of art) need to make the art for your program. Believe it or not, no matter how little knack for the arts you may have, when you finally get somewhere where you actually feel comfortable with what you are looking at, and can, in your own twisted way, relate this icon to that program, and they complement one another to the nth degree; no matter whether this is your first or 100th logo, you've done a good job, and your customers will sense it.
As you might guess, I'm in the middle of a forced art session for a program (yes, the one mentioned here); and I seem to be missing something in my logo (no, you can't see it; not yet). I've had some of the best artists and designers at PROnetworks give me brilliant and creative designs, but no matter how good they were, they didn't fit. And now here I am posting here to convince myself to keep on going, I am certain that the ultimate design for our program is in me somewhere, I just need to keep pushing for it to finally come out.