From Hobbyist to Logo Design Specialist

Ian Paget: How did you originally get into graphic design, and more specifically logo design?

Mihai Dolganiuc: I got into it in my teenage years. Someone gave me a pirated copy of Photoshop, as happened a lot back then, no shame in it, at least I pay for it now.

Ian Paget: I did exactly the same. A lot of people did, because when I got into graphic design there was no subscription. From memory it was something like £6,000 just to access the Adobe Suite outright, so a lot of us who started out back then probably pirated it.

Mihai Dolganiuc: Yeah. I was genuinely curious. I spent a lot of time on design forums, we had a local torrent site with a lot of design forums attached, and I started following tutorials: how to build fire in Photoshop, how to make water droplets, that kind of thing. I did that throughout university, from 2008 to 2012, mainly as a hobby while I was studying. When I came home I needed something to do, so I got into amateurish graphic design. I wasn't making any money, I was still living with my parents, so I was fine financially, but as I headed towards graduation I started flirting with the idea of giving it a proper go.

I still had no real idea what logo design was at that point. I understood it on a general level, but I wasn't aware how complex the field actually is. After I graduated I was unemployed for eight or nine months, looking for graphic design jobs. Nobody would really give me a chance because I didn't have a strong portfolio, just some logos and some banner work, and it wasn't the best.

Eventually someone gave me a chance and I landed a job at a local company here in Moldova. Honestly, I was hired more because I had some English skills than because of my design ability, which was pretty low at the time. But I think that's absolutely fine when you're starting out. I had the curiosity, and I've noticed that's a common trait in every designer I talk to, they want to explore, connect with people, read books. I had that, and I think it helped a lot.

I started building up my portfolio while working for the company. I don't know where I got this from, but I understood early on that I needed to keep my portfolio updated, not because I wanted to go freelance or find another job, just because I thought it was smart to have everything consolidated in one place (Behance, Dribbble, and so on) rather than sending employers PDFs and attachments. Looking back, that was a genuinely great habit to build early.

Landing a First Design Job (and Learning Motion Graphics Overnight)

Ian Paget: Before you move on, that first design job, was it general graphic design or a specific area?

Mihai Dolganiuc: Everything you can think of. In the beginning I was doing banners for sports betting websites, then websites themselves. Then one day a manager asked if I could do some motion graphics or video editing. I had no idea how, but I said yes anyway. I went home, downloaded Adobe Premiere, and watched tutorials until three or four in the morning. If you're already familiar with Illustrator and Photoshop, Premiere comes fairly naturally. I went in the next day with a fairly rough video with some typography over it, sent it to the manager, and he said, "Okay, this should work."

Ian Paget: I can relate to this story, I think a lot of people who haven't worked in graphic design assume specialists just jumped straight into their niche, when actually my first design jobs were exhibition stands, websites, brochures, leaflets. I had a similar experience with motion graphics: I was handed a fancy camera kit I'd never used, and needed to learn Final Cut Pro. There wasn't really YouTube back then, I remember finding Lynda Learning (now LinkedIn Learning) and sitting down to work through a full day of tutorials. I think it's a good lesson for anyone getting into design: be curious, be open, be willing to learn, and sometimes you just have to do a bit of everything. It's not always your best work, but it opens doors.

Mihai Dolganiuc: Exactly. To be honest, that's what kept me at the company, because my design skills weren't great and the design lead was very strict. On day one he made it clear: "Here we don't accept work that doesn't look good." That motivated me a lot, and it's the reason I said yes to something unfamiliar, I needed to prove I belonged there. That's a lesson I've used many times since: you won't always feel ready, but if you say yes and figure it out along the way, you'll usually find a way through, and you'll look back grateful that you did it.

Ian Paget: When I used to hire for my team, I wasn't always looking for the best designer, I was looking for the best fit. Sometimes that's personality, drive, determination. Design skills and technique can be taught; that willingness to say yes and go learn something overnight is a genuinely hirable trait. And you mentioned English, I assume that was so you could communicate with the rest of the team?

Mihai Dolganiuc: Exactly, it was an international team, people from Poland, an Austrian founder, and all the discussions and instructions were in English, so we needed at least conversational English.

From Generalist to Logo Design Specialist

Ian Paget: How did you go from doing a bit of everything to focusing specifically on logo design?

Mihai Dolganiuc: It came slowly and gradually. As I worked, my focus kept narrowing. I noticed I was really attracted to logo design specifically. At another company I sharpened my web design, typography and layout skills, and on the side I was freelancing, taking on logo projects for $50, $70, $100, the typical starting rates. I noticed I genuinely loved that side of design, but at the time it seemed impossible to picture making a full living from logo design alone. That takes a strong portfolio, but more importantly, a network, and that's built over time.

I started freelancing in 2016, working for an Australian subscription based design service, doing a bit of everything again, animations, websites, and so on. From 2017 I went fully freelance and remote, still doing everything, but around 50% of the time on logo design, at very low rates. I said yes to almost anything logo related because I understood I needed to build the portfolio. I also started being very active on Dribbble and Behance, those became my main channels, and Dribbble in particular has been one of my best platforms for bringing in clients, and it still does. Over time I also got to know a lot of designers from Romania and around the world, and we'd sometimes refer clients to each other when one of us couldn't take on a project.

Making a Full Time Living From Logo Design

Ian Paget: It's similar to my own journey, start off doing everything, then slowly funnel down based on what you're enjoying. I'm just going off your socials here, because I really like your profile on X, you share a lot of your process, which is great to see. Are you making a living from logo design exclusively now, or still a mix?

Mihai Dolganiuc: About 80% of my income is from logo design now. I can't do only logo design, bills have to be paid, and I need to stay busy, so I'll still do visual identities, general graphic design, or a promo banner if a referral comes in. I know the foundations: typography, composition, colour theory. But my main source of income is logo design, and I've reached the point where I could genuinely live off logo design alone. That was my dream back in 2015, and I'm kind of living it now, alongside freelancing.

Ian Paget: Same for me. My bread and butter is logo design, every single inquiry that comes in is "Ian, I need a logo." But because I've done a bit of everything over the years, a lot of my existing clients ask for help with an exhibition banner, a leaflet, a website. I need to make a living, I can do the work to a high standard, so I do it. But like you, I could do just logo design if I wanted to. From a marketing point of view, if you only show logo design work, that's the work you'll get more of, if you wanted to shift into a specific style or area, start showing more of it. It really is that simple.

Mihai Dolganiuc: We designers have a superpower, we can show the work we want to do. A year of consistently sharing logos will bring you logo design work, maybe not much at first and not the biggest budgets, but it will come. There will be quieter periods for logo work specifically, and that's fine, you should have other income streams for those periods. I know designers positioned as logo specialists who also do pitch deck presentations or animations for the quieter months, but they're still known primarily for logo design. I think both specialists and generalists can do well, but being a specialist makes the decision easier for a client reaching out to you, and once they get to know you they discover you also have range. You can't become a specialist logo designer without knowing the foundations, typography, composition, and none of that happens on a blank page; you're always creating presentations and mock ups too, which shows range in itself. Even something as basic as your invoice is another opportunity to show your brand and your work.

The Benefit of Specialising: Systems, Templates and Predictability

Ian Paget: One of the real benefits of specialising in logo design is that you can productise and systematise. Because logo design is the main thing I do, I know exactly what to say at every sales call, it comes out comfortably and confidently because I've said it so many times. I have template emails, systems and processes for every stage, templates for presentations. I know how long projects take on average, and how many I need to take on each month to make a living. It's predictable, repeatable and easy. If a client wants a website instead, I don't have the same systems in place, it's not my specialist thing, so it takes more time and energy, and even though I make income from it, it feels like an inconvenience because it sits outside my usual model. So I do think that's one of the real benefits of specialising: you can build systems that let you run through the process easily and predictably.

Building a Network as a Freelance Designer

Ian Paget: You mentioned network as key to your shift from employed generalist to freelance logo specialist. What advice would you give on building that?

Mihai Dolganiuc: A specific example: back in 2017 I started talking with another designer from Romania. That relationship was built over time and we still communicate now, we sometimes share referrals, but honestly the referrals matter less than the relationship and the help we give each other. We'd share designs back and forth over Skype and Messenger, "hey, what do you think of this?", and change direction together. That kind of relationship is really valuable, because freelancers mostly work alone, so it's important to build all kinds of interactions.

Social media has been the real game changer for networking, though. I don't think we'd even be having this conversation if I hadn't been active on X, sharing my process. LinkedIn has been a game changer too, it's shifted my whole trajectory as a freelancer in terms of getting clients and getting exposure, because attention matters as much as money. We get paid in money, but we also need attention as a kind of currency. Some people think you should stay humble and not talk about that, I see it differently. I think you should try to get attention for your work, specifically.

X has been the most life changing platform for me in terms of inquiries and connecting with people, including you, even though we knew each other from Facebook before that, through the Logo Geek community. I actually went back through your podcast archive and remembered listening to your very first episode, with Chris Do.

Ian Paget: That was around the time Chris Do was just getting started with The Futur, about ten years ago now. I got really lucky with the timing of the Facebook group I built; that was the peak of design communities. I've been trying to revive it, but it's difficult, because Facebook's algorithm doesn't favour groups that have gone quiet, a lot of people have left the platform, and some members have sadly passed away while their accounts stay active. I rebooted it, which has helped, but it's not quite the same as it used to be.

Mihai Dolganiuc: It really was strong back then, so many people sharing logo collections, and whenever someone had a question, people came up with genuine, authentic answers because they actually wanted to help.

Ian Paget: Online communities generally feel a lot more diluted now. I think people felt burnt out after COVID, and that's still lingering. There are also so many different platforms now that everyone's scattered rather than in one place. But it is what it is, I keep doing what I can.

Using X (Twitter) and LinkedIn to Get Logo Design Clients

Ian Paget: You mentioned attention as a kind of currency, and I want to add to that: when you present your work, always talk about it positively. I think you're the only person who can really sell your own work, and honestly, the only person who can sell you. If you're an award winning designer, say it, share it, post it.

Mihai Dolganiuc: Exactly, you shouldn't be ashamed of sharing it.

Ian Paget: It's hard, because a lot of designers are reserved and don't like to shout about themselves. But I've put out so much content over the past ten years, writing, podcasts, interviews, that you can now ask AI who the best designers in the UK are, and I'm one of the names that comes up. In reality that might not reflect the full picture, but because I've been putting myself out there and, yes, singing my own praises even though it's uncomfortable, it's really paid off. You post a lot on X too, and honestly, if you didn't, I wouldn't have thought of you for the podcast, that's purely how we ended up connecting.

Mihai Dolganiuc: That's exactly how it works. My strategy has always been to talk about what I do, within reason, because people can get a bit annoyed if you share too much. But that's also how people remember you.

Ian Paget: If someone's following your account for logo design content and doesn't want to see it, they don't have to look. It's as simple as that.

Mihai Dolganiuc: Right, you can always just scroll past, or unfollow. It doesn't mean you dislike the person.

Ian Paget: So on LinkedIn specifically, what's been working well for you?

Mihai Dolganiuc: I share a lot of my thoughts there, plus the same work I share elsewhere, just packaged differently, different text, different presentation. One strategy that's worked well is doing unofficial redesigns of famous logos that nobody asked for, designers like to have an opinion and voice it. My best example of someone doing this really well is Allan Peters, take a look at what he's done with his Instagram. He's grown a huge following, and he's told me he's busier than ever, sometimes referring overflow work to other designers. The lesson: if you have an idea, just share it. Don't overthink what people will say.

Another example from my own experience: in 2019 I saw the 7 Eleven logo and had an idea for how I'd redesign it. I'm not saying it's the best idea, but I shared it on LinkedIn, and back then my following wasn't big at all. That post blew up, around 6,000 likes and 300 plus comments, and I tried to respond to every one. I got a few clients directly from that post. That 7 Eleven concept is still reposted on design blogs occasionally, I saw it again just recently.

The Allan Peters Debate: Redesigning Famous Logos for Attention

Ian Paget: I think it's interesting you brought this up, because as designers, we're not Allan Peters's target audience. He's created content and a book for designers, but he wants client work the same way we do, and his "fixing" famous logos has genuinely upset a lot of designer friends of mine. There have been arguments about it, and he's even received death threats over it, which is completely disproportionate. My personal take is I don't love it when designers redesign someone else's live logo, it feels disrespectful to the original designer's work, especially if a brand has only just launched something. But it doesn't matter what I think, because I'm not his target customer.

He's creating content, getting attention, positioning himself as the expert, and clearly having fun with it, and a lot of well known designers being vocal about disliking it has, if anything, driven more people to copy the format. My issue with some of it is that certain "redesigns" highlight what the designer doesn't understand about the original decision making, and in my opinion some of them make famous logos worse. But Allan doesn't need my approval or yours, he's reaching his actual audience: non designers and business owners. Logo design is a genuinely interesting topic even outside the design world; people like seeing something reimagined, and he does it well, with a lot of personality, which gets attention, not always positive attention from the design community, but attention from everyone.

Mihai Dolganiuc: Exactly. I think we designers might not love what he's doing, but his target audience doesn't really care that he's redesigning someone else's logo, all they see is his skill and his strategic thinking. "Fix" probably isn't the ideal word for it, and I believe he's said as much himself, but it does get people talking.

Ian Paget: It does, and his work is consistently good, I enjoy a lot of it, even when I don't personally agree with a specific redesign. I watch it as entertainment and education, and it's clearly working extremely well for him.

Is Dribbble Still Worth It for Logo Designers?

Ian Paget: Let's talk about Dribbble, since that's where a lot of your early work started paying off. Is it still as good now as it was?

Mihai Dolganiuc: Honestly, the flow of work has slowed a bit, but I still get inquiries, and while not all of them convert into projects, it still brings in work.

Ian Paget: What are you doing to keep that going?

Mihai Dolganiuc: Consistency matters, but visual consistency across your whole profile matters just as much, clients want to see that your work fits together, and that you belong to a certain industry. My clients are mostly tech startups, and a lot recently have been AI companies, so I try to keep my Dribbble feed visually aligned with the kind of client I want to attract. If you focus on typographic logos, for example, you'll find work in that space. Dribbble has changed a bit, you can no longer include an email address or contact details directly in shots, but it still works fine for me within the platform's own messaging.

Focus vs Spreading Across Every Platform

Ian Paget: Are you creating one piece of content and adapting it across X, LinkedIn and Dribbble, or creating separately for each?

Mihai Dolganiuc: Mostly the same post across all platforms, adapted slightly, for example logos only on X, mock ups or presentations on Dribbble, sometimes staggered by a couple of days rather than posted everywhere at once.

Ian Paget: That's a sensible way to do it. Something I generally advise designers is to focus on one platform and put most of your time and energy there, because it's genuinely hard to juggle client work and be everywhere at once, especially with family life in the mix. I generally recommend picking one main platform and only adding others if you have time left over. Clearly it's worked well for you across all three.

Selling Unused Logo Concepts

Ian Paget: One last topic, on your website you sell pre designed, unused logos. Is that actually working for you?

Mihai Dolganiuc: Surprisingly, yes. I always ended up with unused ideas from projects, I usually present three concepts, one gets chosen, and I'm left with the others. Sometimes I've had nine or ten unused directions from a single project. I started listing the strongest unused concepts on Dribbble, marked as unused and for sale, and people started reaching out to buy them. They're usually priced below a full custom logo project, because the buyer isn't going through the discovery and design stages from scratch, though a custom design is generally the better option if the budget allows.

The concept has to genuinely relate to the business, letterforms and abstract symbols tend to sell best, and mascots do reasonably well too. If you're a founder who knows what your company stands for, and you see a pre made concept that fits, you get to own it immediately, then build on it or update it later as the business grows. I sold one exactly like this in March 2025, to a company in Ireland, the founder found it and contacted me directly, we did a couple of revisions and added typography, and he was very happy with it. It works, and I'd encourage other designers to try it too.

Ian Paget: It's interesting to hear it does work, I've seen other designers try it without much success, probably because they don't have enough unused work built up to make it worthwhile. It's a nice way to get some extra value from work that's already been paid for as part of a project. One other approach I've seen: some designers keep a single master file of alphabet letterforms and reuse pieces from it on future projects to save time, rather than leaving unused work sitting in individual project files, which is closer to what I tend to do.

Mihai Dolganiuc: I only sell unused concepts exclusively, nobody wants to buy something that could be resold to someone else. I mark it as sold wherever I originally posted it, which also acts as proof of ownership and a timestamp for when the logo was actually created, which matters since my logos have been stolen before.

Ian Paget: I'll link to your unused logos page in the show notes so people can see exactly how you've set it up. It's also a nice way to use quieter periods productively, every freelancer has busy seasons and quiet ones, and quiet periods are a good time for case studies, content or marketing, or, in your case, working through unused concepts and getting them in front of buyers.

Final Thoughts

Ian Paget: Logo design looks simple from the outside, but it clearly isn't.

Mihai Dolganiuc: Exactly, it looks easy because we make it look easy. A polished, minimal final logo looks like "just a simple shape," and it is, but simple things take real time to earn. If you don't put in the time, it becomes basic instead of simple, and those are two very different things. You start with something complex and narrow it down, stripping away everything that doesn't need to be there, until you're left with something simple that's also scalable, unique, and meets trademark expectations. It's not easy, but it's doable if you put in the time, sketch as much as you physically can, and find the strongest ideas.

Ian Paget: Thank you so much for your time, it's been great to finally have this conversation after knowing each other for so long. Where can people learn more about you?

Mihai Dolganiuc: I'm most active on X, probably my main channel, plus Instagram and LinkedIn.

You can find more of Mihai's work at mihai.design and on Dribbble. For more conversations like this one, browse the full Logo Geek Podcast archive, including the episode with Chris Do on charging more for logo design referenced above, and the Ultimate Guide to Logo Design for a deeper dive into the process Mihai and Ian both touched on here.

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