By using a contest format and only offering $500 to the winner, you're significantly limiting the talent pool of designers. Designers who are good--and know tha

By using a contest format and only offering $500 to the winner, you're significantly limiting the talent pool of designers. Designers who are good--and know that they are--probably wouldn't design a logo for a guaranteed $500, much less for an effectively random chance of payment. Maybe you don't really care if it's a very good logo, or if you're collaborating with a professional who can walk you through the process of discovering what you want. (You do want something, trust me--you just won't know it for sure until you start rejecting the things you don't want.) And that's fine--it's your choice. If your business is doing fine without an awesome logo or a slick brand, then good job! But if you really do want something professional, something that can be built out into a bigger brand, and something that someone put a lot of thought into, then this is the wrong way to go. I wouldn't hold a contest for $500 for a developer to write a piece of code for me. Why would I do it for a logo?