Whether you're just starting your business or your business is well underway, this question has more than likely popped into your head:
Should I have a logo?
The answer to this is really internal. You know your market, your customers and your plans for your business better than anyone. So before deciding whether or not to get a logo created, ask yourself these questions:
- Would the addition of a logo benefit my brand? In other words, would a logo amplify, enhance or highlight my overall purpose?
- Does it make sense for me to have a logo? For example, if you have a clothing line, a logo could make brand recognition that much easier and thereby customers could recognize you just on your image alone. The reverse would be, for instance, if you ran a small accounting company out of your home & and are not interested in recruiting new clients…well, investing in a logo might not make a whole lot of sense.
- What do my competitors do? Now, of course, you want to set yourself apart from your competitors but you also want to be consistent within your industry.
If after answering these questions, you're still not sure, consider these three benefits a logo offers to your business:
- Helps make a generic name unique: If your name is merely descriptive and/or geographic, the addition of a logo could add to the uniqueness factor of your entire brand. That uniqueness factor is what most every business should strive for – setting yourself apart from others in your industry.
- Gives your product or service a "personality": How can a product line or service have "personality?" Think of virtually any famous name and what it would lose if their logo did not exist. Imagine if McDonald's didn't have the 'golden arches' or Nike's ubiquitous 'swoosh' never existed? Would their brands be as strong today if that image wasn't imprinted on the minds of most consumers? Would those brands have the same "personality" based on name alone?
- Establishes brand identity: One of the goals of establishing brand identity is to get customers to remember who you are and to come back to you time and time again. Hopefully, customers will remember you by name alone. But, without a doubt, images stick in people's minds a lot easier than mere words. By integrating a name and logo together, you're that much closer to getting that customer to remember you and to call you again.
Consider all of the above when it comes time to make a decision about a logo. If you do decide to use a logo, you'll want to ensure that no other party already owns rights to the same or similar logo. Then if research proves clear, you can decide if filing for a trademark is the next step.
Logos - the addition of one can become a valuable asset to your business!
Author:
Shannon Moore is the General Manager, East Coast for TradeMark Express. Since 1992, TradeMark Express has met the needs of their clients with comprehensive research, application preparation, attorney referrals and trademark consultation. For further details, please visit us on the web at http://www.tmexpress.com or call Shannon directly at 800.340.2010.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
How much worth is your logo?
Nowadays, with the rapid progress of high technology, (almost) nothing is hard to do. Everything is easy, even more, things are done instantly. People get less care about the quality, it seems like it’s not important anymore. The word “good” is replaced with “instant”. That’s what people need.
With that kind of situation, art or design field is not an exception. We can find hundreds or even thousands of companies or individuals who offer logo design service which can be done in only days (which normally take months) on the internet. Not only fast, it is much cheaper as well!!
I was once visited the very well known online company website who offers freelancers to get the job done from the various field. As a freelance graphic designer, I was interested to join, I thought it would nice to get a job online from worldwide even I have to bid and win to get the project.
I was shocked when I was browsing around and find out that the highest budget that the clients offer is around $179 for logo design.
Sure! It would be easier and quicker for me to design a logo with the $179 budget! But, as a professional designer, I have the responsibility to design a logo based on understanding corporate mission, philosophy, beliefs, objective, goals, and anything related to the company or product that I can dig in and then translate it into a written concept.
No doubt that it can NOT be done only in several days! Not even a week!
Not to mention the designing process itself.
Without such in-depth understanding, the logo designer will not be able to translate any corporate values into a coherent, creative graphics. The logo will be soulless.
The CEOs or the company owners who really understand how important the logo is, will not approve the logo design until they are really, really, really satisfied.
A good logo design has to reflect all the important corporate value. Logo is definitely much more than just an illustration or graphics to put on business card or signboard in front of your office!
A good logo design has to be created from nothing to final high quality artworks, not just a combination of text and pre-designed icons related to the core business. Logo designers should not design an IT or network company logo using repeatedly circular or ellipse kind of shape, or visualize spa service using a water-drop, or golf related company using golf-ball. It has to be much MORE than that!
Logo designers have to provide a book of Graphic Standard Manual (GSM) which contains of how to apply logo on any media, such as business card, letterhead, envelope, packaging, merchandise, signboard, vehicles, etc. to complete their job.
That’s how much the logo should worth and that’s what logo designers get high-paid for!
Logo has to be done by ‘logo designers’, not ‘logo makers’.
Logo design should be considered as an investment, not a cost!
Author
© Anton Ardjanggi, April 2007
With that kind of situation, art or design field is not an exception. We can find hundreds or even thousands of companies or individuals who offer logo design service which can be done in only days (which normally take months) on the internet. Not only fast, it is much cheaper as well!!
I was once visited the very well known online company website who offers freelancers to get the job done from the various field. As a freelance graphic designer, I was interested to join, I thought it would nice to get a job online from worldwide even I have to bid and win to get the project.
I was shocked when I was browsing around and find out that the highest budget that the clients offer is around $179 for logo design.
Sure! It would be easier and quicker for me to design a logo with the $179 budget! But, as a professional designer, I have the responsibility to design a logo based on understanding corporate mission, philosophy, beliefs, objective, goals, and anything related to the company or product that I can dig in and then translate it into a written concept.
No doubt that it can NOT be done only in several days! Not even a week!
Not to mention the designing process itself.
Without such in-depth understanding, the logo designer will not be able to translate any corporate values into a coherent, creative graphics. The logo will be soulless.
The CEOs or the company owners who really understand how important the logo is, will not approve the logo design until they are really, really, really satisfied.
A good logo design has to reflect all the important corporate value. Logo is definitely much more than just an illustration or graphics to put on business card or signboard in front of your office!
A good logo design has to be created from nothing to final high quality artworks, not just a combination of text and pre-designed icons related to the core business. Logo designers should not design an IT or network company logo using repeatedly circular or ellipse kind of shape, or visualize spa service using a water-drop, or golf related company using golf-ball. It has to be much MORE than that!
Logo designers have to provide a book of Graphic Standard Manual (GSM) which contains of how to apply logo on any media, such as business card, letterhead, envelope, packaging, merchandise, signboard, vehicles, etc. to complete their job.
That’s how much the logo should worth and that’s what logo designers get high-paid for!
Logo has to be done by ‘logo designers’, not ‘logo makers’.
Logo design should be considered as an investment, not a cost!
Author
© Anton Ardjanggi, April 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
There is no such a bad Logo
Designing logo is not an easy and simple thing to do. It’s related to the goal that has to be achieved on the future. Logo designing is a long process with a lot of consideration, because logo is not only a symbol to put on your business card or the sign board in front of your office. Much more than that, logo is the essential part of branding image for the company.
Logo is very subjective. Some people would say that McDonald’s logo looks good, but some other people would say the opposite, or even hate it.
Sometimes that what makes even harder for logo designers to fulfill clients’ requirements, because there are more than one person who have the authority to make decision on final design and they all have different way of thinking.
Here are some tips that have to be considered either by the designer or the clients:
- Ageless style
Do not design a logo based on what is trend at this time. Logo has to be long lasting. We can not change the logo just because we are bored with it, or just because some companies have the same style.
- Distinctiveness
This is very important. Logo design has to be unique in order to be recognizable, memorable and identifiable.
- Simple
In order to easy to remember, logo design must be simple. Keep in your mind that simple logo doesn’t mean that it has simple meaning. Simple logo could come from a very deep thought. Don’t go wild and crazy unless it fits to the core business.
- Choose the right color
It is important to choose the color for logo design. If the company is a well-established one, it’s better to use deep blue, because it is believed that blue is represents trust. If the company is an IT company, you may use light blue (cyan) that represents high-tech. You might need color psychology book for your references.
As I mentioned above, logo design is a very subjective matter. When you’re done designing logo, some people might say that your logo doesn’t look good. Don’t worry about that, as long as it covers all clients’ need and it represents the company itself very well, it just a matter of time people can accept it.
That’s what good logo design is about.
There is no such a bad logo. It just a matter of like or dislike.
© Anton Ardjanggi, April 2007
Logo is very subjective. Some people would say that McDonald’s logo looks good, but some other people would say the opposite, or even hate it.
Sometimes that what makes even harder for logo designers to fulfill clients’ requirements, because there are more than one person who have the authority to make decision on final design and they all have different way of thinking.
Here are some tips that have to be considered either by the designer or the clients:
- Ageless style
Do not design a logo based on what is trend at this time. Logo has to be long lasting. We can not change the logo just because we are bored with it, or just because some companies have the same style.
- Distinctiveness
This is very important. Logo design has to be unique in order to be recognizable, memorable and identifiable.
- Simple
In order to easy to remember, logo design must be simple. Keep in your mind that simple logo doesn’t mean that it has simple meaning. Simple logo could come from a very deep thought. Don’t go wild and crazy unless it fits to the core business.
- Choose the right color
It is important to choose the color for logo design. If the company is a well-established one, it’s better to use deep blue, because it is believed that blue is represents trust. If the company is an IT company, you may use light blue (cyan) that represents high-tech. You might need color psychology book for your references.
As I mentioned above, logo design is a very subjective matter. When you’re done designing logo, some people might say that your logo doesn’t look good. Don’t worry about that, as long as it covers all clients’ need and it represents the company itself very well, it just a matter of time people can accept it.
That’s what good logo design is about.
There is no such a bad logo. It just a matter of like or dislike.
© Anton Ardjanggi, April 2007
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