Logo Design Buyer's Guide
Across a period of time a logo is the image which symbolizes a
corporation, its products and services in a complete explanatory
manner. Its purpose is to create an unforgettable, familiar
feeling on the mind of a potential client or customer. It's
undoubtedly a logo which can be termed as the heart of a
company's corporate identity. So in a nutshell a logo is a
trademark of a company or organization. It's the identity that
encapsulates what your company stand for and what it wants to
achieve in its lifetime. Companies do spend thousands, if not
millions of dollars just to have the right logo.
So what are the ingredients of a first-class logo? Most people
would reply "I just recognized it when I saw it!" Well this
isn't so far from the truth. A good logo catches the eye; it
makes the observer curious and engaged, doesn't matter if only
for a short moment. And that is the moment in which an image and
the subsistence of your company gets embedded into the minds of
your customer rather than filtered out with a million other
daily options. Your company's logo will be your visual tool to
stimulate attention and leave a greater impact to your target
audience that words may fall short of. Over time, logos prove to
be the simplest and most direct way of promoting one's business
presence. Make your logo give you your brand name recognition.
It is your visual appeal to any document or web page because of
its unique graphic image. People tend to remember a catchy logo
at a much higher rate than nearly any other advertising element.
When designing your logo, there are several things to keep in
mind to achieve you goals: be unique, be true to the company,
consider the psychology of your target market, and, above all,
keep it simple.
Your business logo will most likely be used for many purposes:
business cards and letterhead, outdoor designs, the Internet and
promotional items such as T-shirts and mugs. The logo has to
look good when resized to fit on a small 2"x 3.5" business card.
If the design is complex a lot of detail will be lost when the
logo is shrunk to fit on the card and people might not be able
to make out the design. Elaborate designs can also be difficult
and expensive to put on T-shirts and mugs.
Complex or over-the-top designs can mean high printing costs. A
decision to have a highly complex custom design logo for your
firm can come back to haunt you. This doesn't mean that your
custom design logo has to be simple (and boring) for it to work.
An elegant logo design can enhance your firm's professional
image. The trick is to find the right balance between design and
functionality, where you have a great design that you can use
for all purposes.
Design of a company or product logo should not be tagged on to
an advertising campaign at the end of the planning process. It
deserves to be examined and integrated into the body of the
campaign; it should not be the tail of the dog. A good logo is
developed at the front end, the part that bites. Planners need
to communicate to the graphic designer certain key information
about what the company or product goals are. They need to pass
on to the artist a demographic picture of their target consumer
- age, income, where they live. All of these factors are brought
into play in the strategic planning process.
Too much information can be just as complicated to handle as
too little. Seeing too many sources might encourage the
prospective logo purchaser to select a supplier at random and
hope for the best. Given the prolonged expected life cycle for a
company logo and the significant part a logo plays in image
recognition, playing selection games can be devastating. But
what can a newcomer do to get the best bang for his logo?
These days the savvy of risk in online business is becoming
quite substantial, anyone with a computer and internet access
can put up a logo design business.
You could've pay a boy working as a freelance and charging $40
to draw your logo. Who knows? Maybe he's good, but there is more
to logo design than nice pictures. Logo designers need to
recognize the association that should exist between the logo and
the image the company wants to send to its customers. Logo
designers have to have some business understanding and business
know-how in order to design logos that increase sales.
Don't fall for cheap prices, they say "Quality never comes
cheap" and yes it is so very true, at one hand you tend to
choose a cheap logo design plan but on the other hand you
sacrifice some of the things which in turn those logo designers
will get benefited with. Some of those like things are:
1. A limited number of Formats Mostly the cheap plan logo
designers won't provide the final design in multiple formats
such as a bitmap image and a vector image. Knowingly these both
formats are very necessary, you use bitmap for your website and
interrelated purposes whereas vector for printing up of the
visiting cards and corporate stationery.
2. No Money-Back Guarantee Usually cheap logo designing plans
are not backed up by any money back guarantee, might be the
reason can be, they don't really possess any satisfied customers.
3. Limited Alterations Some logo designers present very
affordable logos where you get no or very few alterations. In
additional words, they'll give you one logo. If you don't like
it, that's your problem. Typically they then charge extra for
alterations. This in itself isn't really dishonest - as long as
they are upfront about it. It does become deceptive when it's
buried in fine print.
Creating a logo is always a process - though different
designers have their own methods. Many designers will begin by
sketching thumbnails or playing with shapes on the computer
screen, until something "clicks" and they follow that path to
see where it leads. One way to start is to select a shape which
represents the concept of the company, and begin playing with
it. The idea is to come up with something interesting or clever,
whether a viewpoint which is different, or an unusual
combination of shapes. Perhaps it will be something which will
require some guesswork on the part of the viewer, but then be
crystal clear when they look at it another way.
The accurate logo, with the accurate distinctiveness, will
enhance your visibility, reliability and impression; which mean
more business for you. Few are the things that are needed for a
robust logo making activity and an outstanding product, before
choosing this service of logo designing make sure that the
designer firm follows this trail, following this will ensure
maximum credibility, firms like http://logodesignpros.co.uk/
follow this trail and has been achieving recorded success ration
over a period of years, these factors are:
Consistency Consistency in use of logo, tagline, materials.
Repetition of similar elements, used in the same or similar
ways. This helps people to remember who the company is and what
do they do?
Memorability Must contain an element of memorability so that the
logo stays at the forefront of potential clients' minds. That
way, they'll think of the company next time they have a need.
Meaningfulness Meaningfulness so that the logo can spread the
message about the distinguishing characteristics of one's
business.
Uniqueness The uniqueness factor helps one stand out from the
crowd. For example, if everyone in one industry uses a
particular symbol (i.e., airlines often uses airplane tail), try
to use something else that way, the logo doesn't just look like
everyone else's.
Professionalism Professionalism in the eminence of the graphics,
the printing and the paper on which the materials will be
printed.
Timelessness Timelessness in the logo will ensure that one don't
have to redesign the logo in just a few years and that the
investment and equity in the design will be lasting.
Remember, logo design is an essential element to your general
marketing strategy. Put in the necessary time, effort, and
creativity, and you will end up with an effective, memorable
logo that will go miles towards developing the positive brand
appreciation and recognition you desire. A logo is essentially
at the heart of corporate identity. It is the face of an
organization. The right logo design can be one of your strongest
marketing tools. It delivers the message to the public that a
company is unique, credible and professional. Make it stylish.
Make it elegant. Make an impact.