One of the most powerful, yet ignored weapons in your marketing weapon store is your business card. There are many ways that a person can attract customers to one's business. Some do this by launching a marketing campaign in the form of an ad in the paper or on a billboard. Some don't use marketing at all and just flourish through word of mouth.
On a more personal level if that person travels around, the best thing to carry and give out is a business card. Business cards are used by people in big and small time business. It reflects who the person is. It gives people an idea of what the person is capable of doing in the event that the service one offers is needed in the future.
Business cards help businesspeople present a good company image by highlighting the services provided by a particular company. They can also help to enhance the personal image of a businessperson. Production and printing costs of business cards are low, but benefits are high, as they make a statement in the business world. As a result, the market value of business cards is high.
Businesses survive due to a regular customers and having new clients. This will bring additional revenue for the company and allows the company to grow. By using the resources one has such as the use of business cards, this will happen.
What information should I put on my business card? It will all depend on you. The common information that can be found on a business card includes your name, position or occupation, company or business, address of the company or where you do business from, your work phone number, home phone number, mobile phone number, and email address. However, you need not put each of these items of information on your card.
It is highly recommended that you put a picture on your business card. Studies have shown that people are more likely to hold on to a Business card with a photo on it. It could be your picture, a picture of your product, or a combination of both. Picture cards get attention! A tagline is a one sentence benefit statement. So using this is also valuable for your business.
Your business card should represent the perfect image of your company; in fact, it is the one item that will be remembered on that first encounter! Having a design that does not reflect what you do, could have a negative impact on your business sales. With that in mind, we strongly believe that doing your own business card design is not the right way to go. Leave the designing to the professionals and use you time doing what you do best … selling your product or service!
Article Source....
Friday, 14 November 2014
Thursday, 13 November 2014
Graphic Designer: Education Requirements & Career Info
Graphic designers are visual communicators who design and develop print and electronic media, such as magazines, television graphics, logos and websites. They may be employed by advertising firms, design companies, publishers and other businesses that need design professionals. This career is results-oriented, and graphic designers are concerned with providing final products that meet clients' needs.
Graphic Designer Educational Requirements
Earning a certificate or associate's degree in graphic design may qualify graduates for assistant or technical support positions in the field; however, most graphic design positions require at least a bachelor's degree. Students may benefit from attending one of the approximately 300 schools approved by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. Some graphic design programs only admit applicants who have completed at least one year of art and design courses. Admission may also entail submission of sketches and other artwork.
Bachelor's Degree Curriculum
Some colleges and universities offer Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design programs. These 4-year degree programs equip students with the technical and artistic skills necessary for entry-level employment or even higher positions in graphic design. Curricula are comprised heavily of design coursework, as well as liberal arts instruction. Courses may include:
Typography
Book design
Drawing
Advanced graphic design
Computer-assisted design
Digital media
Photography
Other Requirements
Along with formal education, graphic designers must have artistic capacity and strong verbal, visual and written communication skills. Graphic designers must also have strong portfolios that showcase examples of their best work, which employers generally consider during the hiring process. Designers often work independently and must meet strict deadlines, so the ability to manage time and stay on schedule is important. Business and sales skills are also beneficial for this career, especially for graphic designers who are self employed.
Employment Projections
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment of graphic designers was expected to increase 13% from 2010-2020 (www.bls.gov). Growth should be an effect of the rising number of advertising and electronic design firms, as well as increasing numbers of products and services that need to be advertised. Graphic designers with expertise in Web design, interactive media and animation were expected to see the greatest job opportunities, whereas designers in print publishing were expected to experience a decline in demand.
Article Source....
Graphic Designer Educational Requirements
Earning a certificate or associate's degree in graphic design may qualify graduates for assistant or technical support positions in the field; however, most graphic design positions require at least a bachelor's degree. Students may benefit from attending one of the approximately 300 schools approved by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. Some graphic design programs only admit applicants who have completed at least one year of art and design courses. Admission may also entail submission of sketches and other artwork.
Bachelor's Degree Curriculum
Some colleges and universities offer Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design programs. These 4-year degree programs equip students with the technical and artistic skills necessary for entry-level employment or even higher positions in graphic design. Curricula are comprised heavily of design coursework, as well as liberal arts instruction. Courses may include:
Typography
Book design
Drawing
Advanced graphic design
Computer-assisted design
Digital media
Photography
Other Requirements
Along with formal education, graphic designers must have artistic capacity and strong verbal, visual and written communication skills. Graphic designers must also have strong portfolios that showcase examples of their best work, which employers generally consider during the hiring process. Designers often work independently and must meet strict deadlines, so the ability to manage time and stay on schedule is important. Business and sales skills are also beneficial for this career, especially for graphic designers who are self employed.
Employment Projections
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment of graphic designers was expected to increase 13% from 2010-2020 (www.bls.gov). Growth should be an effect of the rising number of advertising and electronic design firms, as well as increasing numbers of products and services that need to be advertised. Graphic designers with expertise in Web design, interactive media and animation were expected to see the greatest job opportunities, whereas designers in print publishing were expected to experience a decline in demand.
Article Source....
Wednesday, 12 November 2014
The One Concept Approach: How a Professional Designs A Logo
When it comes to logo design, many designers deliver multiple concepts to the client in order to let them to pick their favorite one. Many even have different concept packages and an allotment of revisions.
But what is the purpose of these multiple concepts? On what merit are revisions based?
I submit to you, if a designer has arrived at two concepts, his work is not done. Design is an iterative process. You start with many ideas and you continually refine. You dismiss the less effective ideas and distill down to the one that best serves the project goals.
It is the designer’s job to establish a process that concludes with the most effective concept. If a designer cannot determine which of two remaining concepts most effectively serves the project goals, then they are not to the point where they should be taking on clients.
The Problem With Multiple Concepts
If you believe that a professional designs a logo for their client, you are mistaken. A professional designs for the client’s customer. You do not design for your client. It is not your job to serve the preferential whim of your client.
This preferential whim is exactly what is being served when you deliver multiple concepts. The client picks their favorite. Their subjective preference. But again, who is the logo for? The client’s customer. It does no good for a client to love a logo that is not effective with their audience or does not meet their project goals.
“If you’re looking for options, I’m not your guy.”
This is precisely what I tell my potential clients. I’m not afraid to be honest and up front with them. In fact, it’s a requirement that I am as straightforward in the preliminary stages if I am to set the right precedent for the relationship.
Options are a disservice to the client. Much like a doctor or mechanic who suggests a myriad of possible operations—I’d much rather their single, professional recommendation. The best solution. The most ideal choice based on their extensive experience. That is where I receive the greatest value.
I conclude by telling the potential client that if they are interested in having someone with experience dedicate themselves towards crafting something that will be effective for their needs, we will be an excellent fit.
Why Do Clients Want Options?
Clients want multiple concepts because they are conditioned to expect multiple concepts. They expect what designers project.
Because the design industry is rampant with unprofessional practice, clients come to expect such behavior after consistently observing it. Designers perpetuate the expectation because they continue to work unprofessionally. They are not competent enough to establish a process that delivers a single, most effective concept and instead erroneously subject the client to a design decision (for which they are not qualified) and cater to the subjective, preferential whim of the client.
All of this is at the expense of the project’s effectiveness and at the expense of the perception of the industry as a whole. Though these designers may consider themselves professionals, many of them having worked in the industry for years, they are in fact only technicians for the do not provide solutions, but merely “options”.
Removing Subjective Preference
If you present two options to a client, red and blue, and ask them to pick their favorite, they will. However, if you instead position your services as one of providing a valuable solution, the situation looks quite different:
With subjective preference out of the picture, you inform the client that if they hire you, you will tell them which color will make them more money. The client in this scenario is not concerned about their personal preference for it was never solicited or brought into the picture. He will of course desire for you to deliver the solution that provides the greater value.
This is the difference between a technician and a professional:
Technicians perform tasks.
Professionals provide a solution.
When you simply deliver multiple options, you are acting as a technician. The focus is on your time and your output. You are an expense, and you are a commodity.
When you provide a solution, you are acting as a professional. The focus is on your results and the value you create. You are an investment, and you are worth paying relative to the value you create.
Let’s look at how to lay a foundation for establishing the kind of trust that is necessary for this type of client relationship.
Define Roles
It is imperative that you set the groundwork for a successful project at the very beginning. This is done through your communication during the preliminary stages. You must take care to very clearly establish what you and your client are each responsible for. These roles should be defined in your contract and personally communicated to the client.
What is the client responsible for?
The client is responsible for two things and two things only: Content & Goals. This amounts to the information that you will have obtained through your questionnaire. These two things should be acquired before the start of that project and remain constants; they do not change.
(Related: e035: Crafting the Right Questionnaire to Attract the Clients You’ll Love)
What is the designer responsible for?
The designer is responsible for design. The includes any and all design decisions. Selecting the most effective concept is a design decision—one that you should not subject to the client. Your job is design, and as a professional you do not subject others to decisions that pertain to your job.
Set Expectations
Your client should know what to expect at every single stage. From beginning to end, there should be no confusion or unexpected steps. This is where your process comes in. You should have two processes – A General Process, and a Project-Specific Process:
General Process
Your general process is an overview of how you work. It should contain all stages and steps that are common in every type of project you do.
A general process can and should be placed on your website where it is publicly viewable by potential clients.
Project-Specific Process
This process is something you create on a client-by-client basis.
You provide this specific overview to the client at the onset of the project.
(Related: e024: Finding Clients While Maintaining Professionalism)
Establish Credibility
The General Process publicly displayed on your website lets a client see how you work. This gives them an idea of what they can expect. Your Project-Specific Process takes this a step further and customizes the General Process to fit your current client’s specific project. This goes a long way in preventing future problems.
Trust
Being transparent and communicative about how you work and when the client can expect things is how you build trust. This trust is necessary to facilitate the type of relationship that will allow you to deliver one, single, most effective concept.
Case Studies
As a way of further establishing credibility and building trust, use Case Studies to show how you work. Case Studies work to provide a multifaceted look at your process. Yes, the client can read your General Process, but the more unique Case Studies you display, the more well-rounded the client’s idea of how you work. Yet again, this is a very important part of building that trust.
(Related: Examples of Logo Design Case Studies)
Begin Designing
Once the relational groundwork has been laid, expectations have been set, roadmap has been laid out, contract has been signed, and you have been paid, you are now ready to begin the design process.
At this point, the client knows that you will be delivering a single concept that most effectively meets their project goals because you have thoroughly communicated this to them in order to make it to this stage.
It’s time to refine, refine, refine. You start with many ideas and you hone it down. This is the only time are ever multiple concepts: within your own process. Your output should only ever be a single solution. This comes from a process that refines a number of explored concepts down to the very best, most effective form. You must possess the design competence to be able to determine this based on the project criteria else you have no business taking on clients.
There are no revisions except within your own process: and there should be many. This is no overnight process. You should be repeatedly taking breaks and returning the next day with fresh eyes and reevaluating. Look at your concept in different contexts and in different light.
Assess the concept’s effectiveness at different scales, refine your vectors, print out the logo and look at it on paper, view it on different screens and different mediums. Even after I’ve reached what I believe to be a candidate for final concept, I typically spend about a week on the refining process.
(Related: My Logo Design Process)
Present Strongly
This is arguably one of the most important steps of the whole process. You should make no small deal about this presentation. This is the result of weeks of research, work, and testing, and your documentation of that process should be thorough and exhaustive.
Let’s first talk about what you DO NOT do: You never simply send over a design and say “What do you think?” That is the mark of a novice. A professional walks the client through the objective design decisions that were made and shows the client how they work to serve their project goals.
This means you should be documenting your process as you go. This typically takes the form of things like taking photographs of preliminary sketches and iterations and explaining why you pursued one direction over the other. Every design decision should be objective. Every serif, every swash, every icon, every illustration and shape should be purposeful. Explain it all in your presentation.
Do you see how this is starting to come together? You laid the foundation for a successful project, you’ve done your best work—the work you specialize in—and now you get to show the client the value that they receive as a result.
The Presentation
What does this kind of presentation look like? Here’s the fantastic part: because you’re putting so much effort into documenting your process and explaining thoroughly, the presentation you send to the client works doubly as a Case Study that you can display on your site. Typically there are only a few minor changes you’ll need to make to such an exhaustive presentation for it to function as a great Case Study.
This means the Custom Type Logo Case Studies I’ve published are perfect examples of what my presentations look like. You would of course address them more personally to your client, but the structure remains the same:
State the project goals as provided by the client in the questionnaire, and reiterated in the signed contract
Show your work and how you focused on those goals while demonstrating mindfulness of the constraints.
Frame the final concept in light of those goals and explain its effectiveness.
Call To Action
Now that you’ve sent the presentation, what’s next? Well you are the designer, which means you should be designing the call to action. It should be very clear what is needed from the client.
Let’s once again restate what you DO NOT do: You never conclude a design presentation with “What do you think?” That is the mark of a novice. You as the professional have thoroughly explained your process and shown the value of the result. This is the service you provide. There are no arbitrary revisions, there are no subjective requests for changes, so do not conclude by soliciting them.
You have positioned your professional service as one of providing an effective solution, and your client has demonstrated that they are on board with that—it’s why you took them on.
Final Payment
The final step is payment. This is the call to action. The presentation contains raster process images. At the conclusion of the presentation, you inform the client that the vector deliverables will be sent upon receipt of the final payment.
Conclusion
No doubt you have some questions right now. I’m aware that these are very challenging concepts I’m presenting. They require an uncompromising approach and without the necessary understanding of design professionalism they can not be put into action. Chances are, these ideas are new to you and you’re still wondering about some things and are looking for answers.
The good news: this is exactly what my podcast addresses.
I anticipated that this article would spur many questions. For this reason just yesterday, I recorded an accompanying episode of my podcast to go over The One Concept Approach and provide even further context.
The podcast was broadcast live, and I answered questions from the listeners in the chat as well as from people on twitter.
Article Source...
But what is the purpose of these multiple concepts? On what merit are revisions based?
I submit to you, if a designer has arrived at two concepts, his work is not done. Design is an iterative process. You start with many ideas and you continually refine. You dismiss the less effective ideas and distill down to the one that best serves the project goals.
It is the designer’s job to establish a process that concludes with the most effective concept. If a designer cannot determine which of two remaining concepts most effectively serves the project goals, then they are not to the point where they should be taking on clients.
The Problem With Multiple Concepts
If you believe that a professional designs a logo for their client, you are mistaken. A professional designs for the client’s customer. You do not design for your client. It is not your job to serve the preferential whim of your client.
This preferential whim is exactly what is being served when you deliver multiple concepts. The client picks their favorite. Their subjective preference. But again, who is the logo for? The client’s customer. It does no good for a client to love a logo that is not effective with their audience or does not meet their project goals.
“If you’re looking for options, I’m not your guy.”
This is precisely what I tell my potential clients. I’m not afraid to be honest and up front with them. In fact, it’s a requirement that I am as straightforward in the preliminary stages if I am to set the right precedent for the relationship.
Options are a disservice to the client. Much like a doctor or mechanic who suggests a myriad of possible operations—I’d much rather their single, professional recommendation. The best solution. The most ideal choice based on their extensive experience. That is where I receive the greatest value.
I conclude by telling the potential client that if they are interested in having someone with experience dedicate themselves towards crafting something that will be effective for their needs, we will be an excellent fit.
Why Do Clients Want Options?
Clients want multiple concepts because they are conditioned to expect multiple concepts. They expect what designers project.
Because the design industry is rampant with unprofessional practice, clients come to expect such behavior after consistently observing it. Designers perpetuate the expectation because they continue to work unprofessionally. They are not competent enough to establish a process that delivers a single, most effective concept and instead erroneously subject the client to a design decision (for which they are not qualified) and cater to the subjective, preferential whim of the client.
All of this is at the expense of the project’s effectiveness and at the expense of the perception of the industry as a whole. Though these designers may consider themselves professionals, many of them having worked in the industry for years, they are in fact only technicians for the do not provide solutions, but merely “options”.
Removing Subjective Preference
If you present two options to a client, red and blue, and ask them to pick their favorite, they will. However, if you instead position your services as one of providing a valuable solution, the situation looks quite different:
With subjective preference out of the picture, you inform the client that if they hire you, you will tell them which color will make them more money. The client in this scenario is not concerned about their personal preference for it was never solicited or brought into the picture. He will of course desire for you to deliver the solution that provides the greater value.
This is the difference between a technician and a professional:
Technicians perform tasks.
Professionals provide a solution.
When you simply deliver multiple options, you are acting as a technician. The focus is on your time and your output. You are an expense, and you are a commodity.
When you provide a solution, you are acting as a professional. The focus is on your results and the value you create. You are an investment, and you are worth paying relative to the value you create.
Let’s look at how to lay a foundation for establishing the kind of trust that is necessary for this type of client relationship.
Define Roles
It is imperative that you set the groundwork for a successful project at the very beginning. This is done through your communication during the preliminary stages. You must take care to very clearly establish what you and your client are each responsible for. These roles should be defined in your contract and personally communicated to the client.
What is the client responsible for?
The client is responsible for two things and two things only: Content & Goals. This amounts to the information that you will have obtained through your questionnaire. These two things should be acquired before the start of that project and remain constants; they do not change.
(Related: e035: Crafting the Right Questionnaire to Attract the Clients You’ll Love)
What is the designer responsible for?
The designer is responsible for design. The includes any and all design decisions. Selecting the most effective concept is a design decision—one that you should not subject to the client. Your job is design, and as a professional you do not subject others to decisions that pertain to your job.
Set Expectations
Your client should know what to expect at every single stage. From beginning to end, there should be no confusion or unexpected steps. This is where your process comes in. You should have two processes – A General Process, and a Project-Specific Process:
General Process
Your general process is an overview of how you work. It should contain all stages and steps that are common in every type of project you do.
A general process can and should be placed on your website where it is publicly viewable by potential clients.
Project-Specific Process
This process is something you create on a client-by-client basis.
You provide this specific overview to the client at the onset of the project.
(Related: e024: Finding Clients While Maintaining Professionalism)
Establish Credibility
The General Process publicly displayed on your website lets a client see how you work. This gives them an idea of what they can expect. Your Project-Specific Process takes this a step further and customizes the General Process to fit your current client’s specific project. This goes a long way in preventing future problems.
Trust
Being transparent and communicative about how you work and when the client can expect things is how you build trust. This trust is necessary to facilitate the type of relationship that will allow you to deliver one, single, most effective concept.
Case Studies
As a way of further establishing credibility and building trust, use Case Studies to show how you work. Case Studies work to provide a multifaceted look at your process. Yes, the client can read your General Process, but the more unique Case Studies you display, the more well-rounded the client’s idea of how you work. Yet again, this is a very important part of building that trust.
(Related: Examples of Logo Design Case Studies)
Begin Designing
Once the relational groundwork has been laid, expectations have been set, roadmap has been laid out, contract has been signed, and you have been paid, you are now ready to begin the design process.
At this point, the client knows that you will be delivering a single concept that most effectively meets their project goals because you have thoroughly communicated this to them in order to make it to this stage.
It’s time to refine, refine, refine. You start with many ideas and you hone it down. This is the only time are ever multiple concepts: within your own process. Your output should only ever be a single solution. This comes from a process that refines a number of explored concepts down to the very best, most effective form. You must possess the design competence to be able to determine this based on the project criteria else you have no business taking on clients.
There are no revisions except within your own process: and there should be many. This is no overnight process. You should be repeatedly taking breaks and returning the next day with fresh eyes and reevaluating. Look at your concept in different contexts and in different light.
Assess the concept’s effectiveness at different scales, refine your vectors, print out the logo and look at it on paper, view it on different screens and different mediums. Even after I’ve reached what I believe to be a candidate for final concept, I typically spend about a week on the refining process.
(Related: My Logo Design Process)
Present Strongly
This is arguably one of the most important steps of the whole process. You should make no small deal about this presentation. This is the result of weeks of research, work, and testing, and your documentation of that process should be thorough and exhaustive.
Let’s first talk about what you DO NOT do: You never simply send over a design and say “What do you think?” That is the mark of a novice. A professional walks the client through the objective design decisions that were made and shows the client how they work to serve their project goals.
This means you should be documenting your process as you go. This typically takes the form of things like taking photographs of preliminary sketches and iterations and explaining why you pursued one direction over the other. Every design decision should be objective. Every serif, every swash, every icon, every illustration and shape should be purposeful. Explain it all in your presentation.
Do you see how this is starting to come together? You laid the foundation for a successful project, you’ve done your best work—the work you specialize in—and now you get to show the client the value that they receive as a result.
The Presentation
What does this kind of presentation look like? Here’s the fantastic part: because you’re putting so much effort into documenting your process and explaining thoroughly, the presentation you send to the client works doubly as a Case Study that you can display on your site. Typically there are only a few minor changes you’ll need to make to such an exhaustive presentation for it to function as a great Case Study.
This means the Custom Type Logo Case Studies I’ve published are perfect examples of what my presentations look like. You would of course address them more personally to your client, but the structure remains the same:
State the project goals as provided by the client in the questionnaire, and reiterated in the signed contract
Show your work and how you focused on those goals while demonstrating mindfulness of the constraints.
Frame the final concept in light of those goals and explain its effectiveness.
Call To Action
Now that you’ve sent the presentation, what’s next? Well you are the designer, which means you should be designing the call to action. It should be very clear what is needed from the client.
Let’s once again restate what you DO NOT do: You never conclude a design presentation with “What do you think?” That is the mark of a novice. You as the professional have thoroughly explained your process and shown the value of the result. This is the service you provide. There are no arbitrary revisions, there are no subjective requests for changes, so do not conclude by soliciting them.
You have positioned your professional service as one of providing an effective solution, and your client has demonstrated that they are on board with that—it’s why you took them on.
Final Payment
The final step is payment. This is the call to action. The presentation contains raster process images. At the conclusion of the presentation, you inform the client that the vector deliverables will be sent upon receipt of the final payment.
Conclusion
No doubt you have some questions right now. I’m aware that these are very challenging concepts I’m presenting. They require an uncompromising approach and without the necessary understanding of design professionalism they can not be put into action. Chances are, these ideas are new to you and you’re still wondering about some things and are looking for answers.
The good news: this is exactly what my podcast addresses.
I anticipated that this article would spur many questions. For this reason just yesterday, I recorded an accompanying episode of my podcast to go over The One Concept Approach and provide even further context.
The podcast was broadcast live, and I answered questions from the listeners in the chat as well as from people on twitter.
Article Source...
Monday, 10 November 2014
WHAT MAKES A GOOD LOGO DESIGN?
A good logo design in theory
should be able to create a positive, powerful first impression. It
should also create a long lasting one as well.
Examples? Just think of IBM’s and McDonalds’ logo. If you can only see part of their logo you’ll instantly recognize it. This proves that their logo works in leaving a strong impression
to viewers. Isn’t that what we all want?
It should also convey to viewers, your company’s ethos, mission and products/services to them. A good logo also builds your brand and gives a polished, more professional look to your business. It should reflect the nature of your business and what kind of services you offer. If it’s a bank, then classic and bold typeface works well to suggest solid and protected look. If your unique business is based on speedy service, you might consider italics or dashes to suggest movement.
Practically, a good logo design should also be simple and works well in black and white. Why? Let’s imagine again examples of excellent logos; Nike’s swoosh, Sony, Dell, and BMW. Can you recognize them in black and white? From a distance? or even just a part of it? That is why your logo needs to be simple to work well in all mediums. Clients often make the mistake in thinking that more is more, when in actuality less is more. The simpler your logo, the easier it is on the eyes and the faster it will register in your future customers’ minds.
Exceptions apply to Governments Organizations, 5 star hotels or exclusive clubs. This is because a good logo for them would more often be classical in nature to give an image of stability and exclusivity.
Colors are not as important in a good logo design as you might think. If your logo does not look good in black and white, it won’t look good in any color.
Choose only colors that represent your company well. Yellow or sky blue gives a youthful and
energetic look. Navy or lavender gives a calm, professional feel. Red, orange means strong and intense while green and magenta commands respect.
Choose your logo design wisely, and remember a cheap logo design service is not necessarily
better. As the saying goes, ‘You get what you pay for’.
Article Source...
Thursday, 6 November 2014
Why do Small Businesses Require Brand Identity?
Do you have a little business? You are most likely thinking about how
to patch up your picture and promoting system in the general population
eye to get took note. You need your brand to experience extension to
attract a bigger target group of onlookers and more accomplishment all
in all. What you need is tune-up for your brand character to help
acquire these viewpoints and expand the adequacy of your showcasing.
While this obliges time and cash, consider it a speculation that can
all-around enhance your little business’ picture, amplify your intended
interest group, and grow your fan base. You have to make your little
business brand personality.
Brand Identity System
Keeping up a secured picture is one of the key components in making your little business brand character. One approach to pass on this component exists in logo planning. Your logo imparts a message of professionalism and duty to your clients, while giving an appearance of soundness and experience. Logo outlining includes the tasteful of a characterized organization, which can help transform potential clients into enduring customers. This implies that your logo ought to present a demeanor of validity and mastery – a vital element in attracting your intended interest group. Putting a lot of thought into logo outlining close by a generally created brand personality framework; can support your little business in making a superior and stronger association with customers. Most individuals think that it less demanding to recall what they see, so your logo makes one of the greatest impacts on your customers as it makes up a visual connected with your business.
An alternate course in enhancing your little business brand identity framework exists in the professionalism and appearance of different qualities, for example, your business cards. Utilizing a home-printing framework to make your cards appears to be unpracticed, shabby and amateurish. You will find that your picture gets to be stronger when utilizing an expert printer and unique formats for such style than with non specific home printing frameworks. You would prefer not to appear to be nonexclusive – you need to give a valid feel of the unparalleled organization that gives the administrations this uncommon quality in your field.
Redoing your brand personality framework basically means making all components connected with your little business more appealing, and seeming bigger than the individual character of your organization. The presentation of your whole showcasing bundle, including pamphlets, business cards, logo, representative representation, and ads ought to give your little business a stronger and bigger advance. Making this speculation is a workmanship that can demonstrate advantageous in attracting clients and creating stronger business associations. Each settled and well-known business chain began with a solitary area. These chains made the same interest in making a stronger brand character framework.
Little Businesses Require Brand Identity
Some key elements you will need to consider in redoing your showcasing system incorporate charming your organization with your made clients. Some piece of this thought means giving what is normal by the overall population (i.e. logo outlines, sites, business cards) in giving different venues of contact and correspondence to suite your potential customers’ requirements ahead of time. You need to exhibit how your administration or item varies from contenders. Make sure that the items or administrations your little business gives are of the quality guaranteed by your brand personality framework. All parts of your brand ought to exhibit your individual pride in your little business, whether it is your promoting method, item, administration or representative presentation. These perspectives help your little business correspond with your clients a solid feeling of ensured quality and a remarkable and pleasurable client encounter too.
To guarantee that your interest in a brand identity framework works, make a blueprint of what you need to convey through style, experience and item. A few inquiries to consider: What do you need your brand to say in regards to your little business? How is your business distinctive/better than others in the same field? What showcasing strategies accomplish more effective organizations utilization, and in what capacity can tailor those strategies to fit your little business? In particular, how does your business convey a body of foundation, believability and quality in all extensions of your brand? In noting these inquiries and making diagrams to fulfill these angles, you are well on your approach to beginning a fantastic little business brand character framework that imparts your message to various possibility.
Article Source...
Brand Identity System
Keeping up a secured picture is one of the key components in making your little business brand character. One approach to pass on this component exists in logo planning. Your logo imparts a message of professionalism and duty to your clients, while giving an appearance of soundness and experience. Logo outlining includes the tasteful of a characterized organization, which can help transform potential clients into enduring customers. This implies that your logo ought to present a demeanor of validity and mastery – a vital element in attracting your intended interest group. Putting a lot of thought into logo outlining close by a generally created brand personality framework; can support your little business in making a superior and stronger association with customers. Most individuals think that it less demanding to recall what they see, so your logo makes one of the greatest impacts on your customers as it makes up a visual connected with your business.
An alternate course in enhancing your little business brand identity framework exists in the professionalism and appearance of different qualities, for example, your business cards. Utilizing a home-printing framework to make your cards appears to be unpracticed, shabby and amateurish. You will find that your picture gets to be stronger when utilizing an expert printer and unique formats for such style than with non specific home printing frameworks. You would prefer not to appear to be nonexclusive – you need to give a valid feel of the unparalleled organization that gives the administrations this uncommon quality in your field.
Redoing your brand personality framework basically means making all components connected with your little business more appealing, and seeming bigger than the individual character of your organization. The presentation of your whole showcasing bundle, including pamphlets, business cards, logo, representative representation, and ads ought to give your little business a stronger and bigger advance. Making this speculation is a workmanship that can demonstrate advantageous in attracting clients and creating stronger business associations. Each settled and well-known business chain began with a solitary area. These chains made the same interest in making a stronger brand character framework.
Little Businesses Require Brand Identity
Some key elements you will need to consider in redoing your showcasing system incorporate charming your organization with your made clients. Some piece of this thought means giving what is normal by the overall population (i.e. logo outlines, sites, business cards) in giving different venues of contact and correspondence to suite your potential customers’ requirements ahead of time. You need to exhibit how your administration or item varies from contenders. Make sure that the items or administrations your little business gives are of the quality guaranteed by your brand personality framework. All parts of your brand ought to exhibit your individual pride in your little business, whether it is your promoting method, item, administration or representative presentation. These perspectives help your little business correspond with your clients a solid feeling of ensured quality and a remarkable and pleasurable client encounter too.
To guarantee that your interest in a brand identity framework works, make a blueprint of what you need to convey through style, experience and item. A few inquiries to consider: What do you need your brand to say in regards to your little business? How is your business distinctive/better than others in the same field? What showcasing strategies accomplish more effective organizations utilization, and in what capacity can tailor those strategies to fit your little business? In particular, how does your business convey a body of foundation, believability and quality in all extensions of your brand? In noting these inquiries and making diagrams to fulfill these angles, you are well on your approach to beginning a fantastic little business brand character framework that imparts your message to various possibility.
Article Source...
Does Your Brand's Personality Come Through In Social Media?
s the great comedian Mitch Hedberg once said "There's turkey ham, turkey bologna, turkey pastrami. Someone needs to tell the turkey, 'man, just be yourself.'"
The same could be said to brands, with regard to social media. This form of marketing has opened up two-way conversation with consumers. But to take full advantage, brands have to start establishing and employing social-media voices that match their perceived personalities.
Every product has a personality. Advertising and PR are crafted tell consumers "who" the product is and why they should fall in love with it, take it home, be its best friend, spend time with it and introduce it to their friends. But what happens when fans can talk directly to the product, and the product has to talk back? How is that product supposed to sound and act? What if the product says the wrong thing? What if fans find out the product isn't who they thought it was? What if it ignores them, speaks condescendingly or, worse yet, just bores them to death?
This goes for all brands and products, but with the Electronic Entertainment Expo rolling up on us, June 5-7 in Los Angeles, I'll use video games as an example. The games take chances and go places you can't go in real life, yet once they have to carry on conversations in real life, they often become shy, careful and conservative. Games are by nature entertaining, unexpected, controversial and edgy. Shouldn't conversations between games and their fans be that way too?
An agency or internal social-media team lays out a digital-marketing strategy and crafts and shares videos, social-media updates and other forms of digital content designed to spark conversation, encourage sharing, raise awareness and ultimately sell more video games. Then the fans get to talk back.
This is where many game publishers get nervous. Much of the daily back-and-forth involves the publisher saying a few things to let the fans know the game's "down" with them, and then getting out before saying too much or drawing fire from unwanted directions. Rather than challenging and even provoking fans, responding to negative comments with flair, or flat out telling idiots to shut up and go away, publishers run their social-media channels along a strict set of legal-department-approved, politically correct guidelines. What's fun about that ?
Part of the problem is that games can afford to be fun and reckless, while publishers often cannot. While video games are out running over hookers and torching pimps with flamethrowers, publishers have to consider legal and social concerns, rights groups and liability. The game can be about shooting zombies in the face, but if someone leaves a negative comment, the game's publisher has to react with sensitivity to the zombie community. The game encourages zombie hunting, but the publisher knows that if a kid shoots a real zombie in the face, the publisher might be liable for the incident.
My agency was managing social media for a fighting game and an update that included "badass" was disallowed because it contained that word. I'm not sure who we were trying not to offend, because the fans are saying far worse than that . To what extent should game publishers allow their social-media voice to get in there and roll around in the mud with their fans? Too many brands are setting up social media "playgrounds" where fans get to play on the swings and see-saws and those creepy little animals on springs (what are they called anyway?) but the company stays off to the side, just watching. Why not jump in and have fun? Will you wipe out your knee or get punched in the face by the playground bully? Perhaps, but what doesn't kill you will make you smarter.
Pre-written, approved Facebook updates and tweets are necessary to maintain a flow of information, but there should be more emphasis placed on actual back and forth conversation. Establish the voice of the game, just as you would establish the voice of a character. If the game would use swear words, then use swear words. If the game would say outrageous and unexpected things or instigate crazy calls to action, then let the game do its thing. Be organic. Practice more active engagement and less reactive engagement. Chat the fans up. Don't be shy. Game publishers are so worried about saying or doing the wrong things that they're missing out on the best part of social media, the part where they learn the most about their fans, what they want, and how they feel. These are the things you learn from being actively involved in the conversation, which bring the analytics, metrics, charts, graphs and numbers to life.
Try this approach and fans will recognize the consistency between the personality and the voice and reward you with an uptick in engagement. You'll likely see an increase in conversation surrounding the brand and the product. You may feel uncomfortable at first, but those are just the growing pains.
Article Source....
The same could be said to brands, with regard to social media. This form of marketing has opened up two-way conversation with consumers. But to take full advantage, brands have to start establishing and employing social-media voices that match their perceived personalities.
Every product has a personality. Advertising and PR are crafted tell consumers "who" the product is and why they should fall in love with it, take it home, be its best friend, spend time with it and introduce it to their friends. But what happens when fans can talk directly to the product, and the product has to talk back? How is that product supposed to sound and act? What if the product says the wrong thing? What if fans find out the product isn't who they thought it was? What if it ignores them, speaks condescendingly or, worse yet, just bores them to death?
This goes for all brands and products, but with the Electronic Entertainment Expo rolling up on us, June 5-7 in Los Angeles, I'll use video games as an example. The games take chances and go places you can't go in real life, yet once they have to carry on conversations in real life, they often become shy, careful and conservative. Games are by nature entertaining, unexpected, controversial and edgy. Shouldn't conversations between games and their fans be that way too?
An agency or internal social-media team lays out a digital-marketing strategy and crafts and shares videos, social-media updates and other forms of digital content designed to spark conversation, encourage sharing, raise awareness and ultimately sell more video games. Then the fans get to talk back.
This is where many game publishers get nervous. Much of the daily back-and-forth involves the publisher saying a few things to let the fans know the game's "down" with them, and then getting out before saying too much or drawing fire from unwanted directions. Rather than challenging and even provoking fans, responding to negative comments with flair, or flat out telling idiots to shut up and go away, publishers run their social-media channels along a strict set of legal-department-approved, politically correct guidelines. What's fun about that ?
Part of the problem is that games can afford to be fun and reckless, while publishers often cannot. While video games are out running over hookers and torching pimps with flamethrowers, publishers have to consider legal and social concerns, rights groups and liability. The game can be about shooting zombies in the face, but if someone leaves a negative comment, the game's publisher has to react with sensitivity to the zombie community. The game encourages zombie hunting, but the publisher knows that if a kid shoots a real zombie in the face, the publisher might be liable for the incident.
My agency was managing social media for a fighting game and an update that included "badass" was disallowed because it contained that word. I'm not sure who we were trying not to offend, because the fans are saying far worse than that . To what extent should game publishers allow their social-media voice to get in there and roll around in the mud with their fans? Too many brands are setting up social media "playgrounds" where fans get to play on the swings and see-saws and those creepy little animals on springs (what are they called anyway?) but the company stays off to the side, just watching. Why not jump in and have fun? Will you wipe out your knee or get punched in the face by the playground bully? Perhaps, but what doesn't kill you will make you smarter.
Pre-written, approved Facebook updates and tweets are necessary to maintain a flow of information, but there should be more emphasis placed on actual back and forth conversation. Establish the voice of the game, just as you would establish the voice of a character. If the game would use swear words, then use swear words. If the game would say outrageous and unexpected things or instigate crazy calls to action, then let the game do its thing. Be organic. Practice more active engagement and less reactive engagement. Chat the fans up. Don't be shy. Game publishers are so worried about saying or doing the wrong things that they're missing out on the best part of social media, the part where they learn the most about their fans, what they want, and how they feel. These are the things you learn from being actively involved in the conversation, which bring the analytics, metrics, charts, graphs and numbers to life.
Try this approach and fans will recognize the consistency between the personality and the voice and reward you with an uptick in engagement. You'll likely see an increase in conversation surrounding the brand and the product. You may feel uncomfortable at first, but those are just the growing pains.
Article Source....
Wednesday, 5 November 2014
Designing a Logo that Works
A good logo — beauty queen or hard working laborer? A really good logo is both. It looks good just standing there, attracting attention, showing off. It also labors tirelessly carrying your product and delivering your message. When you can balance the two you have a winning logo.
Definition
It's probably best to begin this discussion with a brief description of what I mean by a logo and what I expect it to do for a company. When I use the word logo here, I'm including all types of logos —
A logo identifies the company; it's a major part of the company's overall corporate identity. Some logos give a hint about what the company does or sells.
Pretty or ugly is only part of the equation. I've seen beautiful logos that did nothing to enhance their companies' images, and I've seen so-so artwork that helped bring success. There's a balance between looking good and working hard that needs to be achieved. Neither is expendable.
Common errors in thinking
A logo can prove unworkable for a number of reasons. A common, and often costly, error is underestimating the importance of company identity right from the beginning.
I see this often when a company rushes the development of a logo without taking the time to evaluate whether or not it advances the image they wish to portray to clients and prospects. Later they may find that it does not enhance or build on their image as the company grows.
If they're attempting to build a brand and brand recognition, this is a fatal mistake. They end up faced with the unpleasant choice of either sticking with a non-optimum logo because they have a great deal invested in it, or abandoning the logo and any recognition they've been working to build.
An important first step in logo design
The first step in designing a logo is review and evaluation of the company, always with a view to at least 5 or 10 years into the future. This means introspection. It means having a plan for the future of the company. It means an honest evaluation of what is wanted, what is possible and what is probable.
Common design or technical errors
Another part of the evaluation that should occur before the design of a company logo is determining, as well as possible, the ways in which the logo will be used. Stationery? More than likely. But what about signs? Use on vehicles, in advertising, on specialty items like pens? How about on a Web site or on a billboard? The list goes on. Many of these have very different technical requirements that need to be considered before creating a logo that might not be adaptable.
Trust me when I write that it is possible to design a logo that is quite beautiful, enhances the company's image and yet, is completely unworkable in the real world. I have spent many hours recreating logos that could not be used where they were needed. The reasons for this are almost as varied as the logos themselves. But they break down into a few major categories and with careful thought and preparation can usually be avoided.
Not using a computer to create the art or using the wrong computer program.
In the world today, a logo simply must be available as electronic artwork. There's no getting around this. There would be tremendous costs and delays in attempting to use non-digitized artwork when working with printers, advertising media, designers, etc. But, not all computer programs are equal.
This may seem obvious or even condescending to write but not all computer programs are the same. They have different purposes and learning which computer programs perform different tasks best is a very important part of learning about computers and learning how to best create a logo.
I often see logos that have been created using an image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop. This is the wrong program to use. Adobe Photoshop is best used for continuous tone images like photographs that will be printed in full color or perhaps as shades of gray. It is not best for line art or drawings. For that, you need to use a program that will allow you to maintain the original artwork in a vector or outline format, so that it remains easily edited as individual elements.
Vector graphics can easily have different colors applied to them and can be created to print in one color or dozens of colors. Furthermore, vector graphics can be scaled without loss of resolution. Drawing programs such as Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia FreeHand or Corel Draw are appropriate choices and will help to avoid costly redraws later.
So start out the right way and use a drawing program. Then guard that file as a master. This gives you the ability to update the logo when needed and to create the exact format that individual print projects require as well as preparing the logo for use on the Web or in other media, in small sizes and large, in one color when economy is required and in 4-color when appropriate. You will save money in the long run by creating the logo properly the first time.
A valuable asset
A company's logo design, its corporate identity, is a valuable asset and should be approached that way. It should be fought for and protected from infringement and misuse. It should be updated and kept fresh through ongoing review and evaluation. It is an investment in the company and its value should be expected to last for years.
Using and protecting
What I am about to write may be more important than all of the above. Because pretty or ugly, easy to use or difficult, your logo must be applied consistently and protected in order to be a true asset to the company. Once a logo is designed and produced we find that they way the logo is used is what builds the brand. Consistency and continuity are the keywords here. The configuration, colors, type style, relative sizes of elements all stay the same. I know where the Coca-Cola is in a store way before I can read the words on the can. What if McDonald's painted the "golden arches" orange at some locations and brown at others? No. Recognition is built by presenting the same image repeatedly.
Well, if your company has the recognition that Google has, then okay, go for it. But remember that the very action of creating holiday versions of their logo is part of their corporate image. And, they never lose sight of the original logo, each novelty logo is only used for a brief period, and every version is copyrighted. In general and for most of us, it is better to build the brand through consistent use.
Article Source....
Definition
It's probably best to begin this discussion with a brief description of what I mean by a logo and what I expect it to do for a company. When I use the word logo here, I'm including all types of logos —
- logo marks: images or graphic representations (think Shell);
- logotypes: letters or words treated in a special way to make them unique (think Coca-Cola); or,
- some combination of logomark and logotype (think McDonald's).
A logo identifies the company; it's a major part of the company's overall corporate identity. Some logos give a hint about what the company does or sells.
- A logo should help build the image the company wants in the minds of its customers and prospects.
- It must be able to deliver the message.
- It should be recognizable and easy to remember.
- It should work in all materials and all media.
Pretty or ugly is only part of the equation. I've seen beautiful logos that did nothing to enhance their companies' images, and I've seen so-so artwork that helped bring success. There's a balance between looking good and working hard that needs to be achieved. Neither is expendable.
Common errors in thinking
A logo can prove unworkable for a number of reasons. A common, and often costly, error is underestimating the importance of company identity right from the beginning.
I see this often when a company rushes the development of a logo without taking the time to evaluate whether or not it advances the image they wish to portray to clients and prospects. Later they may find that it does not enhance or build on their image as the company grows.
If they're attempting to build a brand and brand recognition, this is a fatal mistake. They end up faced with the unpleasant choice of either sticking with a non-optimum logo because they have a great deal invested in it, or abandoning the logo and any recognition they've been working to build.
An important first step in logo design
The first step in designing a logo is review and evaluation of the company, always with a view to at least 5 or 10 years into the future. This means introspection. It means having a plan for the future of the company. It means an honest evaluation of what is wanted, what is possible and what is probable.
- What is the image the company needs to build in order for that plan to materialize?
- Can that image be represented graphically?
- Can a logo help to build that image? In what ways? Color, artwork, type style, size, boldness, flashiness, conservatism are all parts of reflecting the image desired.
- Which will accomplish the goal best?
- Which are trendy tricks that will fade leaving the company looking dated and stale?
Common design or technical errors
Another part of the evaluation that should occur before the design of a company logo is determining, as well as possible, the ways in which the logo will be used. Stationery? More than likely. But what about signs? Use on vehicles, in advertising, on specialty items like pens? How about on a Web site or on a billboard? The list goes on. Many of these have very different technical requirements that need to be considered before creating a logo that might not be adaptable.
Trust me when I write that it is possible to design a logo that is quite beautiful, enhances the company's image and yet, is completely unworkable in the real world. I have spent many hours recreating logos that could not be used where they were needed. The reasons for this are almost as varied as the logos themselves. But they break down into a few major categories and with careful thought and preparation can usually be avoided.
Not using a computer to create the art or using the wrong computer program.
In the world today, a logo simply must be available as electronic artwork. There's no getting around this. There would be tremendous costs and delays in attempting to use non-digitized artwork when working with printers, advertising media, designers, etc. But, not all computer programs are equal.
This may seem obvious or even condescending to write but not all computer programs are the same. They have different purposes and learning which computer programs perform different tasks best is a very important part of learning about computers and learning how to best create a logo.
I often see logos that have been created using an image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop. This is the wrong program to use. Adobe Photoshop is best used for continuous tone images like photographs that will be printed in full color or perhaps as shades of gray. It is not best for line art or drawings. For that, you need to use a program that will allow you to maintain the original artwork in a vector or outline format, so that it remains easily edited as individual elements.
Vector graphics can easily have different colors applied to them and can be created to print in one color or dozens of colors. Furthermore, vector graphics can be scaled without loss of resolution. Drawing programs such as Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia FreeHand or Corel Draw are appropriate choices and will help to avoid costly redraws later.
So start out the right way and use a drawing program. Then guard that file as a master. This gives you the ability to update the logo when needed and to create the exact format that individual print projects require as well as preparing the logo for use on the Web or in other media, in small sizes and large, in one color when economy is required and in 4-color when appropriate. You will save money in the long run by creating the logo properly the first time.
A valuable asset
A company's logo design, its corporate identity, is a valuable asset and should be approached that way. It should be fought for and protected from infringement and misuse. It should be updated and kept fresh through ongoing review and evaluation. It is an investment in the company and its value should be expected to last for years.
Using and protecting
What I am about to write may be more important than all of the above. Because pretty or ugly, easy to use or difficult, your logo must be applied consistently and protected in order to be a true asset to the company. Once a logo is designed and produced we find that they way the logo is used is what builds the brand. Consistency and continuity are the keywords here. The configuration, colors, type style, relative sizes of elements all stay the same. I know where the Coca-Cola is in a store way before I can read the words on the can. What if McDonald's painted the "golden arches" orange at some locations and brown at others? No. Recognition is built by presenting the same image repeatedly.
- Don't change the colors for a holiday sales promotion. If you are printing and cannot afford the colors established for your corporate identity, print in black.
- Don't rearrange the elements in the logo for different publications.
- Keep the logo separated from other elements so it remains distinct and easily recognized. A very good option is to make it part of a signature with address and contact information and keep that together as a single element away from other content.
- Don't use a logo as a headline, or embed the logo in body copy or put it inside another graphic element on the page.
- Don't combine it with other images or other logos.
- Do not alter your logo. This is for brand-building and also to protect the integrity and legal standing of your rights to that logo.
Well, if your company has the recognition that Google has, then okay, go for it. But remember that the very action of creating holiday versions of their logo is part of their corporate image. And, they never lose sight of the original logo, each novelty logo is only used for a brief period, and every version is copyrighted. In general and for most of us, it is better to build the brand through consistent use.
Article Source....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)