Did You Select a Professional Logo Design For Your Company?

There are some professionals who are over confident about their abilities. Being confident is good, being over confident is dangerous and at times it can create problems that leaves them with no escape route. These professionals try to save money when it comes to get a professional logo design done for their organization. They have no idea of logo design yet the call the professional designers to their office and direct them to use his ideas. One can be rest assured that the custom logo design made as per their directions will ultimately spoil the image of the company in the eyes of its clients. A professional job is best left in the hands of professionals and then nobody should interfere when they are going about their work.

The same stand good for all type and fields of work and it is true for the designing and printing industry too. However, the smart executive thinks he knows more about Professional logo design than the accomplished artists are. When you are utilizing the services of a professional for your organization's logo design services, it is understood that you are the boss and will be pulling the strings. This is understood and accepted by the designing agency that will undertake the job of designing the logo for your organization. These artists know that the executive will make corrections in the logo designs submitted by them and they know that some of the changes will not be suitable for the logo.

They can then suggest what they think is not good for the logo and hope that the executive will agree with their point of view. However, this does not happen all the time. Since the executive has called the agency to do the work, he believes that he knows the entire job, even though he cannot even draw a circle or even a square. Yet he will try to impose his views on the business logo design of the company. Suggesting changes in the design to the advertising agency after they have submitted a few samples is one thing, but telling them how to design the logo from scratch is blasphemy. You can be rest assured that the professional artists will lose all interest in the job and they will not focus their minds on the same any more.

If you are interested in getting a professional logo design made, leave it in the hands of the professionals instead of trying to impose your point of view. They have undertaken many such tasks before are know more about logos that you might ever learn during your lifetime. It will be wiser if you spent you time telling them some details about the company and what it does. This will give the designers a base on which to conceptualize their design. Check out any professional logo and you will find that there is a hint of the work done by the company it depicts. There are some companies whose logo does not portray anything. These companies are so famous that they need no add any other things to their organization's logo.

For the first few days the professionals from the designing agency might bother you to know more about the company. This helps them to provide you with a professional logo design. They might even check the existing stationery of the company to learn about the color schemes used. This will help them to plan the color scheme of the logo so that it's color does not clash with the colors of other elements in the page. One classic example used by many organizations is to use a cream colored paper with the text in jet black and the logo in red. This makes an excellent combination and if the types and logo used are appropriate, they are sure to attract one's attention. Professional logo design means that the logo should be catchy and at the same time it should be simple.

It should not leave the viewers wondering what the logo means. If people start thinking about what you logo stands for, it is high time you got a change over done. While your sales representatives work for 5 days a week, and take holidays during Christmas and summer holidays, the logo keeps on working without complaining 365 days a year. They are the best friends your company has. Is it not their due that they were made using professional logo design? If you are an executive that wants to poke his nose in the initial stages of the professional logo design of your company's logo, here is a hint. There are many books available which have collections of the world's best and award winning logos.

Purchase a few of them and go through the different logos they contain and try to visualize which one would best represent your company. Once you have been able to target a few of them, get Photostat copies made of them. This can be showed to the professional designers when they pay you a visit in context with the professional logo design of your company. Do not try to impose yourself on these artists and let them guide you. If you are patient enough you will see that they will soon come down to your wavelength and then you can also make your views regarding the professional logo design understood by them easily.

Professionals are professionals and they take pride of their work. If pinches them when someone who does not know anything about their profession tries to pass on advice to them. It is best to approach them in a friendly manner. Once you approach them as a friend, the entire scene changes. They will be willing to hear you out patiently. If you want to get the best-designed logo for your organization's logo, it is best to leave the entire thing to them, right from the visualization to the printing stage.

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Bachelor of Graphic Design: Degree Overview

Get information about bachelor's degree programs in graphic design. Learn about prerequisites, courses, career opportunities and continuing education, and find out the economic outlook for this field.

Essential Information
In graphic design bachelor's programs, students learn to balance words, icons, colors and perspectives to create aesthetically pleasing and eye-catching images or promotional publications. Applicants may have to present a portfolio of design work or complete prerequisite courses in order to enroll.

Through lecture-based sessions and hands-on practice, students focus on the use of graphic design software and other essential technologies, including cameras, sound machines and industrial printers. Completion of a final portfolio may be required, and a senior project is often required as well. Graphic design programs may be accredited through the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).
Bachelor of Graphic Design vs. Bachelor of Science

Bachelor's degree programs are available as a Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Bachelor of Graphic Design (BGD) and Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Graphic Design. BFA and BGD programs are 4-year professional degree programs that devote more than 90% of the curriculum to design-related and graphic design coursework. The NASAD and the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) recognize the BFA and BGD as preparation for a career in graphic design.

B.S. and B.A. programs are considered by the NASAD and AIGA as liberal art programs, because the programs typically devote less than half of their credits toward art and design coursework. The NASAD and AIGA stated that liberal arts degrees are not proper preparation for a professional graphic design career (nasad.arts-accredit.org).

Education Prerequisites

Usually a high school diploma or the equivalent is enough to meet the education prerequisites for enrolling in a bachelor's degree program. However, some programs may require students to complete specific coursework and submit a portfolio prior to entrance into the program, state the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Course Topics
Graphic design is an interdisciplinary field that may explore a wide range of topics, including marketing, visual arts, communications and computer sciences. Most programs require students to create professional portfolios to highlight their skills to potential employers. Additionally, programs may include a senior project. Common courses within these programs may include:

•     Drawing
•     Advertising design
•     Computer graphics
•     2-D and 3-D design
•     Typography

Popular Career Options

Graduates are prepared to create publications, websites, branding systems and posters for in a variety of industries, including advertising, publishing and public relations. Popular job titles include:

•     Computer artist
•     Publications designer
•     Art director
•     Graphic designer
•     Web designer

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Getting Your Graphic Design Degree!

Are you in graphic design? Or planning to be? If you’re considering pursuing new opportunities in graphic design, check these suggestions on securing and thriving in a graphic design job.

Visual expertise counts

As society becomes increasingly visual in nature, projects in interactive media are on the rise, especially for new websites, mobile applications, Web advertising design, and video expansions. And as Internet advertising grows, many signs point to further opportunities for increasing the number of graphic design jobs.
Graphic designers are hired by clients to create interactive content on banner ads, landing pages, social media sites, and other interactive forms. Since every company wants interaction on their webpage and product, a well-designed, well-executed campaign can help to make or break a client's sales. Other areas in which graphic design is used is in film (CGI), TV bumpers (including those pop-ups on your screen and segue ads in between programs and ads), animation and Web video.

Draw the interactivity

To be a graphic designer, it helps to have a great eye, and good artistic and technical ability. The main focus for a graphic designer is to elevate the visual aspects of a certain project (in those categories mentioned above) and control the process and eye direction of the user (i.e., the reader). Bringing a person's attention to a particular part of a webpage, video, or animated piece is crucial to drive interactivity, responses, and enjoyment of a project. After all, that's what clients want. Poorly designed pages or projects can make people lose interest or divert their attention to the wrong area on the page.
This might seem obvious, but it's an art and a science to design. Good design isn't decoration; it's more like problem solving. The trick is to be effective in design, without looking hackneyed, cheesy, or outdated.

Graphic design degrees

On average, graphic design graduate degrees take about two to three years to complete. Undergraduates can complete the program in the typical four years. Once finished, graduates usually qualify for a variety of graphic designer positions, depending on the area chosen. As you pursue different  degree programs, figure out which aspect of graphic design appeals most to you, and then look into the aspects that are most employable. Animation and website design experience present top opportunities.
There are many in-person and online graphic design degree programs to choose from. (Full Sail, Parson’s School of Design, and Art Institute are some of the better-known online school options.) Common courses one can expect to take during this phase include principles of design, studio art, commercial graphics production, computerized design, website design, and printing techniques.

Working with clients

Once you have your work in graphic design, it's time to learn about master the concepts of collaboration, creativity, and communication.

• Make sure your professional portfolio features your best work. Show it online so others can see your work in a few clicks. Clients will want to have access to your designs for assessment of your abilities. The right pieces on your website and portfolio can make the difference between a "when can you start?" phone call or a "no thanks."
• Learn to be comfortable selling. Designers need to communicate well. If you cannot explain your work to clients, who will? GraphicDesignBlog.org suggests that good, well-rounded people skills are an important factor when choosing to pursue a graphic design degree. It’s something you can’t learn in school, but something innately a part of this job.
• Lastly, as a little bonus: learn quickly that time is money. The quicker you get quality work back to a client, the more work (and money) you'll receive in return. Businesses expect good work, on time. Budget your time and direction well.

Your work alone may bring you clients, but to keep them, you need to be open to suggestions and open to collaboration. Develop a well-rounded relationship with your clients, understanding their likes and dislikes, according to the scope of the particular project. Get the right results to your client. Collaboration is the key to your success.

The great thing about graphic design work is that it incorporates much of what makes us creative beings: visual acuity, creative imagination, coherence in structure, economy of elements, and more. If you work in graphic design on a daily basis, your senses are engaged all day, every day. With that mental energy abounding daily, the sky's the limit for taking your graphic design degree to a fulfilling career.

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Hagerstown's High Rock Studios acquires 3D animation firm

High Rock Studios, based in downtown Hagerstown, has acquired Baltimore-based Pylot Studios, a firm specializing in three-dimensional renderings and animation, the company has announced.

"High Rock always strives to be at the forefront of technology," said Rich Daughtridge, founder and president of High Rock. "By acquiring Pylot Studios and their team of talented, award-winning 3D designers, we are creating new possibilities and providing broader services for our customers and their future growth."

The acquisition adds the expertise of former Pylot Studios owners Yavuz Goncu and Len Sullivan into the mix as High Rock advances its advertising and marketing solutions with the integration of 3D technologies, the company said in a July 31 news release.

Goncu will serve as creative director of 3D technology and partner in the foundation of the new 3D division, which also will include Sullivan as a partner and senior account executive.

"High Rock and Pylot have successfully partnered on many high profile projects in the past," Goncu said in the release. "Ultimately, we decided that our combined services allow us to quickly and efficiently respond to the increasing demand for new technology in marketing."

As a result of some recent hiring and the acquisition of Pylot, High Rock is planning to expand its Hagerstown headquarters and add some staffers to its recently relocated Baltimore office, company officials said.

Daughtridge said the firm recently added Greg Mills as chief operating officer of High Rock Holdings and Melody Belotte as account executive to increase response to client needs.

"We're excited for the opportunity to grow our team and expand our menu of services to include 3D technologies, in addition to strategic marketing, creative services, web and mobile development, and video production," he said.

Daughtridge said he plans to hire up to four additional employees by the end of 2014, likely to be two new jobs in Hagerstown and two in the Baltimore location.

Both locations will be full-service, but back office operations will continue to be headquartered in Hagerstown, Daughtridge said.

With the additions, the company's workforce stands at about 25 people, he said.

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Making the Woodkit typeface system

Ondrej Jób is describing the process of designing Woodkit, a playful fixed-width display series of typefaces inspired by wood type.

Woodkit is a type system inspired by wood type and letterpress consisting of three families — Solid, Print and Reprint, each with six distinct styles covering various alphabet designs, components and miscellaneous ornaments. Woodkit supports Latin, Cyrillic and Greek scripts.

From both aesthetic and functional reasons, the most important feature of Woodkit is that every single glyph fills a square, not just horizontally, but also vertically. This is a reference and an homage to the physicality of the real life wooden blocks. It didn’t only induce some new and unexpected constructional solutions, it also gave the final font broad versatility, mutual interchangeability, many visual treats unavailable in proportional typefaces and most importantly — playfulness. Some of the fonts and shapes are outright inspired by wooden blocks and alphabets for kids. Therefore with Woodkit, typing also means building.

By now, it’s probably no big surprise that Woodkit originated as a custom logo for one of my friends. In March 2014, Zolo Kis of Mr. Wood asked me to design a logo for his new online store with wooden interior accessories. I came up with a logo constructed from simple blocks. I don’t know about kids these days, but the blocks were one of my most favourite things to play with. And apparently, I still have it in me today, even though it’s only on a computer screen. Just for fun, I quickly ‘built’ a whole alphabet, then a second and a third set, then numbers and I only stopped after Greek and Cyrillic were done.

I love quick and simple projects like this one, but I tend to complicate them for myself. And this was no exception – once I got the idea to actually release this, more styles started to pop up in my head, resulting in a rather extensive kit of letters, shapes, ornaments and patterns. There are six styles in each of the three Woodkit families: Letterpress, Alphabet A and B, Blocks, Figures and Ornaments.

Even though Letterpress style was the last to be added, it has the prominent first spot in the family as it is probably the most ‘typographic’ of the bunch. It draws inspiration from the 19th century wood type posters that literally competed in typographic overabundance of styles, colours and sizes.

I tried to capture just that in Woodkit Letterpress fonts. Every glyph seems to come from a different printer’s case with only a handful sharing a similar style. With everything mixed together and combined with the print artefacts and small defects, the text set in the Letterpress style appears warm and friendly.

When typing with basic ligatures turned on, the font automatically rotates between three different versions for each letter or number. When two same glyphs are typed together, the font replaces them with their narrow variants so they fill just a single square together, adding a little bit of spice into the mix. With contextual alternates turned on, five different versions are being rotated, three full square and two half square wide. And finally, when discretionary ligatures are turned on, the font rotates only between the two half square versions. All this combined together allows for a rich setting where no two words look alike.

The Alphabet A and B styles are as simple as they sound – they are inspired by the basic ABC blocks used by kids who are learning to read. Available in positive (A) or negative (B) versions, they are great for marking sections, typographic mosaics or as drop caps. Simple!

As mentioned above, the Blocks style represents the very essence of Woodkit. Every glyph is a unique stack of various blocks, there are no closed counters, no sharp corners and no complicated shapes that would be difficult to make in real wood.

With the basic ligatures feature on, the font rotates between three different versions for each letter and number.

I couldn’t resist including the Figures style in the family. It is the best demonstration of the playful character of Woodkit. I started to build first figures while drawing the Blocks style as it was a very natural thing to do. I stacked the blocks on top of each other to create letters, so why not try something else too? The result is almost 400 thousand possible figures – there are 78 heads, 8 arms, 8 legs and 8 trunks to choose from and 10 different hats to top it off.

And last but not least, there are Ornaments, a selection of 500 symbols, shapes, mid-century-inspired dingbats and seamless patterns to complement the other Woodkit styles.

Author’s tips

    • Use 100% leading (i.e. 20pt text size/20pt leading) to make the gap between lines and the space between glyphs equal.

    • Use the Glyph palette in your graphic application to pick from all available versions of each glyph (click and hold on a letter with a tiny arrow in the corner)

    • The style of each glyph always depends on the previous glyph. That means that changing the first letter in a word will affect all other letters following it. Quick and easy.

    • Every glyph is 1000 units wide and the tracking setting in your graphic application uses the very same units. That means that setting the tracking, e.g. to +500, will create gaps between the glyphs that are exactly half-glyph wide.

To wrap it up, here is a visual overview of the whole Woodkit system. All fonts are distributed in OpenType TT format (.ttf) and available for purchase exclusively from Typotheque.

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Animator: Required Education For a Career in Animation

Learn about the education and preparation needed to become an animator. Get a quick view of the requirements as well as details about degree programs, job duties and career outlook to find out if this is the career for you.

Essential Information

Most employers require prospective animators to have a bachelor's degree in animation or a related field, as well as a professional portfolio, though some animators hold only a certificate or an associate's degree. Students typically take courses in drawing, 3D programming, computer graphics, video effects and graphic design. Programs may also provide training on sound and video editing, as well as kinematics.

Required Education	Bachelor's degree
Projected Job Growth	6% between 2012 and 2022 (for all multimedia artists and animators)*
Median Salary (2013)	$64,470 annually (for all multimedia artists and animators)*

Source: *U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Portfolios

Through their coursework, students may begin to build a professional portfolio of their work. They may also take specialized courses, such as design studios, to help them improve their skills in animation. Some of these courses may also cover portfolio presentation and self-marketing to help students find jobs after they graduate.

Job Opportunities

Upon graduation, students may look for employment with motion picture and video production companies, as well as advertising and public relations firms. Animators may also find work with software publishers and computer system design firms. With additional training, these professionals may also become:

• Sketch artists
• Graphic designers
• Painters
• Cartoonists
• Illustrators
• Computer game developers
• Computer game programmers
• Visual artists
• Web designers
• Multimedia designers 

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Graphic Design Industry Role Descriptions

If you’re a recent college graduate or if you’re just now entering the workforce, you’ve probably looked at and applied for dozens of design jobs. You’re probably aware of most of the popular job titles in the design industry including everything from junior art director, senior art director, art director and beyond; but after reviewing all the descriptions for each, you might still be a bit confused as to what each position does and how these positions fit in to the office hierarchy. This is because job titles and descriptions are confusing. Responsibilities differ from company to company and can depend on several factors including size, type of company, and even the skills of the employees that work there. For this article, I spoke to several designers, art directors, and creative directors hoping to learn how these roles differ from company to company. What I learned was that each company tends to use their creative teams in different ways. It is my hope that by sharing what I’ve learned that I can help to better prepare you for your transition into the workforce.


The Junior, Mid-Level, and Senior Designer

When you first start looking for a job as a graphic designer, it’s likely that one of the first things that you will do is visit a website like Monster.com and run a search for “graphic designer.” Your results will vary but it’s likely that each of you will see several listings for junior, mid-level, and senior designers. At a glance, these listings might appear to be quite similar but in reality you may find these positions to be quite different in terms of experience and responsibility.

So what exactly are the differences? The terms junior, mid, and senior typically refer to seniority. Designers with many years of experience typically hold more senior level positions while designers with less experience hold more junior ones.

A junior designer, for instance, is an entry level position, usually a college graduate with exceptional talent. Junior designers typically require heavy direction from a more senior designer, or art director to develop a project to its conclusion.

Mid-level designers generally have a couple years of experience in the industry and although they still require supervision from a more senior member of their team, they are typically more than capable of completing most tasks.

The senior designer should be one of the most experienced members of the creative team. They should have several years of experience and should be capable of executing projects with minimal direction from an art director. In addition, senior designers should be able to manage their time as well as the time of more junior level designers. In addition, senior designers should have a firm understanding of all levels of production and be capable of not only contributing to the design of a project but also communicating with the client.
While all of this seems rather cut and dry, it’s not. The role of the designer can change depending on the size of the company. A smaller studio, for instance, might be more hands on, relying on more junior level designers to interact with clients and make decisions regarding the direction of a project whereas a larger agency may have stricter guidelines and a clearer division of labor.

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