As Wikipedia states,branding has become an “increasingly importantcomponent of culture and the economy, now being described as cultural accessories and personal philosophies.” Simply put, a brand is “a collection of images and ideas representing an economic producer.” In laymen’s terms, branding is the process of creating a recognizable identity for a company or product. In today’s society, branding is one of the most important steps that a company can take. Modern consumers are willing to buy a product based solely on the fact that they are familiar with the brand. Because advertising is driven by television and the internet, the visual aspects of a brand’s identity are extremely important. The most recognizable aspect of a brand is its logo design.

Although the average consumer will take it for granted, logo design is an extremely complicated process. Contrary to popular belief, it would be almost impossible to find a major company that designed their logo by accident or chance. In reality, logo design is a process that requires the full attention of a qualified group of individuals.

Logo design lies within the larger field of graphic design. According to many industry experts, logo design is considered to be the most difficult part of graphic design. The reason that logo design is so much more difficult than many other areas of graphic design is because a company logo is not just an image. Instead, a logo is an embodiment of an organization. Therefore, a professional logo design team must possess an extremely high level of skills in several different areas. According to several sources, there are a handful of general guidelines which dictate the process of most logo designs.

To begin with, all logos should be vector graphics. Logos that are created as vector graphics can be blown up or shrunk down without losing their quality. Therefore, you can use the same logo on a business card and a billboard without sacrificing detail or quality. The next rule that guides logo design is to avoid using gradients as a major feature of any logo. Along the same line, logos should utilize as few colors as possible. This will not only make the task of reproduction much easier, but it will also ensure that a logo design does not overwhelm consumers.

In addition to the rules outlined above, there are several guidelines for custom logo design which many people would consider to be common sense. For example, a logo should not feature the face of a person that is still alive. Additionally, a logo should never include imagery that could be classified as culturally sensitive. This could range from national flags to religious icons. Finally, a quality logo design will never rely on photography, clipart or other forms of complex imagery. These items can significantly decrease that a logo design provides for a brand.

Even though you the purpose of logo design is to come up with a logo that sets a company or product from the rest of the crowd, a quality logo designer will not try to be over the top in their design. Trying too hard to develop a unique logo can have the same results as blatantly copying another company’s logo.

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You are a small business owner and you think thatinvesting in getting a professional logo design for your company would be a waste of your limited budget. We at Logo Design Works believe that could be a costly mistake.

In this modern day and age, there are 1000s of companies in any given market. All these companies are competing to capture the attention of the target audience and gain the all important sale.

On the other side of the coin, individuals or potential customers are exposed to a bewildering array of “brand noise” day in and day out. From the time they get up in the morning, till they go to bed they come in contact with 100s of brand identities. To cope with this “brand noise”, people have now evolved to effectively filter it out. This means that you need to have an identity that stands out from the rest and goes beyond just “noise”.

The starting point of any core identity is a good visual image of your company in the form of your company logo. This visual image or logo is like you hand shake to the world. You might have 4 seconds to grab your potential customer’s attention and your company logo is the first point of contact. It can either create a positive or a negative impression on your customer.

Investing a little now in getting a decent professional company logo design would always more than pay for itself. Ignore it and you could be kicking yourself down the line.

Technorati Tags: logo design, logo designer, freelance logo designer, freelance logo design, identity design, namecard design, business card design, stationery design, branding, identity guide, corporate identity guide

I have mentioned on my recent articles the importance of a good logo design for a website. So, I must say, you can not go wrong if you have a good logo designer.

But choosing the right designer for your website’s needs is sometimes a difficult one. Every designer has its own unique talents and expertise based on the needs of every client. In other words, to achieve what you desire, you need to make sure that the designer you choose to hire is a good fit for your company’s need.

Below are some guidelines from us to help you choose the right logo designer for your company.

1. Check the designer’s experience and portfolio

Designer with strong portfolio is a must. Previous designer’s experiences will give you a good hint of knowledge and skill level of the designer that you will going to hire. If you are expecting for a top quality logo design results, consider hiring a designer that has strong design portfolio and previous design work experiences.

2. Check the designer’s site reputation through client’s testimonials

Check-out if your chosen designer has a good reputation. You can do this by looking for some positive testimonials from their clients and colleagues. You can use the Google search engines to determine its credibility or by checking if the designer’s site is truly exist.

3. Check their published designs, awards and achievements

Check their design’s reputation by gathering some information pertaining to their awards and design achievements. Do also thorough research of all their published designs on their site.

4. Check the designer’s service/professional cost

This process is sometimes a question that is hard to answer, but most often the design price is an indication of a quality work. Do a thorough research and make a comparison from different design logo designers around the web by carefully checking every design quotation that you will gather.

5. Check the design process and strategy

Every good logo designer must have a design process to follow. Put in mind that the design process does not take instantly under twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Logo design process must need thorough researching in order to achieve the desired design goal. Typical design process for a good logo design usually takes between two to six weeks. So before you hire a designer, make sure to ask and confirm their design process.

6. Check their design affiliation

Check if they are affiliated with any reputable design publications and associations. Usually, design affiliation is a good indication of every designer’s reputation.

7. Check their customer relations reputation

A good logo designer must be a great customer service relations at all times. Check how they respond with your email query. A designer should respond quickly from your entire query from the start of transactions until the final processing.

8. Identify the designer’s professional character

A good logo designer should be detailed oriented, trustworthy, can work under minimal supervision and with strong communicational skills.

9. Check if they can ask and answer appropriate questions

A designer should know how to ask and answer appropriate questions in order to find out the business needs and goals. The questions and answers should focus in company history, company goals, competitors, target markets etc.

That’s it, all guidelines that I have mentioned above might also applicable when hiring a graphic designer, web designer or any designer matter.

To end with, keep in mind that a good logo design is one of the most important parts of every business online success so be very vigilant in hiring a good logo designer that would help you in reaching your business goals.

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Creating a logo is the ultimate graphic design challenge. You have to express a company, a culture, a message and a philosophy and get it to look good in a space less than an inch across.

Designing logos is like writing poetry. And just as with poetry writing: a lot of people do it; very few do it well.

Here are a few elements that are important in a logo:

Distinct

A logo is the first impression people will get of a company and therefore it needs to be distinct. This means it needs to be recognizable at the smallest size and it should work without color. If a logo is no good at a small size in black then no amount of color or effects will make it work. When reviewing logo options, get the graphic designer to send them to you all in black – it will make the decision making process easier.

Memorable

Of course, we would all like a memorable logo. Just think about the world’s most memorable logos. You could describe them to a 7 year old child in seconds. In fact, a 7 year old child probably already knows them.

Creates the right impression

A logo needs to be relevant to the business in question. The logo creator needs to research the client’s industry before offering options. The logo for a bank would look very different to a logo for a night club.

Longevity

Most businesses would like to use their logo for decades rather than months. So logo designers should not follow recent trends unless they are particularly briefed to do so. They should try to choose a typeface that is not going to look dated in a years’ time.

What type of logo

There are three types of logos: Iconic/Symbolic, Logotype/Woodmark and Combination Marks.

• Iconic/Symbolic. These are icons and symbols that are used to represent the company over the company’s name. Examples of these are Apple, Nike’s swoosh and Shell.
• Logotype/Woodmark. A logo that incorporates the company name, for example, IBM, Coca-Cola, Sony.
• Combination Marks. A combination of the above two.

It is important to choose the right type of logo for the job. As a general rule, the longer the name of the company, the harder it will be for the designer to create a memorable and distinct logo. One of the remedies for this is to create a symbol to take center stage to minimize the awkwardness of the long company name.

Technorati Tags: logo design, logo designer, good logo design, professional logo design, logo design singapore, logo designer singapore

> Click here to view our logo design portfolio

Having accumulated our years of experience in the design industry, creating brand identities and logos, here we would like to share with you 10 tips to design a professional looking logo design.  Some may think that logos look so simple but what looks simple is actually more difficult to design. Hope that these tips will get you going on to creating beautiful logos that your clients will absolutely love.

1. Understand your Client.
First you will need to find out about the business activities, target audiences, the messages they want to send out, colours they like etc. All these will help you map out a ‘personality’ for the brand.

2. Do Your Research.
Do some research of what others in the industry have done. Most importantly not to have something similar to the Client’s competitors.

3. Keep it Simple.
You need to consider a simple logo design that looks good even when it is shrunk down to a small size, consisting of 2 – 3 colours maximum. In this way it promotes recognition.

4. Icon or Text?
Not every logo requires an logo symbol/icon, text only logos can be efficient too. Although we would say that those with only icons as logos, such as Apple or Nike have established their brands since a long time, hence are able to gain brand recognition from their logo symbols alone.

5. Be Unique. Stand out from the Crowd.
The logo being the first and foremost graphical representation of a company, it will need to leave a lasting impression and not resemble any other logo out there. Think out of the box.

6. Keep in mind the Essence of the Brand.
Remember the personality and message you want to bring out with the logo. For example, using a bright hue of red will not go well with a children not-for-profit organization, whereas it the feeling should be somewhat calming and nurturing.

7. Limit the number of Proposals.
Propose 2 – 3 mock up logo designs first, so that there is room for the Client to make recommendations on improvements and move towards the direction that they like. Giving more designs initially will only confuse the Client and not do you any good.

8. Keep your Client Involved.
This is a two-way process, and you will need to work with your Client who usually does not have the eye for aesthetics that you have been trained with. When they request for something that you may not agree with, it is good to try giving them what they want and then show improvements that you recommend and why. They ultimately will need to be happy with the final design too.

9. Timeline.
Sometimes it is difficult to estimate exactly how long the project will take to complete. Of course also taking into consideration how most Clients seem to have urgent mission-impossible datelines, and multiple revisions to go through with. Consider giving them a longer timeframe than you expect, or tell them you cannot promise that the project will finish by the timeline they give, but you will try your best, considering that they work together on the timeline too and not have too many revisions, and that it is normal for projects to stretch for long periods of time that expected. This is to protect yourself from the troubles that may occur.

10. Sell your Work.
You will need to give a reason why the logo looks good and is suitable. One strong point on each logo design proposal is good enough.

Technorati Tags: logo design, logo design tips, logo designer tips, logo designer, logo design singapore

A corporate identity comprises of a cohesive and consistent series of recognisable elements; a logotype, a logo, a strapline or slogan, imagery and a palette of colours specific to your company. It can also include a mission statement, a code of conduct and a series of guidelines and principles that the company and all who are associated with it, respect and abide by.

It is essential that visual elements and symbols are reproduced and positioned with absolute precision to ensure that your brand is strong, recognisable and is not diluted by duplication without firm guidelines.

This standards manual comes in PDF format showing acceptable color & layout options for various media. It includes both specs as well as visual examples.

A Corporate Identity Guide lets you set standards for all media developed, either for a single location or numerous offices. This assures your logo and key
brand collateral is always displayed correctly in any media or communication tool.
It includes spacing, styles, colors, fonts, margins, images and much more.
OVO Creatives unique Corporate Identity Guide also includes selected color
schemes for marketing, advertising, web standards and key communication tools.
Includes:

LOGO STYLES AND FORMATS FOR:

CMYK / PMS
Black & White
RGB Values, Web Color Matching
Unacceptable Logo Use
PRINT AND LAOUT GUIDELINES FOR:

Corporate Color Palette
Make sure all your media uses a color theme that is approved and consistent.
Our unique blending system picks main and complementary colors to assure a
professional and compelling image.

Approved Corporate Images
Here we decide the style of images used for web and print promotion, including
your web site.

Business Card
Margins, fonts, and guides in final format

Tag Lines
Font, size, colour and where to place them

Letterhead
As applicable first and second page margins, fonts, print, guides in final print format

Web Site
Fonts, colours, and position of logo on website

All other printed materials
Margins, fonts and guides in final format

E-Mail
Singature design for emails

Technorati Tags: CI, CI guide, corporate identity, corporate identity design, branding, brand design, singapore corporate identity design

Your logo design may create a prospect’s first impression of your business…
Make sure you create a high-impact impression.
Your logo should not only let prospects know what you do, it should captivate them. Your tagline should further define your market niche and communicate your company’s core benefits to your target market.

A logo is not static—it must change as your company or market changes. Consider McDonald’s and AT&T. Each has updated its logo numerous times; as a result, these companies’ logos consistently reflect a current look and feel. OVO Creatives can help you build a brand from the ground up or rebrand an outdated, “tired” corporate image. Logo packages start at $2,100 and range to
over $9,000, based on numerous factors and options.

A Unique and Highly Effective Process

To create an effective illustrated logo design for your company, OVO Creatives begins with a discovery process, during which we learn about your business and discuss ideas for your identity. Rather than just taking a shot in the dark, we choose — in close collaboration with you—an agreed-upon “visual direction.” For example: Through the discovery process, we may determine that a company wants a cutting-edge logo with a progressive font style, vibrant colors and a circular symbol showing some type of motion or action. We will then identify several existing logos that the client likes. From this body of information, we will have a solid foundation upon which to design the logo that best represents our client’s business or entity.

Text-Only Logos

A LOT can be done with a text-only logo. Some of the world’s best-known brands—such as FedEx, GTE and many others—use text-only logos. Using today’s advanced graphic tools to achieve just the right combination of unique fonts, special effects and perfect sizing, we can create crisp and clean text logos that are stunning and memorable.

Illustrated Logos

An illustrated logo incorporates a hand-designed custom illustrated “logomark” (an illustrated graphic symbol/icon designed to work with your corporate name). The result is a compelling visual image for your business. Through a process of discussion, research and discovery, we design up to four logo styles, each of which may be modified numerous times until the perfect logo emerges. For customers who come to us with a clear logo concept in mind, the creative phase may be significantly shorter and a discount may apply.
Business Collaterals and More:
You’ve Got the Spark, Now Add the Sizzle

Once you have a unique and dynamic logo design, we can incorporate it into your business stationery design, add animation or provide any of the following add-on options:

Corporate stationery design
Letterhead, envelope and one or two-sided business cards. The look and feel of your stationery and collateral is an important part of making a positive brand impression on clients and prospects alike. Showing that you care about your image shows how you care about your clients.

Tagline creation
A memorable tagline secures your place in the market and in your niche and further define what you can do for your prospects.

Icon development
Product suites, Web graphics and GUI, etc.

Addition of an animated Flash logo for the Web
A well-designed logo or brand animation can be what sets you apart.

Logo design variations
Often your logo will need several different versions—one to go on colors, a 3-D version, a flat version and an embroidery version.

Technorati Tags: brand design, branding design, corporate identity, identity design, corporate identity guide, corporate logo, logo design, logo design prices, logo design package