The Importance of Logo Design

Your Logo is a Part of Your Brand

Your logo is one of the most important aspects of your brand identity as a company. Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business. But what exactly does “branding” mean? How does it affect a small business like yours?

Branding is your competitive edge, and your promise to your customer. It’s what your company can offer to your customers that others can’t. What makes you unique? Are you the cutting edge maverick in your industry or the experienced, dependable one? Is your product the high-cost, high-quality option, or the low-cost, high-value option? The biggest mistake companies make when establishing their brand is trying to be all things to all audiences. Who you are should be based on who your target customers want and need you to be. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates you from your competition.

Your website, packaging and promotional materials–all of which should integrate your logo–communicate your brand. Too often, businesses are quick to change or alter their identity (this includes your logo, the colors used in your logo, marketing materials, and website, as well as other important parts of your company’s mission statement). Too much of this can be confusing to your existing customers. One rule of thumb is that when you have become tired of your logo, tagline, and branding efforts, that is when they begin to sink in with your customers. Branding, first and foremost, is about consistency.

Your logo

The foundation of your brand is your logo. When designing a logo, graphic designers try to present your company’s values visually. Be prepared to discuss your company’s values, goals, and information about your target audience, as this will help the designer develop your logo. Once the designer has a good idea of the image you hope to portray, he or she will use fonts, color, placement, size, graphics, and design motifs to convey this to your customers.

Thanks for Reading!
Amy Fedele, Creative Director
BullzeyeDesign.com

Designing for “5’s” – Tips for Designers Creating On Demand

Hello World! and Greetings from Scranton, Pennsylvania on this beautiful Monday evening.

I listened to a podcast on Accidental Creative about expectation and striving for more creative work. The podcast explained it as having a “portfolio of 3’s” and a “portfolio of 5’s” where as the 3’s (3 stars out of 5) are what designers who create on demand eventually get stuck into a rut of doing. While 3’s are more mediocre work, the client is still going to be happy with the work (those who have been designing long enough know that the work they’ve done, while it’s not award-winning, is going to make the client happy). Maybe it’s not the most ‘out there’ creative boundary stretching solution that they have ever come up with, but it meets the requirements of the project at hand and allows the designer to comfortably function in their work environment. Let’s face it, creating on demand is a daunting task. Every single idea and every single site can’t be “the best”. There’s always room for improvement, and if given more time, designers can come up with more creative solutions.

But the question of time is obviously the real question. While designers need more time, Graphic Design companies (or companies with in-house design teams) more often than not, cannot afford to give the designers more time. They need to stay profitable and efficient, and the designer gets caught in the ‘Creativity on Demand’ trap; How do I make this project the best it can be, when I just don’t have enough time or creative energy left in me today to do that?

Something’s gotta give, right?

While all projects can’t be 5’s, it doesn’t mean that none of them can be. I feel that the more opportunities that designers have to really stretch their creative thinking, the quality of all the work will eventually increase. Creative work does have peaks and lulls, it’s not completely steady throughout. The goal is to get designers to strive for the “5’s” as often as possible. This will ultimately increase the median as time goes on, and they have time to develop their creative skills.  As I’m writing I’m realizing that it’s much easier to explain with a drawing. (see below)

Creativity on Demand Diagram

Anyone who manages an Art Department can benefit from this blog post. Anyone who creates on demand can also benefit. By giving your team a little extra time for research and development, you can increase the quality of work median over the whole department. If designers are given the time to choose one project that they are really interested in, and are allowed to take that design to the next level (Strive for a 5), it’s going to give them a chance to explore new techniques and concepts.  Overall this will increase their worth to the company they work for, help them to better themselves as a designer, and research and learn new techniques that they would otherwise not have time for.

Let’s be honest. Almost every designer I’ve ever met LOVES being a designer. They WANT to work. Giving them the time and resources to be MORE creative is like handing them a big box of chocolate and saying “I appreciate you.” And believe me, the designers will appreciate you just as much for giving them the opportunity to “go crazy” once in awhile.  Everyone wins!

Questions, comments, and thoughts are encouraged.

As always Bullzeye Design thanks you for reading!

Amy Fedele, Creative Director
Bullzeye Design – Targeting your Web and Graphic Needs

What a Difference a URL Can Make

…especially when it comes to print.
Research shows that print ads that contain URLs are up to three times as likely to drive readers to a website than those that don’t include them.

Not that this information comes as much of a surprise, but it is probably a tactic that many businesses still are not using.

The Research Shows…
A study conducted by the Magazine Publishers of America shares this info along with statistics that show that readers of magazines in the Travel, Home and Women’s categories tend to drive more readers from the magazine to the web.

Think About the Actual URL
For a print ad to inspire web traffic, the URL itself can play a tremendous role in whether or not it even gets visited.

Helen Leggatt at BizReport suggests using fresh, unique URLS “perhaps per campaign or even per publication” to generate interest. As an example, she mentions a recent Burger king campaign utilizing the haveityourway.com domain.

I would suggest at the very least using a memorable, easily spelled domain name like I talked about in this SmallBusinessNewz article.

Don’t Overlook the Strategy
The concept of inclusion of a web address in offline marketing is also something I’ve stressed before for encouraging more customers to turn to the web, particularly for brick and mortar business looking to expand their online identities. It’s a no-brainer for those businesses who exist strictly online that are already seeking print advertising.

Think about print ads that have inspired you to find a company’s website. What was it about the ad that made you want to learn more by way of the Internet? Odds are it was probably the URL there pointing the way.
Written By Chris Crum
Reference: WebProNews

Amy Fedele, Creative Director
Bullzeye Design – Scranton, PA