Activate Logo Design and Branding
Branding is an aspect that many businesses neglect yet it is highly critical for success in today's busy market place. Your brand says a lot more than just your business name. It should capture the essence of what your business is about and what sort of business you are. Branding is a lot more complicated than what some people think as it is not easy to convey the values, industry, personality and professionalism of your businesses in a simple and attractive logo.
You should be proud of your company brand and feel good about it every time
you see it. When people see a quality logo they instinctively know that your
businesses takes itself seriously and is both professional and successful.
Just like yourself, you dress appropriately for your workplace and so should
your business.
The 3 most common logo design mistakes.
Mistake Number 1. Thinking professional branding is an optional
luxury. Many new businesses see professional branding as an optional expense
they can't afford, something for the Vodafones and the Googles to be concerned
about but not Joe Six-pack. They therefore decide to whip up a quick logo
blindly choosing a font off their home PC with the intention of getting something
nice down the track when they are successful. Major mistake. Your cheap DIY
brand is associated with your businesses from day one, it's out there hindering
your growth and saying bad things about your company without you knowing it.
Mistake Number 2. Sticking with your tired old brand. We are often
approached by businesses that have stuck with the outdated logo drawn up by
an underpaid secretary with Microsoft Paint back in 1995 - Despite nobody
particularly liking it, it's just deemed too much effort to try and change.
Eventually the board members notice their competitors flash new brand and
decide to refresh themselves with a new look, and afterwards wish they had
done so years ago. Don't put re-branding in the too-hard basket. There are
lots of options and it's not expensive or painstaking. Even a 'refresh' of
your existing brand can work wonders in bringing a contemporary feel to your
business.
Mistake Number 3. Choosing the wrong designer. There are a lot of design
places offering ridiculous logo deals. Statements such as: 'Free Logo Designs
with Business-Cards'
'Logo's in 30 Minutes' '10 Logos for $20' and the like should all be avoided.
The reason for this is that branding your business is not something that should
be found in a Christmas-Cracker. It's a serious business and anyone offering
deals like these are not serious about professional branding. Consider the
points below:
Here are some points to consider before choosing a designer to create your
brand:
1. How much real experience do they have? Driving photoshop doesn't
count as experience..
2. Are they making your brand scalable so that it will look just as
good on the side of a building as on the side of a pen? - Complicated highlights
and drop shadows won't scale nicely across these distances.
3. How will your logo look in a one colour, photocopy or scan? Any drop shadows and excessive fades
won't look good.
4. Is your logo going to be in vector format? If it's given to you
in pixels you are in trouble. Vector is scalable.. Pixels are not. If your
pixel based logo only fits nicely on a businesses card then that is the size
it is staying!
5. Is your logo going to be simple in colour form? Having lots of colours
in a logo might look cool on screen.. but printing 10,000 letterheads in full
colour is going to cost more than 1 & 2 colour jobs.
6. Have they used Pantone colours? If so will they provide you with
a CMYK colour conversion for digital printing and RGB colour conversion for
your website?
7. What sort of market research will the designer make before creating
your logo? Will it associate you with your industry yet separate you from
your competitors?
8. Will the designer be around in the future to help your incorporate
this logo into all your future requirements? Or just leave you, disc in hand,
to find someone else to convert the logo in a web format etc.
As you can see, there is a lot to think about, and without even considering
the aesthetics of brand development! You won't get all these bases covered
by a graduate at a $20 logo shop.. or from some dodgey online logo company
out-sourcing your brand to someone in India.
But relax because creating your brand is an exciting time. For new businesses
it's a thrill to see the face of your businesses for the first time and be
confident that you can enter the market place with a brand that won't let
you down. For existing businesses having a brand refresh is like a make over
for the face of your business giving it a contemporary appearance.
Activate Design has many years of experience creating brands for successful
businesses across a range of industries from corporate and hospitality to
industrial sectors. We offer a range of packages to suit and stand by our
guarantee that if you are not happy with the designs your will not have to
pay for them! Contact Activate today for a no obligation
meeting to discuss your branding.
Better Brands = Better Business.
Find out more about: our logo design packages 
