Logo Design

LOGOS – BRAND POWER SIGNATURES
The function of branding is to get your name, company or service on the tip of everyone’s tongue. How do you do this? By effectively using your logo, signature, web site, newsletter, blog, press releases and social networking software, you present a strong, well-executed persona. Branding is considered one of the most important, though difficult, marketing objectives because it is often the tie-breaker for an unsure consumer. Every object, document or advertisement you display should help consumers associate your name with quality. If you demonstrate a clear, convincing brand image they are more likely to remember you and do business with you in the future.

Advertising and corporate logos are everywhere. Customers are bombarded with logos at every turn – they see the Golden Arches while driving home from work, the red-and-white soup can staring them down the grocery aisle, those multi-colored oooo’s greeting them when they open up their Internet browser and that swoosh symbol racing across the screen when they’re watching TV.

Why are logos so important? Because all we had to do was mention the logo and you instantly pictured the logo and identified the company name, didn’t you? It is that immediate recognition that makes logos so important to marketing and to the success of your company. If you want your company to be successful, you need your logo to be a member of that list. An effective logo can make a small company appear more like a big business and help keep customers loyal.

Logo Services
• Logo design
• Logo assessment
• Logo rejuvenation
• Favicon design
• Apps logo design

Branding & Logo Design

Is your brand and logo still working for you?
How branding can help your business grow?

What is branding for?
Many people think that branding is simply a matter of designing a new logo for their company and possibly a tagline to go underneath it, often barely distinguishing between branding and marketing.

A strong brand has to do with every aspect of a company’s relationship with its customers. The function of branding is to make us feel good by making our decisions easier and safer. It does this by reducing anxiety and doubt and enhancing the trustworthiness of the brand. Most organizations know that keeping the long-term trust and loyalty of the customer is central to their brand’s success.

Branding is perceptual management that works with such virtual aspects like values, associations, percepts, beliefs, metaphors and environments. It is a promise and a difference. If marketing is the body of an organization then branding is its mind.

BRANDING PROCESS – FIRST STEPS 
1. DISTINCTIVE POSITIONING – choose a narrow specialisation/niche
2. WHAT are you selling? What is your category/domain?
3. WHO you are selling to? Who is your audience?
4. WHERE are you selling? What is your territory: global, local, national?
5. WHY they are going to buy from YOU and not someone else? What’s unique about your product or service?
6. WHEN – people are buying your product/service? (occasion niche)
7. TAGLINE – capture the essence of your brand in a short slogan and ideally verbilize the key value of your brand

Logos
Your name and your logo are usually the first points of contact with your potential clients. Having a strong identity is very important. It is essential that the logo is seen as mark of quality and when a brand is marked with a distinctive logo, a client can trust it to be good.

TIPS FOR LOGO DESIGN
Becoming more involved with your band and understanding how branding works can only improve your business. Whereas branding is a big subject here are some tips and ideas for logo design to start you going.
1. Avoid negative images and associations.
2. Colour is key. Enhance your logo with colours that are meaningful.
3. Check your competition. Find your unique point of difference.
4. Start paying attention to logos and brands around you and learn what works and what doesn’t work.
5. Logos always work in their context. Don’t assess logos from just purely design principles.
6. When you are designing a brand new logo – start from a favicon level. If it works on small scale (16×16 pix) it will work on larger one too. It’s good if it works in black and white or as a tattoo so if reduced down small or photocopied it can still be recognisable.
7. Check with your audience – clients. What is their first reaction?
8. A well designed logo gives direction, faith, energy and meaning. It also adds value to your brand equity – invest in your logo if you are serious about your business.
9. Use a font that resonates with your brand, your values and business objectives.
10. If you want to break the rules, learn them first and have a strong clear virtual concept and intention before you start designing a logo – remember image precedes matter.
11. If in doubt ask an expert for advice. Call me know on +44 7956 288 574 or email 

IS YOUR BRAND AGING?  KEY SIGNS.
Branding is an ongoing process and commitment that requires attention and time. In a more competitive and ever changing business world there is nothing more important than to keep your brand relevant and up to date. Here are some key check points that will help you to evaluate how your brand is doing.
1. Your visual identity is out-of-date
Every successful brand keeps its visual identity fresh, sometimes with revitalizing changes that are so subtle they can hardly be noticed.  Ensure that your visual identity of your brand looks contemporary and current.
2. Your product is not keeping pace
Is your product/service keeping pace with the market?  Technology, design, packaging, even terms and conditions – they all play a role.  Are you innovating in all these areas?
3. Your customer base is aging
Quite often customers grow old with a brand.  This is a positive thing, but you must also continue to attract new customers to the brand. What secrets lie beneath your sales figures? Do you understand the dynamics of your customer base?
4. Your positioning is losing relevance
Where are you in the mind of the consumer, and how does that align with market trends?  Is your positioning ahead of the market, gaining relevance as the marketplace moves towards it?  Or are you behind the market, losing relevance as your market powers ahead of you?
5. Your touch points are not aligned with the market
You need to constantly align your touch points with the changing marketplace.  Otherwise your brand won’t be reaching your market, it will be somewhere else, and it will fade and die. Still supporting a costly retail network when you could be online?  Still advertising in print you should be using digital channels. Are you visible online? Are you visible on mobiles? Are you using all the digital marketing platforms?
6. You don’t feel energized working with your brand
When you brand is growing and expanding you feel energized and excited. Are you still learning new skills? Or have your reached a plateau? Do you see a future for yourself doing what you are doing? What can you do to expand your brand? Does your brand need clarification and rejuvenation?

Ask yourself:
• How is my brand doing on each of these points? (Score your brand 1-10 on each area) • How are my competitors doing on each of these points? (Scoring them too)
If you score less than your competitors, you’re in trouble!  You need to take action.

Conclusion: so why brand?
Branding transforms businesses and helps them become more successful. Matt Haig, the author of Brand Royalty put it simply “Branding is now the most important aspect of business. Whether the business is a bank or a toy shop, it is the brand itself that will dictate whether it succeeds or fails. Brand success equals business success.”