Archive for October, 2008

What Makes a Good Web Designer?

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

Creative minds with meticulous spirit is a significant prerequisite for crafting an innovative web design. Wannabes need to perform high in order to learn the art of website design. 6 Tips given below will guide to start a carrier as a good web designer.

1. A new entrant in the world of web designing must have patience. Do not try to pour in many details, as it is very puzzling. Learn the subject efficiently step by step with strong determination and gradually master the art.

2. Planning the project is a primary factor before designing a website. Web designers must organize the plan keeping in mind the prospective target audience for a website; must have knowledge of the site- the industry type, its services and products, its client, business partners, the short term and long term goals; get an overview of the expenditure in building the website.

3. Wannabe web designers have to learn everything starting from first step of web layout to the final editing of the web page.

4. The suggestions of experienced professionals help to get design, which are more informative, and eye catching as the experts have a good knowledge of the market.

5. Web designers must organize websites in order to ensure that visitors can easily navigate through the pages of a website.

6. The beginners in the trade must stick to simple designs that are easily deciphered by the visitors. Excessive use of graphics gives a cluttered look to the website and fails to invite traffic.
Impressive website designs makes an easy in the minds of the visitors. Web designing is an art, which is gradually mastered in time with patience and perseverance.

4 Tips to Choose a Logo Company

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

There are hundreds of thousands of logo design companies out there, which company should you follow? Here are a few tips, which may help you before you make your decision.

1. As everybody knows, different design companies offer different services, so the prices are obviously different. If you have a small website or you are about to start a new business, you´d better not spend hundreds of dollars purchasing your logo from a big company, because you will be able to achieve better results by spending less in your logo design and saving the rest of your budget in other marketing plans.

2. Do some research about the logo companies and avoid choosing the ´top´ companies. Those ´top´ companies are more expensive not just because their service is good but simply because they are on the top, and most people will still pay for it no matter what their price is. If your budget is limited, do some research, and you will surely be able to find artists as good as the ones working with the ´top guys´.

3. Ask your questions before requesting your logo if you have any doubt. Make sure everything is clear before you pay, which will cost nothing.

4. Make sure you know what you want. Describe your ideas for your logo as precisely as possible to your designers. It will be even more helpful if you can provide sample of other logos that you like to the design team. By doing this, your designers will be able to achieve the best result for you.

The Usage of Color in Logo Design

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

We all know how important is color in our lives. And when if comes to uplift an image, usage of color becomes even more important. Color plays a big role in a logo design. It is very difficult to say which one is more important, color, shape or size. Each of them is equally important.

Color is an instant stimulant to the mind of a person. While red evokes energy, white is serene. The world is a palate of myriad colors - we can choose anything and everything from it.

It is advisable to use prominent colors in case of designing a logo. A mixture of color may create confusion in the mind of the people. Distinct colors should be used in order to bring out the actual message of an organization. It is only after a proper research and survey a logo can be successful. A halfhearted effort can never give out a proper result.

Another thing that should be kept in mind while choosing colors is’ the color psychology’. It has been proved that different colors have different effects on different people. Every color has something or the other to say.

Management of color is both subjective and technical exercise. Picking the right colors and combinations of colors for a logo design process can involve many tries until the designer feel the result is right.

Green, blue, yellow, orange, purple, pink, brown, black, gray and white are the ten most common color-describing words used in all human languages and cultures. A survey says that the most favorite color in the world is ‘Blue’. When blue is the most popular color in the world but designer of logo must be a strong sense to use all of the colors in a logo to promote a company.

Use of Banner Advertising in Your Business

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

Purpose: Find out the exact purpose of your banner campaign. What will your banner promote? Categorize your banner according to your purpose. Most common purposes of
banner ads are:

1. To sell products or services.

2. To promote a brand.

3. To increase the number of hits on a website.

Target Audience: Your target audience is a deciding factor, literally. Hence, identifying them is an indispensable step towards achieving effective banner advertising. The audience can be from the same industry or a different one, possessing different traits and preferences. To cater to all of them, you require a banner that would appeal to them through as many different channels as possible.

Exposure: This is another key area and needs to be handled with utmost care and thought. The world today is more concerned about the brand name than anything else. Hence, putting two and two together, it pays off tremendously if you contact big sites with more popularity, for it will increase the number of clicks and hence the number of visitors on your site.

Include URL: Don’t forget to include your website address in your banner. If the purpose of your ad campaign is only to promote your brand name, then make it a point to include at least a small font size logo of your brand in the banner. If not the logo, then put up your website address.

Identify Your Competitor: Keep your friends close, your enemies closer! Whereas that might not be the case for many things, in the field of Banner Advertising, it’s an established mantra. Dig around for your competitor’s banner designs, their websites and the web sites on which they promote their banner. Make your banner different or else it will easily slip into obscurity.

Numerous Banners: Every viewer has a different taste and a different choice. It’s difficult to determine which banner design will attract more viewers. So it’s better to use several banner designs for a single ad campaign. By doing this you can identify which banner design is most liked by the viewers.

4 Tips for Graphic Designers

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

One of the biggest mistakes made by designers is starting on the design before being completely informed. Before you start your next project without all of the information, consider these 4 graphic design essentials:

1. Know Your Client: Every client has different expectations and you won’t know what they are unless they are spelled out. You should research and learn about the client you are doing work for. What have they done before? Get samples of their current printed material, visit their website and visit their office. What are their company values? What does their company currently communicate to you? These are all important questions to answer in order to better understand your client.

2. Know Their Audience: Imagine designing a brochure for a veterinarian clinic and an attorney’s office. While they are both established businesses their target audiences are completely different. So it’s important to know what their customers are used to and what’s accepted in their industry.

3. Know the Medium: You want your graphic designs to look their absolute best! In order to do this, you need to know on what medium will your design be used. Common applications include: presentations, online, in print and on a billboard. Designing bigger is almost always better. If you’re doing print resolution make sure your designing in a vector based program.

4. Know its Value: Charge a price that will accurately reflect what your time is worth. Find out what competitors charge for the same work. Also, don’t be afraid to charge clients for your time, whether it’s on the phone, in a meeting, making changes, etc. Doing this gives them the freedom to ask for what they want and expect to get it. And this approach pays you for your efforts and makes the work more rewarding.

When you accurately know the client’s expectations, their audience, the type of work you’re doing and it’s value and you have it all spelled out, it will allow you to focus on what you enjoy most: graphic design.

Which Kind of Logo Do You Need for Your Business?

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

A logotype is a logo with letters and no other design elements. Since they are simple, they are often easy to recognize and reproduce on company materials. Logotypes are very difficult to make. It is very challenging to design a logotype that stands out without becoming hard to read or look too much like an existing logo.

Symbol logos, on the other hand, are logos that include a graphical element: a building, an illustration, an arch, a circle etc.,. These logos are the most common, mostly because they are easier than logotypes to make and they stand out more easily. Almost any logo you see these days has some kind of symbol or graphic in it.

So do you want a simple logotype that is cheap to reproduce or do you want a graphical element in your logo that will make your logo easy to recognize? Which is better? Don´t worry about it! Because everything is a shape anyway. Even letters are shapes, right?

When designing your logo, you make sure your logo has a recognizable, memorable shape. You will not have to worry about which style of logo fits your company best in the end. If you don´t know how to create a great graphic design, it is always better if you are employing a specialized logo design company to create your logo than doing it yourself. It is their profession so they would know it much better than you do. Definitely, there are companies that charge you $500 for a logo, however there are also companies that offer equally good services with very much affordable pricing. It is just a matter of locating that designer or company and you can be on your way to having a wonderful logo.

5 Key Qualities to Look For in a Logo Design Company

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

You want your logo design to create a powerful memory in the minds of your customers so that when they need a product or service, they will think of you. Next time you hand out your business card you want it to leave a lasting impression and it all starts with your logo. How do you find the right logo design company or logo designer for your business?

Here introduce to you 5 key qualities to look for when getting logo design offers:

1. Portfolio

A logo design company’s portfolio is one of the best indicators as to whether they will be able to create a logo that fits your business. See if they have designed logos for your industry before. Do you like the logos they have designed for other customers?

2. Pricing

Make sure you shop around for the right logo design company and find one that fits your budget and your needs.

3. Turnaround Time

Make sure the company has a stated turn-around time for the logo design.

4. Final Format(s)

Finalized formats should include Adobe Illustrator or an EPS file so that you have a scalable version of your logo. JPG and other bitmap formats will not work when you need to scale your logo up to fit on a bill board or large poster.

5. Guarantee

Many logo design companies have a guarantee that basically assures you that they’ll keep working on your logo until you’re a satisfied customer. Companies that have better services even offer you money back guarantee.

Features of a Proper Business Logo

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

The face of the company - as logo is known as, is the first information that a person comes to know when he visits an organization. Since, often the first impression remains as the last impression, the logo of an organization has to be impressive, bold, attractive and smart. A logo should be able to print its image in the mind of the onlooker. Unlike the policies of an organization, a logo cannot be changed quite often. Hence it should be designed such that its importance, beauty and appeal remain forever.

There are certain basic features of a business logo. It consists of all these features:

1. Uniqueness:

With the amount of effort given to produce a logo, it is one unique symbol, which is recognized by people at once. Its presence is so unique that the world knows a particular organization by one logo.

2. Strong and appealing:

The logo of a company must tell about the company’s appeal. Is it strong, soft or light? People should understand at once what it is trying to say. However organization may be small, the logo should be strong enough to hold its attention.

3. Suitable:

The logo to be used must be related to the product or service of the company. A logo that fulfills all the criteria of a good logo but is not related to the product is useless. Usage of bright colors and geometric designs is desirable.

4. Must differentiate from the mass:

The market is flooded with numerous designs to choose from. In order to make a logo unique, it should stand out from the crowd.

5. Communicate:

The logo should communicate with the people. It should not be just a symbol of organization or a company without any message.

6. Add value:

Only identification is not the purpose of the logo. It should add some value to the organization.

7. Represent:

The logo should potentially represent valuable assets. When people see the logo, they should be able to tell by the design that your product or service is of high quality.

Get Other People’s Opinion About Your Logo

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

If you didn’t ask opinions for your logo design before you made your logo order, make sure that as soon as you get the logo done, ask other people’s suggestions towards it. Taste is a personal thing, therefore other people may not dig what you like, which means your target audience may not accept the logo which is only based on your personal taste. It is very important to get others perspectives about your logo before you apply it to your website, the name cards, the stationary, etc.

You may simply start a survey or vote among your employees, your business partners, family members, your friends and even some potential clients. Show them the logo, ask them whether they think it can convey the feature of your company, discuss with them about the image, the colors, the fonts, and make a list of the possible modifications that they mention etc.,. By doing this, you will be able to get some valuable and useful advice. Sometimes it may end up with an overall agreement, but if the result of the survey appears a ‘no’ to the logo, you may re-consider changing your initial concept for it. Though you may not agree with other people’s opinions, their perspectives will surely help you to get the right logo for your business.

It is always good to have feedbacks about your logo from other people at the launch of your company. After all, you are trying to sell your products or services to others not to yourself.

What Makes a Good Business Logo Design

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

Logo is the name, symbol or trademark of a company. Purpose of logo is to create a memorable image of product or company in customer’s mind. It also differentiates products and services of different companies. A good logo grabs the attention of people. It demands some precision and lots of thought to design a communicative business logo.

Summarized below are 8 basic principles that one can use as initial steps to a good logo design:

1. Do some Analysis: Do not rush into developing business logos. Do some analysis about the company, its values, its business and the clients it is catering to. Understand what you want to communicate through your logo. Logos need to be designed, so as to convey message about the company. If you are designing a logo for a product, be specific about the target customers.

2. Eye Catching: Make your logo design an eye catching one. Use clear font so that it is easy to read and easy to identify. Use attractive and unique color scheme to avoid misunderstanding with other logos or products.

3. Memorable: A good logo design should make a memorable expression on the customer’s mind. It should be simple enough to convey a clear message and create positive image of your company in customer’s mind. Only then, the customer will be able to recall about your product in subconscious state of mind when looking to purchase.

4. Flexibility: Your logo design must be flexible enough to work in any situation. Say on product wrappers, website, promotional material, etc. Two important things to keep in mind here are - logo size should be appropriate and colors should be such that they can adjust to the background on which the logo will be used not only today but also in future. You need, to plan for future use of logos, at the development stage itself.

5. Simple: People are drawn to simple logos because they are easy to understand and remember. Busy, crowded logos are difficult to understand and divert the attention of the viewer.

6. Fonts: Some times designers select fonts which look classy but difficult to read. So this is worthless. Select Fonts that are easy to read and understandable.

7. Colors: Good logo design should work well in black and white. If your logo does not look good in black and white it would not look good in any other colors. Choose proper colors that represent your company well.

8. Be Unique: Another important feature of good logo is ability to stand out from crowd. Copycat logo creates confusion in customer’s mind because they are difficult to differentiate. Result is loss in sales. Don’t stick to ordinary design. Your company is unique means it has a different market presence and business space. Keep all these things in mind while designing your logo.