No Logos are No Gos
We design layouts for business cards, brochures, flyers, car magnets, and many other products every day. Occasionally we run across business who do not have a logo. I can’t stress enough how poorly this reflects on your business. Even if you are a one man (or one woman) business, you should have a logo and proudly display that on all of your printed material and promotional products. This means everything, including newspaper ads, sponsorship ads, letterhead, and on your website. It just kills my soul to print business cards for a client and not have a logo printed on them. It makes me want to tell the client, “Hey, don’t tell anyone where you got those business cards.”, because they look so amateur that I don’t want my business name associated with them. We offer design packages for logo creation starting at $195. The price to design a professional looking logo is worth so much more than than the initial cash layout. It is a symbol of your business and gives potential clients comfort in knowing that you invest in your business. If you hand out a business card with text only and no logo, your business has generic feel and makes you look incapable of handling whatever project the customer has at hand. I urge you to have a logo designed for your business if you don’t already have one. Stay away from clipart when designing your logo and have a custom design so you are not using the same piece of clipart as hundreds or thousands of other businesses. Custom is better because it is unique and it can more closely symbolize and sum up your business. We would love to do the design for you, but even if you have designed elsewhere, please plan on designing a logo and increase your professionalism.
10 Pitfalls to Avoid When Creating Your Logo
In the world of graphic arts, you get a lot of jokers who think they can design because they took a course in college. The art of graphic design takes years of experience to cultivate along with a creative mind. There are many factors and forethought that should happen prior to your logo design phase. In the planning phase, it is important to know what you want your logo to portray. It’s best to have it descriptive of what your company offers, because, let’s face it, very few businesses have a worldwide known brand like McDonalds. Since we don’t all have that recognition, it makes it more important to design our logo in a way that speaks about our business, so that when it stands alone, it actually markets for our company.
When designing a logo there are certain rules of thumb you should live by. Below are just 10 pitfalls to avoid when creating your business logo:
- Do Not use drop shadows around text. These are the shadows seen just below text as in the
example. Some of you reading this are looking at the example and saying to yourself, “I like that look”, but resist the temptation. This is an outdated method and used by amateurs. It also doesn’t print well on many promotional products since shadows are not solid colors and rather a gradient. While drop shadows have their place in graphic design, try to avoid them in your logo. - Stay away from outdated fonts such as Comic Sans, Brush Script, and Times New Roman. These
fonts are overused. If you look at an graphic artist’s portfolio and you notice the same fonts being used over and over, you can assume that he/she is not very creative. Custom fonts work great, but are very time consuming to create. There are thousands of fonts out there, so choose well. Make sure it’s easy to read and follows along with your business theme. - Don’t use Microsoft Clipart or WordArt. These are sure signs of an amateur. All of the clipart looks the same whether it’s a donkey or a bicycle. These don’t fair well with logos. If you will be using clipart, be prepared to pay a little extra to buy a nice professional piece of clipart. In most cases, I still advise against clipart in your logo unless you make some modifications to make it unique.
- Avoid using contrasting colors. There are some color combinations that just clash and there are
some that you eye just can’t read when together. Pick with one color palette and stick with that through your design. This goes not only for your logo, but for any design, regardless if it is business cards, brochures, or any other designs. - Don’t have an abnormally tall or wide logo. You will want to use your logo for branding using all kinds of items, so it always best to stick with a square, round, or a rectangle design. If you go too tall or too wide with your logo, it will have to shrink down very small to fit in areas with height or width restrictions.
- Don’t center everything. This is another sign of an amateur. While some things do have to be centered, everything doesn’t. Left justified is a great starting point for the eyes and sometimes right justified is called for.
- Don’t use low resolution images. While you may have a tiny little blurry picture of something that you just must have in your logo; however, if you don’t have a nice high resolution version, you logo will not look good. Every time your logo prints on any item, it should print clean and free of blurriness or jagged edges. This all starts with having a good resolution from the start for any elements used within the logo design.
- I mentioned earlier to not use Microsoft clipart in your logo design, and now I’m saying don’t use Microsoft Word to design your logo. This is a word processing software, not a design software. You can’t design worthy logos for businesses using this program. Plus, printers don’t use Microsoft Word to print from, so it will have to be completely redrawn in a graphics program.
- Avoid strokes in your logo. Strokes can adjust in thickness when re-sizing, so avoid them when possible. Use only vector graphics that will not change proportions when they are re-sized. Sometimes this adjustment in proportion of the strokes are not recognized by those making the change and can lead to problems with your imprint.
- Don’t use too many fonts. A good rule of thumb is not use more than 2 different fonts. One for any text in the logo, and a different font if a tagline is included. Using more fonts than 2 makes the logo look messy and amateurish. Sticking with only 1 or 2 fonts will help your logo to look neat and clean and portray your company better.
Face Lift For Your Logo
Does your logo need a face lift? Have you been using the same logo for over a decade? Are you using one of the taboo fonts in your logo such as Times New Roman, Brush Script, Helvetica, or Comic Sans? Are the 80′s calling wanting back their color combination? Did you design your logo with Microsoft Word or PowerPoint? If you answered yes to any of the questions above, your logo may be in need of some updating. Just like websites, encyclopedias, and reference books need updating, so does your logo. The times change quickly and so do your potential clients’ taste. If your potential money spenders see your logo and it reminds them of something ancient, it could be a turn off for them. However, if you have a sleek, modern logo design that fits both with the current times and with your business, it will intrigue them to look further at your company. Business is all about first impressions. With so many competitors, it is vital that you hook your clients early and give them no reason to look toward any other competitors. Once you get them, treat them fairly and take care of their needs and you will gain their loyalty. Your logo is the face of your business so make sure you are promoting your business in the best way possible. Have a professional take care of your logo design and leave Word and PowerPoint for drafting letters. The better your logo looks, the better your promotional products will look. And, the better your promotional products look, the more response your will receive and your marketing campaign will pay off.
Design Like A Pro
Chances are, many of you have tried to do your own design for a t-shirt, business card, or brochure. Some of you have finished your task and kick your feet back all proud of your masterpiece. On the other hand, some of you have tried to do your own design and spent countless hours trying to create the vision in your head and simply just couldn’t do it. Barring any graphic designers here, I would be willing to bet that either way, your design could be improved, by a professional. A good rule of thumb is that you invest at least 1/3 of your budget in getting a professional layout and/or logo designed. You even have to be careful when hiring a graphic artist. How much experience do they have? Do they have formal training? And if so, do they have a Bachelor’s degree or just an Associate’s degree? Have you seen any of their work? Graphic design doesn’t come cheap, average rates go from $50-$200 per hour depending on the designer. We average around $75 per hour and we can typically give you an estimate ahead of time on the number of hours. We also will give a discount when you order your products through us at the same time. The impact that a professionally designed logo or layout is tremendous. There are many factors that the amateur would not think of some as placement of contact info, font choices, and color combinations that a trained graphic artist knows. Are you ready to transform your company with a fresh new logo design or updated brochure?
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