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Design a logo

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As part of your brand, make sure your logo hits the mark

logo-design-tips

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. This phrase has been uttered countless times, and nowhere is it more relevant than in the launch of your new business. During a time when everything is moving so fast, how do catch your target audience? You may have only a fraction of a second to get them to stop what they are doing to focus on your business.

Creating a top-shelf logo is essential while trying to capture the attention of your potential clients. From a branding perspective, the logo you create for your new business is just as important as the name of your company ? if not more so. Like the business name, the logo needs to be unique and memorable. Your logo needs to clearly represent your brand ? the overarching mantle for how you envision your company.

Logo design: on your mark, get set, go!

You will want to connect with the right branding service to help you take your ideas and sketches to a professional level. However, before consulting an outside source, it?s good to do your homework. Similar to the process for naming your business, contemplating your logo should inspire you to get introspective. Review your company?s core product or service. Think back on your target market?s demographics and how they spend their time. Most important, focus on what your business will do for your target market. With these pieces, you are ready to start brainstorming.

For most people, the first thing that comes to mind when considering a product?a new car, a new piece of clothing, a new piece of furniture?is the color. In creating your logo, you need to consider what colors mean to different people and what colors will say about your business.

Here are the attributes of different colors as well as the feelings that they might evoke:

  • Red (intensity): emotion, aggressiveness, passion, love
  • Pink (femininity): love, sweetness, warmth, nurturing
  • Orange (happiness): creativity, enthusiasm, determination
  • Yellow (energy): joy, being alive, energetic
  • Green (nature):?harmony, calmness, relaxation, peacefulness, hopefulness
  • Blue (depth, stability):?comfort, understanding, trust, clarity
  • Purple (luxury or royalty):?glamour, power, nostalgia
  • Brown (earth, nurturing): reliability, support, dependability
  • Black (formality, mystery):?boldness, luxury, seriousness

?[data from financesonline.com]

Keeping your target market top of mind, you can research color preferences based on many factors, including geographic location, age, and education level. In addition, here are some gender-related factors to keep in mind:

  • Men:
    • In the western world, it is not rare for men to be color-blind so use red, green, and brown carefully.
    • Typically prefer blue to red and orange to yellow.
    • Are becoming more accepting of pinks and purples.
  • Women:
    • Typically prefer red to blue and yellow to orange.
    • Are more willing to try new colors.
  • Both genders:
    • Can be marketed to most effectively with blue, turquoise, green, red, yellow, black, white, gray, and silver.
    • Look for darker colors for a more serious business: dark blue, dark green, dark red, indigo, black, and gray.
    • Look for bright, light colors for a more casual or light-hearted business: red, orange, yellow, bright green, bright blue, pink, and purple.

[data from empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com]

Your logo is the symbol and long-lasting representation of your company and its product or service. It should be simple but stylish, memorable and enduring. Above all, your logo should be flexible to suit the needs of your business? it should be formatted and colored to allow for reproduction anywhere ? on a screen, in print large or small, and in the memory of members of your target market. This is essential as you will want your logo to be readily available for all marketing opportunities. It is important for your logo to be attractive, but even more important that it is suitable for all platforms. After you have created an attractive logo, consider consulting a professional to ensure that you have covered all bases.

Take the time to create a logo that will be the best representation of your business both now and in the future.

Four brand building basics best left to the pros

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Pet Store Logos

Running a small business can be financially challenging. Thus, many small business owners feel as though they can cut costs by creating business cards and other corporate identity materials themselves?wrong.

When your small business is your livelihood, wouldn?t you want to present your company in the most professional light possible? While hiring professional help may seem like an unnecessary cost, in certain aspects of your business it can actually save you time and earn you more money in the long run.

Here are four brand building basics you should consider turning over to the pros:

  1. Logo Design. If you think of your business as a house, your logo is more than the welcome mat, it is the entire entrance?a vitally important design element that helps introduce and shape the way people experience your brand. Even more than that, the logo is the primary identification mark of your business. It needs to be simple, clear, and versatile. Your logo also needs to be valued and respected for what it is, a supporting element, not the defining element, of your brand?s visual identity. Yet it will always command a prominent place in the identity hierarchy, which it needs to be professionally designed to sit boldly front and center.
  2. Business Cards. While companies like Vistaprint, Overnight Prints, and Zazzle offer hundreds of free templates, do you really want to use the same uninspired template as thousands of other companies? Probably not. Instead, your business card should be unique and make a lasting impression with potential clients and employees. It should be an extension of your brand. In fact, you should consider bundling all? your brand identity design needs together?business cards, stationery, envelopes, labels, brochures, postcards, and other promotional items. The best part, you can still use online digital printers to print your materials. It?s the best of both worlds?great looking designs and quality printing at a low cost.
  3. Website. People prefer to do business with companies that have a professional website. If you take the DIY approach, you risk the chance of not being taken seriously. Perhaps more important, website development is governed by its own set of rules?CSS and programming languages?that every excellent web designer is well versed in. Why? Because designing websites that are both beautiful and beneficial is about striking a balance between code-generated design and graphic and traditional media elements. If you can strike that balance, not only will you have a great looking website, but you will also have a website that search engines and, by extension, visitors can find.
  4. Content. Content for marketing, advertising, and web is crucial to the success of any company. Essentially, you want to develop content that is not only SEO-friendly but also engaging. However, if you know your writing skills are not up to par or have asked yourself what is SEO, you?re at a major loss. Hire a professional writer or SEO company to develop relevant content for both your target audience and popular search engines. If they can assist you with copywriting, editing, and proofreading, you?ll get a much better return on your investment than if you do it yourself. You may know what you want to say about your business. A great writer will help you say it better than you can say it yourself.

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