Early Logo Beginnings
The history of logo design and logos dates back to ancient Greece. The word "logo" means a name, symbol or trademark designed for easy recognition.
Why Do Logos Change?
Many factors drive advertising or logo trends. The most powerful force that shapes and drives design is “human culture.” You might say advertising, even logo design, reflect the signs of out times.
A logo for an electric company during this period was not much more than the company name with a lightning bolt. Some companies have retained part of their original design in their present day logo.
Enter Avant Garde Design
Logo shapes and design became more “iconic” in nature. McDonalds dropped the little burger guy popping out of the golden arches in favor of the stand-alone golden arches. In the late 1990’s the Silicon Valley revolution lead to a flurry of techie-type designed logos incorporating some sort of Nike swoosh that is ever present in current logo designs.
Logo Formulation
A logo communicates your identity. The mark of a good logo is legibility and strong brand recognition. How do you create a powerful logo for your business? A great creative place to start is with a paper clip. That’s right, a paper clip. Throw out all your pre-convinced creative notions. Thinking about how a non-associative object might be applied to your logo design takes your concept in a unique direction.
Research Your Logo
You should market research your logo. If you are designing a logo for a turbine motor company then get on the Web and collect every logo from every company that builds or sells turbine motors.
Sketch Your Ideas
When developing the icon or Nike swoosh portion of your logo, don’t worry about typography at this point. Try looking at logo finished samples. Some great sources of inspiration for exceptional logo design include; misipile.com, iconfish.com, halcyonlogodesign.com logoworks.com and atlantis57.com.
Incorporating the Company Mission or Motto
Your client may have a company phrase or tagline. By using this tagline as a focal point I was able to develop logo concepts outside the usual “Calvery cross or praying hands.” By incorporating an iconic heart, I was able to create a logo that branded the message of my client.
Listen to Your Client
I had thought my circled spores logo concept would have surely won their hearts and minds.
A. How To Win New Graphic Design Clients And Keep Old Ones Coming Back
Everybody likes to see big fat pay cheques coming in, hell some of us even deserve them from time to time but what makes a client keep handing over the readies over and over again and how can you as a lowly graphic designer among a sea of equally unidentifiable no-marks hope to secure new graphic design or website design contracts? Best read on my friends as we give you the insider knowledge to equip you in this never ending rat race to swindle your fellow man.
In short your whole lousy operation stinks. Next time you have a new client down to the office for a meeting, go up to them and plant a big sloppy kiss on their forehead. You never know they might turn around and sign that big figure sum graphic design contract.
It's not all about the money
Sometimes, the old adage 'a dog is for life - not just for christmas' rings chillingly true. If you've ever considered or contemplated suicide based on the fact your clients have been leaving in droves and the only regular graphic design job you've secured in the last 3 months is a flyer design for 'disco Stu's' 70's night down at the church hall - on a wednesday night, then it's high time you looked at yourself square in the mirror and worked out why. Bad breath? Crooked teeth? Inability to stop yourself scratching your privates in public? Throw in a few freebies, offer to cook your client a lovely lasagna dinner for two, buy them a kinder surprise.
Dress to impress
Anyone who was anyone in the eighties will remember 'power dressing'. 6 inch stiletto heels, shoulder pads set to stun and low cut tops with peep hole bras. Remember Elton John didn't get where he is today by dressing like the boy next door.
Brainstorm until you haemorrage
If you can't work out why you're losing money hand over fist and your client base has dried up to a thin wafer like crust, get your team involved and crack some skulls! Above all remember 'skull cracking' is fun and if a few eggs get broken in the process, hey that's life in the fast lane buddy.
Here's a tip. Don't bother. That's right you heard. If you've just about had a basin full its time to hit the sack and forget about it. Don't forget to always have someone on hand who can cut the slack when you've lost the plot. Too many graphic design managers just do't know when to distribute the work. Remember the immortal words of Homer Simpson 'If a jobs worth doing well, don't bother"
Right, you're now armed with some invaluable insider information to get things back on track.
B. Graphic Design Niches - Finding A Narrow But Deep Client Base
With so many graphic designers, website designers and logo designers competing in the field, it is more important than ever to specialise in a particular area and be top rather than covering all bases and mastering none. Here is how to find your own graphic design niche.
Stick with a style and run with it
So many young designers coming out of the art colleges today have a style taken wholesale out of the fashion mags and club flyers. Trying to ape the latest trend in clubland is going to see your designs rapidly losing favour once some bohemian brown hatter decides the current vogue for vector graphics and fonts on a 45 degree angle is yesterdays news.
Pick a particular industry and specialise
An entrepreneurial young designer could clean up by claiming to be the building industry design specialists. Bare in mind builders like big fat typefaces in keeping with their big fat bums.
It was a satisfactory if not exactly stimulating project.
Local Jobs for local people
Britain is a hot bed of talent, many of it arriving from overseas, increasingly from the relaxed borders of the former Soviet Bloc countries. Providing you've been established for at least a couple of years in your locality there's no reason why you cannot stress the locally organically reared nature of your graphic design business e.g. Golden Plum Design - Serving the good local people of Midsommer Norton and Westfield since 2001. Remember it's better to be big fish in small ponds than little fish in big ponds, or is it the other way around...whatever.
The history of logo design and logos dates back to ancient Greece. The word "logo" means a name, symbol or trademark designed for easy recognition.
Why Do Logos Change?
Many factors drive advertising or logo trends. The most powerful force that shapes and drives design is “human culture.” You might say advertising, even logo design, reflect the signs of out times.
A logo for an electric company during this period was not much more than the company name with a lightning bolt. Some companies have retained part of their original design in their present day logo.
Enter Avant Garde Design
Logo shapes and design became more “iconic” in nature. McDonalds dropped the little burger guy popping out of the golden arches in favor of the stand-alone golden arches. In the late 1990’s the Silicon Valley revolution lead to a flurry of techie-type designed logos incorporating some sort of Nike swoosh that is ever present in current logo designs.
Logo Formulation
A logo communicates your identity. The mark of a good logo is legibility and strong brand recognition. How do you create a powerful logo for your business? A great creative place to start is with a paper clip. That’s right, a paper clip. Throw out all your pre-convinced creative notions. Thinking about how a non-associative object might be applied to your logo design takes your concept in a unique direction.
Research Your Logo
You should market research your logo. If you are designing a logo for a turbine motor company then get on the Web and collect every logo from every company that builds or sells turbine motors.
Sketch Your Ideas
When developing the icon or Nike swoosh portion of your logo, don’t worry about typography at this point. Try looking at logo finished samples. Some great sources of inspiration for exceptional logo design include; misipile.com, iconfish.com, halcyonlogodesign.com logoworks.com and atlantis57.com.
Incorporating the Company Mission or Motto
Your client may have a company phrase or tagline. By using this tagline as a focal point I was able to develop logo concepts outside the usual “Calvery cross or praying hands.” By incorporating an iconic heart, I was able to create a logo that branded the message of my client.
Listen to Your Client
I had thought my circled spores logo concept would have surely won their hearts and minds.
A. How To Win New Graphic Design Clients And Keep Old Ones Coming Back
Everybody likes to see big fat pay cheques coming in, hell some of us even deserve them from time to time but what makes a client keep handing over the readies over and over again and how can you as a lowly graphic designer among a sea of equally unidentifiable no-marks hope to secure new graphic design or website design contracts? Best read on my friends as we give you the insider knowledge to equip you in this never ending rat race to swindle your fellow man.
In short your whole lousy operation stinks. Next time you have a new client down to the office for a meeting, go up to them and plant a big sloppy kiss on their forehead. You never know they might turn around and sign that big figure sum graphic design contract.
It's not all about the money
Sometimes, the old adage 'a dog is for life - not just for christmas' rings chillingly true. If you've ever considered or contemplated suicide based on the fact your clients have been leaving in droves and the only regular graphic design job you've secured in the last 3 months is a flyer design for 'disco Stu's' 70's night down at the church hall - on a wednesday night, then it's high time you looked at yourself square in the mirror and worked out why. Bad breath? Crooked teeth? Inability to stop yourself scratching your privates in public? Throw in a few freebies, offer to cook your client a lovely lasagna dinner for two, buy them a kinder surprise.
Dress to impress
Anyone who was anyone in the eighties will remember 'power dressing'. 6 inch stiletto heels, shoulder pads set to stun and low cut tops with peep hole bras. Remember Elton John didn't get where he is today by dressing like the boy next door.
Brainstorm until you haemorrage
If you can't work out why you're losing money hand over fist and your client base has dried up to a thin wafer like crust, get your team involved and crack some skulls! Above all remember 'skull cracking' is fun and if a few eggs get broken in the process, hey that's life in the fast lane buddy.
Here's a tip. Don't bother. That's right you heard. If you've just about had a basin full its time to hit the sack and forget about it. Don't forget to always have someone on hand who can cut the slack when you've lost the plot. Too many graphic design managers just do't know when to distribute the work. Remember the immortal words of Homer Simpson 'If a jobs worth doing well, don't bother"
Right, you're now armed with some invaluable insider information to get things back on track.
B. Graphic Design Niches - Finding A Narrow But Deep Client Base
With so many graphic designers, website designers and logo designers competing in the field, it is more important than ever to specialise in a particular area and be top rather than covering all bases and mastering none. Here is how to find your own graphic design niche.
Stick with a style and run with it
So many young designers coming out of the art colleges today have a style taken wholesale out of the fashion mags and club flyers. Trying to ape the latest trend in clubland is going to see your designs rapidly losing favour once some bohemian brown hatter decides the current vogue for vector graphics and fonts on a 45 degree angle is yesterdays news.
Pick a particular industry and specialise
An entrepreneurial young designer could clean up by claiming to be the building industry design specialists. Bare in mind builders like big fat typefaces in keeping with their big fat bums.
It was a satisfactory if not exactly stimulating project.
Local Jobs for local people
Britain is a hot bed of talent, many of it arriving from overseas, increasingly from the relaxed borders of the former Soviet Bloc countries. Providing you've been established for at least a couple of years in your locality there's no reason why you cannot stress the locally organically reared nature of your graphic design business e.g. Golden Plum Design - Serving the good local people of Midsommer Norton and Westfield since 2001. Remember it's better to be big fish in small ponds than little fish in big ponds, or is it the other way around...whatever.
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