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How Can I Get Started With A Custom Logo? |
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If you are planning or reevaluating your current brand and marketing
approach, your logo is a core way that you present yourself to the
public. You cannot over look the product or service that you provide,
but the logo is often one of the first things that a potential customer
might see from your site or marketing efforts. With ecommerce, the
customer might never see your face or your business attire, but they do
see your logo. You need to ask yourself, "What is my company all about?"This might not be as simple of a question as it appears. You should try to list out 5 or 10 core aspects of your ecommerce business. This might seem like a "silly" exercise. It is ok to do it behind closed doors so no one see you writing them out. However, when you are done, you might be surprised with exactly what you created. You might not have thought of your current or planned ecommerce venture as having "core values" or "fundamental principles". For those of you who currently operate a business, and are using the internet as a new channel to reach customers, you might have already thought about these ideas. If so, just take some time to consider if the online offering of your business changes anything about what your company is about.
The next challenge for you is to assess if the newly defined Company Core is accurately communicate through your current logo or logo plans. If you are assessing some logo designs or reassessing your current logo, it will help you to show it to friends and family or the person behind you in line at the post office (or the DMV for a more captive audience). Try to talk with someone who is not familiar with your business so they can give you a true assessment based on just the logo, and not telling you what they think you want to hear.
The logo is not just a design on the header of your site, you will use this for your business cards, labels, letters and faxes, and any other business communication. You can even apply it to a nice golf-shirt, tote bag, or coffee mug. You friends and family might get tiered of all of the branded gifts around holidays and birthdays, but you should still be happy with your logo enough that YOU can enjoy it.
There are 3 basic logo types:
Symbol Based: This is hard to do with a new company, because you will still want people to know your name, but Apple has done quiet well from the beginning by pushing the symbol over the name on their marketing. Many car companies have been able to move to this practice as well.
Font Based: Basically, a stylized rendition of your company name. Coca-cola, AT&T, K-Mart, all are logotypes. You might have a little flourish, like a banner or "swoosh" with the logo, but the font and name is the core of this design option.
Combination of Symbol and Font: The CBS brand with the "eye" and Microsoft Windows both connect the logo or name with a recognizable symbol. The idea behind this option is that while the symbol or font based brand will often appear together, they can still stand on their own.
For a small business or a new business, you will want to go with the Font Based option. It is easier for you to promote and easy for the customer to understand. This is very important if your name is also you website address. You can use a graphic design program or just use view your name with different fonts from Word or another processor program to create a font heavy logo. Some professional design firms will charge you thousands of dollars just for a symbol creation for your logo, so this is another reason that a font based logo might be a good option for you. However, if your business does well, you might find yourself wishing in a few years that you had put a little more effort before settling with a basic design.
You might not find a logo that captures 5 to 10 core aspects of your firm. It can be difficult for anyone to do that with just symbol and/or a few letters. Just make sure it conveys the tone or style, if nothing else, for your new business.
Inventory Source is here for you if you need help with the web design. We can custom design a logo for you to satisfy any requirement for only $99!! Click HERE to learn more.
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