Take the Logo Litmus Test
Here is your C.I.T.T. (pronounced "kit")
[Color ? Illustrate? Type ? Test]
COLOR. Color plays a major role in influencing particular moods and feelings about your company. Don't believe me? Look at Dove? soap. You'll find the shampoo bottles are white. White conveys purity, simplicity and a sense of cleanliness. It's strategic and makes sense doesn't it?! Have you noticed that you can associate an industry by its color? Blue is a popular color for technology companies and bottled water companies, for instance. How about identifying a certain mood by color? Quick, what mood do you think the color red evokes? Could be romance or anger or urgency...
ILLUSTRATE. Small businesses and solo-entrepreneurs don't have budgets like Nike, Starbucks and McDonalds... so, if you decide to create a graphical image to represent your business, make sure it communicates what your customers might expect from your company. Great examples of this includes the logo of Giftpile.com and IndieArtistStation.com
TYPE. There is an art to lettering... just ask a calligrapher or illustrator who can create a logo based on letters. Again, illustrated in the Giftpile.com (mentioned above). An illustrator created a custom type which looks similar to gift wrap and ribbons on presents which is very appropriate for the service Giftpile.com performs (wedding gifts).
TEST. With the variety of promotions and advertising you may conduct, shouldn't your logo look *Good* in black & white (b&w)?! "Shouldn't I think about color for my logo?" and "Why is b&w important?" you may be asking... Great questions! Do you think you'll ever make copies of your marketing materials... isn't it cheaper to make b&w copies at Office Depot (average $0.02-$0.05/each)? Your logo will be on all your future business faxes, too! If you participate in tradeshows, you may have b&w imprinted giveaways because it's more affordable to imprint your logo in b&w than in color. That goes same for print advertising (newspapers, magazines, business journals, etc.). Since your logo will be used in all types of media or a variety of mediums (from posters, t-shirts to mugs and pens), it should be easy to resize (larger or smaller) while keeping the quality and crispness of the design. Most likely the end result of the logo designed for you will be available in a vector graphic format (the most popular design tool is Adobe Illustrator which saves your design as a .ai or .eps file) - simply crisp line graphics easily scalable without loss of quality.
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With over 100+ websites designed in the past 4 years, Maya Sunpongco is your Chief Imagination Officer for Design Insomnia, in San Diego, CA - an internet/web graphics firm that harnesses the "Power of Design to Communicate." She supports women-owned businesses and is a member of the National Association for Female Executives and the Professional Women's Network.
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