We talked about logos and their importance, and one of our guest bloggers provided some useful data, but lets start from the beginning and go through a little logo 101.
The first thing I can say I have heard from a lot of people is that they are not creative enough to make a logo. The second is they cannot afford to pay someone to make a logo for them.
Well let's get past these ideas, because as much as having a professionally made logo is nice, if you are just getting started you can definitely create your own with a little insight and a little effort.
The first thing you want to do is sit down and brainstorm your logo. Gather together important member of your company or a group of friends who aesthetic and business savvy you respect. Ask yourself and members of your informal focus group these four questions to get the ball rolling.
- What is the company really doing or selling?
- If you are starting a business that sells shirts, you do not want a logo the suggest something different. Your logo should incorporate the most important visual elements of your company and the general vibe of your company.
- What do you feel best represents the company?
- This could be an ideal, the name of the company or even a mascot. Maybe different members of your focus group have different ideas about what this is. Reflect on all view points and come to a consensus about which elements of your company are most important.
- Who you are marketingto?
- Your target market could turn away from a logo that does not seem to fit what they view as ideal for the product. Think of who they are or who you want them to be and play with elements that will appeal to them.
- Who your competition is and what do their logos looks like?
- Unless you are really lucky, you will have others companies selling similar products. What do their logos look like? What is common between them? You want to make sure your logo stands out amongst the rest. This could be done with color or a clever design.
- Do you want to include the company’s name, or something that references the name as part of your logo?
- Some companies include the name in their logo, and some use the name as the basis of the logo. This is a smart choice for a company that has no name recognition. But it's not an absolute necessity. Consider logos you like, what your brand is like and logos in your vertical and make a decision about whether to incorporate your name or go with something more minimal and abstract.
Next, you will want to sketch out some ideas. Keeping working with the people you are brainstorming with. Have a fresh eye and different point-of-views will help you ditch bad ideas and steer towards good ones.
After you have brainstormed the idea and sketched some ideas out, you are going to need to get started on actually putting the logo together. If you are going to build the blog yourself, you are going to need a Raster Graphics Editor. Let's go over your options and the pro and the cons of each one.
- Gimp is a free graphic editing program, it would allow you to put a basic logo together, and the fact that it is free is a good cost-saving measure for a new business. However, it also does not have the tools that other(paid) systems have, so you will be limiting yourself on what you can do.
- Inkscape is a free Vector Graphics editor. It would be a step up from graphic editors, like the ones above. But with the extra layers of tools and possibilities, you are looking at more time to learn the program.
- Another down point for it is that is runs better on Linux.
- Another free Vector Graphic editor is Drawplus’ Starter Edition.
- Like Inkscape it is more complex than a regular image editing program.
- The tools are limited as it is the Starter Edition.
- Photoshop is one of the most popular graphic editing programs out there, and has been around for years. The Creative Cloud version (linked above) has a monthly fee, starting at $9.99 and going up, which is a downside, or you can get an installed version for between $75 and $100. The online version does provide a free trial though.
- It also has a lot of tools to meet most needs
- But it is a complex system, that if you are not ready for it can lead to more confusion.
- Illustrator is Adobe’s Vector Graphics program. Like Photoshop it is a program you have to pay for, but it does come with a free trial.
- Once again, like the above mentioned free Vector Graphic editors, the system is complex.
- Serif,also provides a paid version of their Drawplus software, which has all the tools enabled.
- If you are having trouble putting your logo together, or you need to concentrate your time on other aspects of getting your business started, you can also hire a freelance illustrator to draw up your logo.
- This does free you from having to worry about learning the software to do it yourself.
- However, it will cost you, likely more than even the above paid systems.
- Picking a freelancer that understands your vision, can meet deadlines and takes your project seriously is a must so be sure to vet potential freelancers, i.e. ask for client references!
- You can choose to hire a firm that can not only build your logo, but build up your corporate identity.
- Although hiring an agency to do all this will be expensive, hiring an experienced team will help you get setup with more than just a logo. This is a good option for those who don't have a lot of knowledge of marketing and don't want to invest in learning more about how to market.
So get out there and get something started today. To make it easier, you can get started with E-junkie and use this code when signing up to get an extended 60-day trial: EjunkieBlog.
The code is good until July 31, 2015.
Good Luck and Good Sales.
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