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A waste paper basket is surrounded by a smattering of scrunched up
balls of paper. A hush falls over the studio as the creative director
takes aim at the miniature basket ball hoop hanging delicately over the
bin. He aims and fires from a distance of 2 meters. After the whooping
and high fives have finally died down, the studio resumes back to some
normality. A junior designer rummages through the bin to locate the
winning paper ball as it did, coincidentally, have his latest logo
creation on it that was waiting for a critique from the creative
director - hmmmmm.
The excitement, tension and ulcer inducing
stress of putting that latent entrepreneurial flair into practice can
bring with it decisions that were never really considered at the time
of inception. One such area is the translation of the essence of your
business into an identifiable brand.
So many of us have left
this crucial decision to the so called "experts", the designers and
think tanks that can turn seed capital into nothing more than a grain
of sand. You alone know your business better than anybody. You are the
one that spent night and day turning the dream into a reality. You are
the one that will raise and nurture your business to the level of
Bransonesque proportions. The way that other businesses and consumers
relate to your business through your brand is crucial and you need to
control this process from start to finish. But how, I hear you ask. The
following is a guide to the basics, the rest will call for your insight
into your business, once all of this is in place your ready to have
your logo crafted by a skilled designer, but on your terms.
What does branding do for your business?
*It should capture the essence of your business ideology and model.
*Well thought out branding will increase your company's profile and visibility through easy recognition.
*Your brand will become synonymous with your customers' experience and will eventually be translated across your target market.
The
ultimate goal for any business is to create brand equity that can
result in greater margins from revenue, greater customer loyalty and
increased volume.
You should not rely on a logo design based
purely on aesthetics. It's key ingredients should not only revolve
around visual identity, but should include simplicity, memorability and
identify with your customer experience.
Once the above ideas
start to make sense to you, the hunt for a good designer will be on. A
designer should be willing to work with you to bring your ideas to
life. You should try and give the designer as much insight into the
essence of your business by addressing questions such as:
Who are our customers?
What level of service are we offering?
How is our industry perceived?
What are our strengths?
Why are we unique?
There is no point in settling on a logo that you are unhappy with, but so many people do.
The
relatively short time spent on your company's identity, if spent
wisely, will result in a winning design that your company will be able
to use for years to come...
Michael
Luther is part of the design team at Ahika Design. His role is customer
facing and involves bringing the best out of each client's logo design.
Ahika specialise in designing Logos, brochures, stationery and websites
at affordable prices. Ahika is a London based design studio, but serves customers all over the world, from start-ups to corporate rebranding. For further details please visit
www.ahika-design.co.uk
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