Freelance Graphic Designer: Logo Design, Print Design, Website Design | Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh (the Triangle), North Carolina » blog

Website design is like desserts

adrial — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 04:08:33 +0000

I’m currently on vacation in Peru and had one of those moments that translated from my world of graphic design to the real world. I’ve always heard the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principal and how it should apply to graphic design, and now I have proof on how it applies to other things as well.

After enjoying a sumptuous meal at a Chinese restaurant a block away from our hostel in Cusco (sidenote: I know, why eat Chinese food in Peru, right?), we decided to go grab some dessert. There was a local bakery shop with a wide array of options: a layered sandwichlike dessert with chocolate, creme and coconut sprinkles; a cone with crunchy sweet outside and gooey inside; a rolled up dessert with some sort of seasoned apple filling and sprinkles on the top; another with crazy colors … and yet another that just looked like a normal puffy bread. We bought one of each (they were all around $0.30 apiece, so why not). The absolute best dessert was the most normal looking one. The normal puffy bread had some simple not-too-sweet creme filling and it was absolutely delectable in its simplicity. The rest were just trying to do too much. We’ve gone back multiple times and gotten many the puffy desserts. Big fans. What ultimately worked was the basics. Stick with the basics and you’ll have satisfied customers. Get out of the way of the great flavors that don’t need to be jazzed up in order for people to enjoy them.

So yes, this circles back to website design (and logo design, print design, all design ultimately); so many graphic designers try to do too much: they throw on the sprinkles and fancy colors and extra flavors when ultimately all they need to do is to get out of the way and let the light, fluffy pastry and creme do all the work. The trick to design is to find what works for each project and remove everything that doesn’t.

Website design glossary of terms

adrial — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:53:23 +0000

At first it’s always daunting when trying to find out information about an industry in order to reach that pinnacle of being a knowledgeable consumer. That’s why I’m trying to flatten the learning curve for you by offering you a list of the most common website design terms and their definitions. If you’ve heard any others floating around, please email them to me and I will add them to this list!

backend	The server process that happens behind the scenes of a website. The backend is the process that serves the information to the end user and interacts with a shopping cart, for example.
broken link	Occurs when the target page that the link is referring to has been moved or renamed. Also called a dead link. Search engines don’t like to see broken links and it ends up reflecting poorly on the quality of information offered by the site, and therefore lowers your relevance in the search engine results.
browser based	When a web application is supplied to users without having to download software. All the necessary software is hosted on a remote server. Browser-based software is the wave of the future, especially because people are increasingly cautious of downloading applications from the internet that could contain viruses. A good example is Google’s Picasa.
cloaking	First of all, this is a big no-no. Never request this of a web designer. It is when a page is designed in such a way to make search engines think it contains certain content when in reality the end user sees different content. Search engines will ban websites for this type of intentional deceit.
database	A database is an accessible warehouse of information, much like the records of an excel file. There are columns and records within those columns. This makes it so an infinite amount of data can be stored in an organized way and retrieved via humans or computer applications.
dialup	An Internet connection that uses telephone lines to access the World Wide Web. Also referred to as “slow speed” for good reason. When designing websites, this is the lowest common denominator that has to be taken into consideration with page weight.
e-commerce	The buying and selling of goods on the Internet. Certainly the most cost-effective way of doing business because it represents the lowest overhead possible: no building to rent, no products to stockpile and the lowest cost form of advertising in the world (other than word of mouth, of course). This cheapest form of Internet advertising (free!) includes optimizing your site for organic search results in google and link trading with popular sites.
Flash	A popular authoring software made by Macromedia (recently bought out by Adobe Systems) that enables website developers to create rich applications with motion that are all vector-based. The opposite of Flash is static sites that are created with html. Keep in mind that Flash and html aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, though. You can build hybrid sites that are a mixture of the two. The major drawback with sites that are built entirely in Flash is that they cannot be optimized for search engines such as Google and Yahoo since they cannot actually read the text that is involved in Flash applications.
front end	The part of a website that the end user interacts with. You are interacting with the frontend of Adrial Designs right now. A site’s backend is the part behind the scenes that takes care of interactions with a database or shopping cart.
FTP	Stands for “File Transfer Protocall.” This is a method by which files are exchanged between computers or between computers and servers. See also sFTP.
high-speed	Refers to an internet connection that is cable or DSL. The opposite of a slow-speed connection or dialup.
HTML	Stands for “HyperText Markup Language.” This is the universal base language for most of the websites on the World Wide Web. HTML is what search engines read through to gather information for your search results. Web pages that are designed with HTML are referred to as “static pages” as opposed to “dynamic pages” that are authored by Flash.
hyperlink	A link on a webpage that is either attached to an image or a word or piece of text that, when clicked, takes the user to another page. Usually, links are underlined to show that they are clickable bridges to other webpages.
javascript	A programming language that integrates with HTML to enhance the user experience. However, most search engines are unable to properly index information supplied within the scripts.
keyword	In website design, this refers to a word that is vital to describing your specific industry. For example, Adrial Designs could not be described without using words such as “graphic designer, website design, print design, logo design” and so on. The more keywords used on a site that is properly optimized, the more opportunity users will be able to find your site on the web by use of search engines.
library item	In website design, this is a re-usable item that can be placed as multiple instances in multiple locations. The convenience of library items is that the main item can be changed, which in turn updates its multiple instances sitewide. For example, if you build a website with 1,000 pages and each page has your business’ phone number on it, what if your number changes? Normally, you would have to manually copy and paste the new number 1,000 times. If you use a library item in those 1,000 places, you only have to change your phone number in the library item and it will automatically update the other 1,000 pages to match.
menu	A listing of options or paths for the user to take in a graphical interface. A website’s navigational scheme will use a menu system as part of its way to help users through the site in a meaningful and organized way. The repetition of a menu in the same area of a website helps a user feel comfortable navigating through the site.
meta tags	Information placed on webpages not intended for human users to see. It is data that is meant for search engines and other internet applications to interpret and use.
mirror site	Another no-no in website design. When two sites exist on the Internet that are exactly the same as each other: same content, same images, same look, same everything. The original intent of creating mirror sites was to redirect users to the parallel site once the traffic to the first site became too heavy, but then it became a way for a website to get twice the attention from search engines.
navigation	Just like properly navigating a boat from one shore, across the ocean and then getting safely to the other shore, a well-planned out and executed navigation scheme to a website guides its user through the site to usher them to the goal (contacting the business, making a purchase, downloading a white paper, etc.). Navigation is probably one of the most important pieces to web design. It includes menu structure, where elements are placed on a page, what size every element is in relation to every other element, and on and on. After all, how can someone get to where they (or you) want to go without some proper (and hopefully easy and intuitive) guidance?
organic	The “natural” way to get free search results. Organic search results are those that come up thanks to spiders who search the Internet for relevant content.
page weight	The amount of Kilobytes of information each page of a website contains. The higher the page weight, the more time it takes to download the page’s information to show to the end user. As a rule of thumb, a page shouldn’t weigh more than 100KB, on average. Page weight includes image weight, Flash weight, text weight and script weight. Anything on a website’s page contributes to the page weight, however minutely.
RGB	Stands for “Red, Green, Blue.” These three colors of light all combine in varying degrees to create all the colors of the rainbow. RGB is the color language used by computer monitors and digital cameras. See also CMYK for the main colors used in inks.
script	A term used in programming to define an action or set of actions that is executed by a third party application instead of the computer itself. This allows your experience to be much richer because it is no longer confined to the abilities of your own software, within reason.
search engine	Any software (usually browser-based) that spiders the web and catalogs every page based on certain keywords so that when users interact with it by inputting keywords, the software returns the most relevant results possible. See also SEO.
SEO	The methodical and purposeful building of a website to enhance your chances of being listed higher in search engine results for the top keywords in your industry. For example, if you own a pizza shop in Chapel Hill, NC, your website should be designed in such a way to get you listed high for keywords such as “pizza, food, fast food, Chapel Hill, NC.” Depending upon your industry and how your competitors position themselves, your keyword set focus can change.
server	A computer that handles requests from other clients and programs on a network. The World Wide Web – the entire Internet – is just a huge web of servers all linked together across a worldwide network.
server-side script	A program that runs directly on the web server instead of having to be downloaded to the computer that is benefiting from the script. This enhances security on the web and increases efficiency.
sFTP	Stands for “secure File Transfer Protocall.” Just like FTP, but with more safety measures so that information is not compromised as it is being uploaded to the server.
shopping cart	A special form of software online that keeps tracks of the items customers would like to buy until they proceed to the checkout to make their final bulk purchase of all the items at once.
sidebar	In web design, it refers to information that is set apart from the main body of information, usually in a box that is on the left or right of the page.
sitemap	A sitemap is a page that tells visitors and spiders all the links to every page on a website. It is helpful for both humans and robot spiders to have an overview of the site and how all the different sections fit together as one entity.
slow speed	Synonym for dialup internet connection.
spider	No need for arachnophobia here. Spiders on the web are your friends. In the context of website design, it is a simple computer program that searches and catalogs every page on the World Wide Web. Each search engine has its own spider that searches the web’s trillions of pages. These spiders are what you are trying to appease when you build your site for SEO purposes.
template	A powerful tool in website design that allows you to use the same look for all your pages while switching out content for the main portions of the page. Most websites need to maintain the consistency of having the same information at the top and mostly on the sidebar, so templates are very important since they allow web designers to create an entire website containing however many pages and can update the entire website’s template just by changing one file. A website template is much like a library item, but is for the entire page layout instead of just applying to an individual item on a page.
website	A location on the World Wide Web that contains a homepage, other pages that relate to the homepage, and text and images that support the central focus and purpose of the website’s existence on the Internet. Every website should have a central theme, focus and graphical look.

Website design frequently asked questions

adrial — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:43:13 +0000

Is server space included in your website design quote?

No. Server cost is not included in any quote I provide. I can assist you in finding a provider and the amount of server space your specific website calls for.

How is my website information updated?

Adrial Designs offers a convenient monthly fee to keep your website updated. You will either send me changes/updates in email or Word format or set up a common change log for common scheduled changes. This helps with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) since it keeps your website fresh in the search engine’s eyes.

What is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process by which each page of your site is created and maintained in such a way that search engines pay more attention to them. The most important aspect of SEO is page focus and freshness of content.

Do I need SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

If your business is primarily on the web to draw traffic, then SEO is necessary. If your business already has a primary business base offline that is funneled to the website, then SEO is less necessary. But overall, SEO certainly can’t hurt.

Are you able to integrate my website with a shopping cart and a backend database?

Anything you need functionality-wise, I can provide for you. We can work out exactly what functionality your website requires for your specific marketing purposes and get it custom-built for you.

What other services do you provide other than website design?

I can create banner advertising, email promotions, targeted email list rental, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Flash development and more. If you have a specific idea in mind, just run it by me and I’m sure I can provide you with what you need that will make you successful.

Organize thyself!

adrial — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:41:16 +0000

Remember in English class when the teacher would tell you to make an outline of your paper? You needed to understand your own purpose of writing the paper before you could convince your audience of anything. As boring as it sounds, there are many parallels between writing an English paper and creating a website: mainly, that organization is key.

Create an outline: What is the purpose of this website?

Even if you hire a website graphic designer, it will always be true that you are the one who knows your business best. This activity really helps to boil down the main concepts of your business and what you see — and ultimately what your customer will see — as important.

Sit down in front of your computer and crank up Microsoft Word. Yes, Word. Start to really think about your website and what work you expect it to do. Is the purpose to get sales calls? Is the purpose to sell flibberty-gibbets? Is the purpose to get information to the masses? Websites may well have multiple purposes (and probably should), but these purposes all have to be ranked by importance. Find your most important purpose and make sure your website hollers that from the rooftops in a meaningful way. Type these purposes out at the beginning of your document to remind you throughout this process.

During this process, in order to really hone your thoughts, try to think from your potential or current customers’ perspective; what is important to them? This will help craft your message and how you deliver it.

Sample outline of a website design

So what does an outline look like? Just a few pages in Word with bullets and sub-bullets. We will be using a simple example of a sales-driven company selling, ah yes, the beloved Flibberty-Gibbet. Each bullet represents a distinct section — a page — of your website:

Purpose: www.flibberty-gibbets.com is the secondary sales vehicle to bring customers into our brick-and-mortar Flibberty-Gibbet, Inc. stores.

1 Homepage

	• Homepage item 1
	• Homepage item 2
	• Homepage item 3

2 About Flibberty-Gibbets

	• Our history
	• Why you should care about Flibberty-Gibbets

3 Browse all of our Flibberty-Gibbets

• Collection page of thumbnail images showing our entire collection, paginated accordingly

4 Special offers

	• Buy 5 Flibberty-Gibbets, get 2 free! Ends Sept. 31
	• Get a free whos-a-whatsit with every purchase greater than $100

5 Contact us

	• Our address
	• Our main email addresses
	• Our phone number

This is the beginning of a simple 5-page website. As you can see, each of the pages has a distinct purpose that all funnel to the main purpose of selling Flibberty-Gibbets. From here, seeing what content must be written to fill these pages is much easier to see.

Glossary of common print design terms

adrial — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:36:22 +0000

At first it’s always daunting when trying to find out information about an industry in order to reach that pinnacle of being a knowledgeable consumer. That’s why I’m trying to flatten the learning curve for you by offering you a list of the most common print design terms and their definitions. If you’ve heard any others floating around, please email them to me and I will add them to this list!

4 over 1 (4/1)	Stands for 4 colors on the front of a page and 1 color on the back. When 4 is used, mostly it refers to CMYK colors or “full color.” The 1 means it will be a spot color, such as a Pantone color. The numbers can be of any number, such as 6/3, meaning 6 different spot colors on the front and 3 on the back, but those mentioned here are the most common for most print projects. See also 4/4, 4/K.
4 over 4 (4/4)	Stands for 4 colors (”full color”) on the front and back of a page. See also 4/1, 4/K.
4 over K	Stands for 4 colors (”full color”) on the front and blacK ink on the back. See also 4/1, 4/4.
accordion fold	Parallel folds in a print piece, each folding in the opposite direction than the one before it so that the entire piece folds and unfolds like an accordion, but probably won’t sound like one.
bleed	A term used in printing to describe the ink reaching the very edge of the paper. A “full bleed” is when the ink reaches the edge on all sides of the page. The design of the page has to go beyond the borders so that the printer can trim the excess off.
brochure	A promotional piece of literature in any shape or size (within reason). Many people are stuck on the definition of a brochure being a traditional trifold of an 8.5″x11″ sheet of paper. Thinking outside the box on making a brochure’s dimensions different makes you stand out from the crowd!
business card	A card that bears company information and contact information, including company name and logo (hopefully that fit into the style guide and corporate identity of the company), employee name, phone number (office, cell, fax), address, web address, email address. Used as a means to give all the vital company contact information in one fell swoop while simultaneously impressing the receiver of the card (if done right).
CMYK	Stands for “Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK.” Also referred to as “full color.” When you have a logo designed, your colors you will mostly be using will be in CMYK mode since those are the four ink colors that mix together to create any color of the rainbow.
coated stock	Paper that has a finish applied to it post-printing that gives the surface a shine. Synonyms: gloss, varnish. See also uncoated stock.
cover stock	A category of papers that are thicker, usually used as the cover of books and magazines since they are sturdier and more resistent to wear and tear. Also called cover paper.
die cut	A specialized printing technique that involves a sharp steel rule that cuts designed shapes directly into one or many sheets of paper.
dpi	Stands for “dots per inch.” Used to describe how many dots are used within a square inch to compose an image. The higher the dpi, the finer the print quality. What you are looking at now on-screen is only 72dpi. Newspapers print at 170dpi, higher quality printing usually starts at 300dpi. Synonym: ppi.
duotone	When two ink colors are used in the reproduction of an image. These colors are usually black and a Pantone color, but it can be any two colors used together to recreate a black and white image that normally just used black ink. Along these same lines, there can be more colors than two, but the more colors, the more muddy and brownish the entire image becomes.
emboss	A specialized printing technique that stamps a piece of paper with a design such that the paper is raised up in the pattern of the stamp’s design.
gloss finish	A highly reflective clear finish applied to the paper of a printing process to aide in the readability of images and writing on the page. There is also a semi-gloss for half the shine and matte finish with minimal shine.
matte finish	A clear finish with little to no reflection applied to the paper of a printing process to aide in the readability of images and writing on the page. See also gloss finish and semi-gloss finish.
metallic ink	A special printing ink that has flecks of metal combined into it to simulate a gold, silver or bronze surface. Definitely a head-turner!
Pantone®	The industry-standard way to ensure that colors are reproduced in the expected way. They are pre-mixed in exact portions of CMYK. If you don’t have a corporate color already, you should be sure to determine your corporate color by way of Pantone first, then a graphic designer can then translate that color into equivalent CMYK and RGB colors for uses in other applications.
paper weight	The paper weight is determined by its thickness (how much pulp each sheet of paper contains). The higher the weight, the thicker the paper. The normal paper weights are 80#, 100# and 120#. These paper weights can be expressed as “text,” which is a thinner sheet or “cover,” a thicker version normally used, as its name implies, for covers because of its durability.
perfect bound	A method of binding that stacks the paper together and uses a plastic glue on the spine of the cover to hold all the pages in place. This results in a flat, square spine to a book. See also saddle stitch.
PMS	Stands for Pantone Matching System. And you thought it stood for something else!
ppi	“Pixels per inch” or “Points per inch.” Synonym: dpi.
print run	Sometimes called a press run, this refers to the number of pieces to be printed in one printing session. You save money per piece the more quantity you order. On average, most of the cost is involved in setting up the print plates, so the cost savings go up very steeply as the quantity increases. For example, if you print out 500 full color brochures, that may cost you $1,000. But to print 1,000 it may only cost you $1,200. That’s a difference of $2 per brochure for 500 or $1.20 per for 1,000. Always ask for a range of quantities when requesting quotes from printers.
printing plate	A surface that bears the likeness of the image to be printed. This plate involves most of the cost of print runs, which is why it always saves you money per piece to go with a higher quantity (read above).
registration	The fitting of two or more images to be in exact alignment with each other or one another. This is very important in the printing process when more than one ink is involved. For example, with a full color printout, there are four separate print plates, each having its own ink (CMYK). Each printing plate has a different coverage area that contributes to the overall image being printed. If printing plates aren’t in proper registration, the image will appear fuzzy or muddy.
saddle stitch	A basic binding method that involves putting all the signatures of a book together and either sewing a wire through all their centers or stapling them.
semi-gloss finish	A semi-reflective clear finish applied to the paper of a printing process to aide in the readability of images and writing on the page. See also gloss finish and matte finish.
signature	A printed sheet folded at least once, possibly multiple times in order to be bound together to be made into multiple pages of a book.
stock	The term that is used to describe the specifics of the paper to be used for printing: The type of paper, its opacity, weight, texture, etc.
swatchbook	Used in the print world to refer to a Pantone book that has samples of all the colors under the sun. There are many different kinds of books that Pantone offers, so keep in mind the kind of stock you are printing on. One PMS color that is printed on coated stock will end up looking a lot duller and deeper in tone when printed on an uncoated stock because the ink soaks in the uncoated pulp to a higher degree.
text stock	Refers to the lighter version of a type of paper, normally used for the inside pages of a book (for the “text pages”). The text stock is usually wrapped by a sturdier cover stock.
uncoated stock	This is the most common type of paper used for printing and copying. It has no special chemical finish or coating, unlike the opposite, which is – you guessed it – coated stock.

Print design frequently asked questions

adrial — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:25:02 +0000

What quantity should I order for my print project?

If your print project is timeless, meaning the information is unlikely to change over time, then ordering a high quantity at one time will end up saving you a lot of money per printout. For most jobs, the bulk of the cost of printing is involved in actually setting up the printing plates; therefore, printing 500 of something may cost a certain amount, but to get 1,000 may only cost you a few dollars more. When I quote printers for you, I usually will quote a range of quantities so you can see how the costs break down as the quantities go up.

How do I choose a printer?

I can work with your needs to find you the right printer at the right price. I can get you multiple quotes from quality printers that I have worked with in the past so you’re guaranteed a quality job within your timeframe at a quality price. Beyond simply price, the specific project itself and what it requires influences the type of printer you should end up deciding on.

Do your quotes include printing costs?

No. Printing costs are the responsibility of the client. The final steps of any print project are final approval by the client followed by gathering print quotes.

What is the difference between PMS colors and 4-color process?

PMS colors are pre-mixed Pantone colors that are guaranteed to print the same color every time. Four color process is the way that all the colors of the rainbow are created through mixing Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK. The problem is, CMYK mixing doesn’t necessarily produce the same precise color across all printers. Depending upon the settings of the printer, the mixing of the 4-color process might vary, which causes some obvious shifting of color. For pictures and such, this problem isn’t very noticeable nor is it cause for worry, but when it comes to corporate colors, they should be exactly the same across all materials; this is where the consistent treatment that PMS provides comes in handy.

Are there any restrictions as to what I can do in terms of die-cutting, embossing, metallic inks, elaborate folds?

The only limitation is our imaginations. Specialty jobs are my forte because they are exciting and cutting edge. There are a few great printers I know who can pull off these projects with beauty and precision. The sky is the limit, and I’m here to help you reach it.

Glossary of common logo design terms

adrial — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:19:14 +0000

At first it’s always daunting when trying to find out information about an industry in order to reach that pinnacle of being a knowledgeable consumer. That’s why I’m trying to flatten the learning curve for you by offering you a list of the most common logo design terms and their definitions. If you’ve heard any others floating around, please email them to me and I will add them to this list!

CMYK	Stands for “Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK.” Also referred to as “full color.” When you have a logo designed, your colors you will mostly be using will be in CMYK mode since those are the four ink colors that can mix together to create any color in the rainbow.
combination logo	A logo design that combines an icon with the actual text of the company being represented by the logo. The text is intrinsically combined with the logotype itself.
corporate identity	A company’s corporate identity is every single piece of its marketing material (logo, business cards, envelopes, magazine ads, website, slogan, corporate colors, mascot, etc.) and how all the pieces act as one unifying marketing message.
duotone	When two ink colors are used in the reproduction of an image. These colors are usually black and a Pantone color, but it can be any two colors used together to recreate a black and white image that normally just used black ink. Along these same lines, there can be more colors than two, but the more colors, the more muddy and brownish the entire image becomes.
font	A set of characters, numbers and symbols of a particular style, such as Times, Garamond, Arial. Synonym: typeface.
glyph	A letter or symbol that stands for something. Each letter of our alphabet is technically a glyph, but so is a pictograph of a stopsign, for example.
icon	A graphical representation of an object or idea. Used in logo design to boil down a company’s central identity into a simple representative picture or shape.
logo	Short for logotype.
logotype	A personalized treatment, either textual or graphical, that represents a company or product.
negative space	The part of a drawing or shape that is “empty.” This idea is important in logo design because this negative space can be used to create an idea and join that with another concept. An example in my portfolio is that of Bringbacks. The shape of the carkey is created by the negative space, which is intrinsically combined with the image of a hand.
Pantone®	The industry-standard way to ensure that colors are reproduced in the expected way. They are pre-mixed in exact proportions of CMYK. If you don’t have a corporate color already, you should be sure to determine your corporate color by way of Pantone first, then a graphic designer can then translate that color into equivalent CMYK and RGB colors for uses in other applications.
PMS	Stands for Pantone Matching System. And you thought it stood for something else!
raster	Used to refer to images that use a grid of multi-colored or multi-tinted cells that, when looked at altogether create the image. When getting your logo designed, never get only raster images because these are unable to be sized up, only down. Always request a vector version of your logo.
RGB	Stands for “Red, Green, Blue.” These three colors all combine in varying degrees to create all the colors in the light spectrum. RGB is the color language used by computer monitors and digital cameras. This colorspace is opposite of CMYK, which is the colorspace of inks, not light.
sans serif	A way to identify typefaces that do not have serifs, or small strokes that are at the end of the main strokes of serif typefaces. See also serif.
script	A kind of typeface that mimics handwriting in any form, including cursive or children’s print.
serif	A way to identify typefaces that have small strokes that are at the end of the main strokes that identify serif typefaces. Serif typefaces are used mostly in print, while sans serif typefaces are used in website design. See also sans serif.
style guide	A document that sets out the groundrules to follow with a logo so that the business’ corporate identity system is adhered to.
text only	A style of logo design that creates the logo only with a typeface and possibly editing the natural shape of the typeface, but no incorporation of an icon. A text only treatment is usually used when a business doesn’t have a focus that is easily translated into an icon.
typeface	Synonym: font
vector	Images that are composed of line segments determined by mathematical formulas instead of by a grid of multi-colored cells. Having a vector version of your logo is of utmost importance because it can be resized to any size – from the size of a pea to the size of a building – without loss of quality. Antonym: raster.

Logo design frequently asked questions

adrial — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 02:47:55 +0000

How much does a logo cost?

There are a lot of variables that can affect a logo cost, but for the most part, the complexity of the logo and what the logo will have the job of accomplishing. The easiest way to find out the prospective cost of your logo is to email me.

Why do I need a professional logo?

A logo is your business’ face to the world. A professional logo is the first step in a customer’s buying cycle. A poorly designed logo could cut a potential client right out of the loop before even giving your company’s product or service a chance. The right logo will tell a potential client your purpose and professionalism while reminding current customers why they stick with your company. Professionally designed logos express your company’s essence in a succinct, visual and memorable way.

What is the difference between a logo and a corporate identity?

A logo is just the logo itself. A corporate identity is how that logo is translated across a company’s entire range of marketing materials. A corporate identity package should seamlessly integrate all the pieces into one solid, central message that is core to the business itself.

What is the logo design process?

Client gives an idea of what is needed, the business values, what the business’ purpose is, any conceptual ideas to be included with the logo, and any corporate colors in mind or colors that have already been used to represent this company.
A range of thumbnail pencil drawings are sketched up to give the basic idea of the concept in action.
A few of the favorites are chosen from these thumbnails and are transferred into cleaner versions into the drawing program.
The favorite from these is chosen, perfected and then color(s) added.

I have no idea what kind of a logo I want or what concept I want in my logo to have. Can you help me in this process?

I would be glad to help you brainstorm the best way to promote yourself through a logo, but sometimes the most effective brainstorming is done by the client simply because s/he knows the industry they are in so well.

Usually a good place to start is to take a good hard look at your competition, especially the big players in your industry. They have millions of dollars in budgets for their corporate identities and you can use the knowledge of how they execute their system to your advantage. Now keep in mind that I’m not advocating stealing at all, just a borrowing of ideas so you can effectively compete. Also, taking such a look at your competition can spark an idea that is completely different from the race they are running in, which will immediately set you apart and give you an advantage if executed correctly.

Snail mail marketing is not dead!

adrial — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 02:44:40 +0000

Ah, snail mail. Remember? It’s that paper correspondence you get from your mailbox. Well, you might think that marketing via “snail mail” is dead thanks to the exponential rise of the cheaper Internet alternative. In some ways, that is true. In other ways, if used creatively, it is alive and kicking, ready to get your business more exposure.The good thing about the turn toward the internet for more business advertising is that there is less demand in people’s mailboxes. Even the mail advertising that potential customers do get from your competitors aren’t commonly of a very high quality design-wise or message-wise. People don’t want to be bogged down by reading a direct mail piece. They want the main message and, if they find themselves to be interested, a way to contact you.
PostcardsDepending upon your industry, a postcard can be a cost-effective option to send out to your list of customers. Don’t have a list of customers? There are listing agencies that rent mailing lists according to industry interest, area, age category, and many other ways to narrow down your target audience, all with your budget in mind. A postcard can be designed simply with a captivating photograph on the front with a phrase to capture the interest of your target audience. On the back is a quick action-oriented paragraph with a way to contact the business. Simple and effective.
Condensed catalogDo you have a catalog of products online but don’t want to go through the money or the hassle to design an entire physical catalog? Here’s the solution: Have your catalog complement your website. Your catalog can touch on all the best-selling and most profitable items in your selection to draw them in to your website to see more. Call it a “best of the best” mailer and your response rates will go up.
VIP discount mailer Everyone likes to be VIP. As long as you’re not overdramatic with it and sincere in its presentation, customers will respond. Send your faithful list a 20% off their next purchase as a thank you for their patronage. Design it like a keepsake to really get people in the door. For example, if you are in the chocolate candy bar profession, design an invitational card as a golden ticket with a special savings for a select few. Not only will they love the savings, but they will remember that you thought of them.

Text-based logos vs. icon-based logos

adrial — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 02:41:57 +0000

Which type of logo design you ultimately choose for your corporate identity depends on a few factors, some of which include your business’ industry, your company’s personality and your budget. But most importantly is ultimately which method explains the most about your business in the most efficient way possible. Let’s take a look at each consideration.

Your industry

Your logo represents your business. Plain and simple. So, by that token, your business and what message you want to convey about your business determines your type of logo. If at all possible, you want a potential (and current) customer to glance at your logo and instantly know what industry you are in: if you sell chocolate, the logo’s design should say chocolate; if you sell shoes, the logo’s design should say shoes. In some cases, due to the nature of the business you might be in, what you sell is not always easy to convey in a simple logo.

As an example, lawyers tend to use strictly a text-based logo of their name set in a serif typeface (to convey a professional feel). Usually it’s nothing special: just the typeface and the lawyer’s and partners’ names below it. In those types of professions where it doesn’t necessarily pay to advertise a playful personality or a creative side through a logo, it makes sense to go with a bare-bones type-based logo design. Plus, iconically representing a lawyer’s services is difficult to do in a simple way without somehow involving the overused scales of justice or a gavel, and who wants to do whatever everyone else is doing?

On the flipside of the coin, if you find yourself in an industry where you are selling a tangible product, the product itself should by all means be translated into a simple logo. You run a toy car retail shop. You sell nothing but toy cars. Your business lives and dies by toy cars. Can you guess what should somehow be included in the design of your logo? Yes, an icon of a toy car. A text-based logo just wouldn’t do the business justice when you have such a quickly identifiable subject such as a toy car.

Most of the time, a company’s logo will fall somewhere in the grey area between defining the tangible object or service that is at the heart of the business and expressing the personality of the business through the typeface. It’s a balancing act of saying as much as you can in as efficient a way as possible. But you don’t have to worry your head about that part; that’s where us designers come to the rescue!

Business personality

The personality of your business should shine through with your logo. Sometimes the product/service or industry itself will automatically give the business an inherent personality, but sometimes not. A toy car business will most likely have a playful feeling to it, unless it’s a vintage toy car business that takes itself a bit too seriously.

Other businesses, especially startups or businesses that want to market in a different way from the competition may want to dig deep to understand what their business personality is and how that can contribute to their business strategy.

Your budget

To be very broad about it, text-based logos tend to take less time to develop than icon-based logos. That will normally translate to a lower cost. That being said, there are always exceptions, especially with logos. For example, you are starting a high-end clothing line called C Fashions. You want a very simple circle with the letter C in the middle of it. Now that is an icon-based logo, but it’s simple, and overall probably will only take a few hours to develop. The cost of a logo doesn’t only depend on time, it also depends upon the business’ prestige and staying power, but that’s another article entirely.

On the other hand, if you want a text-based logo that requires each letter to be painstakingly crafted to look like they are ripples of water (to give a very random example), that will be a more in-depth example of a text-based treatment.

Ultimately, if budgetary considerations are at the top of the list, most designers can work with you to develop a logo within such constraints.

To see a listing of text-based logos that I have designed, visit the text-based logos search results page.