Logos 101 - Business Owner Guidelines for Logo Design

You should know up front that I am The Logo Handler and not a logo designer. I have designed a few logos in the past, but it is not my forte. Clients entrust their logo to me for printing and marketing purposes. While I can't design you a glorious logo, I can tell you immediately if the logo is going to cause you troubles along the way. I've spent the major part of my career working with corporate logos. Some logos are great and others are a problem. They might be pleasing to the eye, but they pose a myriad of printing issues.

One critical mistake people make at the very beginning is to offer their designer little to no direction. They find a designer, give them the company name and tell them to design a logo. In most cases no further direction is given. Perhaps some preferred colors or a suggestion or two on a symbol that might be used, but that's it. The business owner assumes that the designer understands the needs and parameters of logo design. From my experience, about 50% of the logos I encounter are centered on aesthetics only. While an eye pleasing logo is important there are many other things to consider that will play an important roll down the road.

SELECTING A DESIGNER

While it might be tempting to use a friend or family member who dabbles in graphic design (and are usually very cheap or even free) the logo usually ends up costing you down the road. You are more likely to encounter issues with design egos and have to deal with time delays. They may also not have the technical knowledge (bitmaps vs. vector, bleeds etc.). This is less of an issue for logo design but can cause major issues on other projects. On the other hand, don't discredit these people. I've seen some great work come from aspiring designers and those who design as a hobby.

Regardless of where you find your logo designer, make sure you review their portfolio and then confirm these two criteria:

1. Find a designer that will provide you with a vector logo. If they can't, get another designer. If they don't know what a vector graphic is, do NOT hire them!

2. Make sure they will give you the following files:

- The original (vector) file from the program the logo was designed in.

- A (vector).pdf of the logo.

- A (vector).eps of the logo.

- Three high resolution.jpg's of the logo, one 2" wide, one 12" wide and one 24" wide.

While your computer probably does not have a program that can open the first three files, make sure you have them on a disc in your office and stored away on your computer. Future printers and designers will need these files. See Images 101 for more information on vector vs bitmap.

LOGO DESIGN GUIDELINES

In addition to a logo that looks good and makes sense for your business, make sure your designer follows these guidelines. You too should run their designs through these considerations (color, size and shape):

Colors

Colors play an important role in a logo. Ideally you should keep colors to a minimum, avoid shading and keep colors separated. When printing full color digital graphics you probably won't run into any issues. Digital printers print graphics just like your color inkjet or laser printer. In general, digital printing is expensive and is not always available for non-paper items.

Keeping colors to a minimum can save money. Printing applications for apparel, signage and promotional products will cost more for each color. Promotional products generally have a set-up charge and a run charge per color. Screen printing will also cost more for each color. Design a logo with one or two colors or have a version that can be used as a single color.

Tight color registration can cause issues. If your colors are touching that's considered tight registration. Text that has an outline around it is a good example. Promotional items that are silk screened or pad printed can't always achieve this. Tight registration can also become a problem if you are photocopying something in black and white. Two completely different colors can look like the same color and end up being a big black blob when photocopied. Avoid tight registration or have a version of the logo that doesn't have tight registration for these situations.

Color fading/shading can't always be printed. Most non-digital printing applications print solid colors. If you have a solid color that fades or shades into a darker color or another color you will need a modified version of your logo.

Custom colors can cost money. Printers carry standard ink colors such as but not limited to red, navy, royal, dark green, yellow and black. Most printers will charge a fee to mix a specific color for you. Promotional logo'd items are also mainly available in standard colors. If you selected teal blue for your logo and want to find a teal pen for your company, you would be very limited in your selection.

Size

Text or lines that are too thin or small aren't effective and can "disappear" when printed or photocopied. The small parts within a lower case "e" and "a" can also fill-in if they are too small. When selecting your logo make sure that you can shrink it (or a version of it) down to 1" wide. One inch is about the smallest size you will print your logo.

Shape

Shape is much more than a vertical or horizontal design. Shape needs to take into consideration what is referred to as white space. Avoid design elements that protrude too far away from the main design. If your logo has a lot of unusable white space and you want to print it in a small area, the white space can prevent you from having space left for contact information that you want to include. See the illustration below. Think about how the logo will look when paired with your address or website. Ask the designer to put your address block next to the logo as it might appear on a business card or on letterhead.

An important note on different versions - You shouldn't feel restricted by any of these guidelines. For example, a logo that looks like modern graffiti would most likely go against all of the guidelines above, but if that's what you want then that's what you should have. Just ask your designer to produce modified versions that can be printed in a single color or smaller spaces. I've seen companies with 10 page booklets and dozens of variations of their logo that can be used for different applications. Be prepared.

Think about color, size and shape when designing and selecting your logo. You should also have different versions for different applications. Make sure you have the right files stored away for printing. Keep in mind that the most recognizable and most famous logos are simple and the colors are limited. Work it and re-work it until you have the perfect logo. It's your logo, take ownership of it and keep your logo visible!

Tara Bodansky, The Logo Handler is the leading source for ideas and solutions that pertain to the usage of your logo. She is also the Founder and Creator of the CREEDS Program and President of AdVisibiliti Promotions. For graphic illustrations of this article, visit http://www.TheLogoHandler.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tara_Bodansky

Recent Logo Design Inspiration By Logo Online Pros

If you're in search of inspiration, logo design gallery Logo online pros  is a great place to inspiration.

Web Development Tips

Web designer plays very important role in the structure and the user friendliness of a website. However, his role is limited in making the website more search engine friendly. In Search engine optimization, we say that it’s the optimizer who will bring the site to the top rankings in a search engine. However, we are wrong about the role of a web developer. Because an SEO expert can make the onsite optimizations but some optimizations like compressing the code as well as inserting keywords in Meta tags and headers can only be done by the developer.

In this post, we will be telling about the Optimization tips for web developers.

1.       Research the keywords:

Like a search engine optimizer, a developer also should search for the keywords that he will use in the coding of his website. These keywords can easily be searched using Google ad words or any other search option. These days, many new websites are available that can help in finding the right keywords. You can also find these keywords by searching them on the search engine itself, like ‘logo designs online’.

2.       Keep it simple and clean:

A website is made by using flash, or by using CSS, html, J-query and many more programming languages. But good way of making a website is by keeping the coding section clean and simple. IT means, not to add large lines of code when the same thing can be done using small coding words.

3.       Meta tags and header:

Website development includes meta tags and headers, where all information is added that can only be read by a search engine robot or is shown on the search engine itself.

Use them properly and do not over fill them with the information of your company otherwise search engine bots will not be read them and your Meta tags will not work.

4.       Construct the URL with keyword:

The URL of the website should be constructed with keywords. Many websites use numbers to tag their files but using the keywords on the files and folders will enhance the search ability of the website. Moreover, by doing this the website will increase in the ranking.

5.       Regularly update:

In the end, I would like to add that regularly update your website. If the website is not regularly updated (in three months period) than search engine bots will think that, the website is not updated and its ranking will start to decrease.

Do realists need to be cruel? - Education Logo design

Realism is a concept that was first started by the writers of utopian wars… as it is said in ‘the globalization of world politics’.

Utopian wars are the wars that took place between Greeks and the Romans. Some of the wars were covered by writers, for example the ‘attack on Melos’ was covered by Thucydides a writer at that time and also the inventor of this new approach.

The difference between realists and optimists:

Optimists are those people who think optimistically. A good way of defining them is by the help of a glass, which is half filled with water. If you ask an optimist about the glass, he will show hope and say that the glass is half-full. While, realist will say that the glass is half-empty.

It’s because the realist is thinking on the terms of ground realities. In addition, the optimist is thinking hopefully about the glass. Both are to contradictory terms and in international relations, these two terms become two different schools of thoughts.

The future of a country depends on these two schools and the branches that emerge from them. As if Niccolo Machiavelli and Thucydides himself were the classical realists, they considered that the man is bad, and he can do anything for his survival.

While there is another type of realism, also that is called neo realism. In this type, the followers focus on the system rather than the human being. They believe it’s the system that is anarchic and states are the primary actors as there is no forces controlling them.

But as the question goes, do realists need to be cruel?

Realists are not cruel in reality, but it’s there thinking that makes them so. The realists closely observe the condition of the scenario and when they do that they analyze it and provide the results on the reality basis. They provide these analyses in a critical way.

And in this way we call them sometimes cruel. As there assumptions and predictions resemble the cruelty of a man. And that man is as the realism branch classical realism say that all men are born cruel, resembles them to the fullest.

This article is brought to you by the online logo design company logo designer Uk. The article is in favor to promote education among people. Moreover, a good article to start it is by educating them about the world and the phenomenon’s that are being used in it.