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Designing A Logo
Before you start designing a business
card or picking colors for your letterhead, you need a logo. Featuring
your company name and embellished with a little color and perhaps
a few graphic touches here and there, your logo is the most important
design element because it is the basis for all your other materials:
stationery, packaging, promotional materials and signage.
'Through the use of color and graphics,
your logo should reflect the overall image you want your company
to convey,' says Richard Gerstman, founder of Gerstman + Meyers,
a brand identity and marketing consulting firm. 'It should give
people a feel for what your company is all about.' For example,
say your product is an organic facial cream you'll be marketing
to health-conscious consumers. Your logo should represent your
product's best benefitsÑbeing all-natural and environmentally
sound. Creating a simple, no-nonsense logo using earth tones and
a plain typeface will give the impression of a product that is
'back to basics,' which is exactly what you want to achieve. Take
that same product and give it a slick, high-tech look with neon
colors, however, and people won't associate your logo with the
down-to-earth product you're selling.
Logos come in two basic forms: abstract
symbols (like the apple in Apple Computer) or logotypes, a stylized
rendition of your company's name. You can also use a combination
of both. Alan Siegel, chairman and CEO of Siegel & Gale, a design
firm specializing in corporate identity, warns that promoting
an abstract symbol can prove very costly for a small business
on a budget. In addition, he says, such logos are harder to remember.
'A logotype or word mark is much easier to recall,' Siegel says.
If you do use an abstract symbol, Siegel advises, always use it
in connection with your business name.
Trying to create a logo on your own may
seem like the best way to avoid the high costs of going to a professional
design firm, which will charge anywhere from $4,000 to $15,000
for a logo alone. However, be aware that there are thousands of
excellent small studios around that charge much less. According
to Stan Evenson, founder of Evenson Design Group, entrepreneurs
on a tight budget should shop around for an independent designer
or small studio.
But don't hire someone just because of
their bargain price. Find a designer who's familiar with your
field . . . and with your competition. If the cost still seems
exorbitant, Evenson says, 'remember that a good logo should last
at least 10 years. If you look at the amortization of that cost
over a 10-year period, it doesn't seem so bad.'
Even if you have a good eye for color
and a sense of what you want your logo to look like, you should
still consult a professional designer. Why? They know whether
or not a logo design will transfer easily into print or onto a
sign, while you might come up with a beautiful design that can't
be transferred or would cost too much money to be printed. Your
logo is the foundation for all your promotional materials, so
this is one area where spending a little more now really pays
off later.
Excerpted from Start Your Own Business:
The Only Start-Up Book You'll Ever Need, by Rieva Lesonsky and
the Staff of Entrepreneur Magazine, © 1998 Entrepreneur Press
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