Winning Logo Design - How to Earn Big Money from your Logo Designs

By: Horatio Farquaar

Making a living out of selling Logo Designs can be fraught with danger. Cuthroats willing to slash your throat on street corners, drug crazed thugs and conniving conmen are just some of the things to avoid. Its a jungle out there so make sure your logo design is bulletproof.

Buy Low - Sell high

In terms of outlay the resources you'll need to produce your logo designs are pretty minimal and the returns can be huge. What you'll need is either a pen and paper or in todays modern fangled world a mouse and computer to produce your designs. Pop along to your local electrical retailer and see what offers they've got on for computers. Alternatively make one yourself out of an old radio and a broken down TV. Hey presto a fully functioning desktop publishing empire for the price of a cup of tea.

Look close to home for design inspiration

Now that you're fully set up to produce quality logo designs, you've actually got to come up with some rather fancy ideas. A good place to go for inspiration is the front living room where you'll be amazed to find lots of branded products just waiting to be copied and served up as your own logo design ideas. Another place you might want to look at is your own kitchen. Go on, take a look in your fridge - it's brimming with things like cream cheese, beefburgers and probably some skanky vegetables. If that doesn't inspire you to create, I don't know what will

Hands up who wants a logo?

Your hardest task in making your logos pay for your living is going to be finding anyone vaguely interested in what you have to offer. Once you've asked your small circle of friends and family for the umpteenth time whether they want to pay you to produce a logo for them, its time to look at advertising your services to a wider audience. Try producing a TV commercial using a movie camera and the help of a local TV production crew. Once your ad is shown on primetime TV those orders will start to rollin...

...or they would have done, but for one fact on this journey of self discovery we forgot to build ourselves a website or leave a contact number for people to call. In hindsight remember to have a website designer build you a logo design website before you spend thousands on producing your tv ad. OK, for arguments sake lets say we had a website ready beforehand and now we've got something like 200 logos to produce, how are we going to cope? Outsource, my friend and soon like this article recommends - you'll be earning BIG BIG moneys baby. Damned right.

Mindtap Graphic Design Resources is your single point entry into the UK creative industries. We are looking to create a unique site where you can access information on UK graphic design, UK logo design, graphic design tutorials, graphic designer careers, graphics software, graphics tutorials, graphic designers, logo creation, freelancer resources, graphic designer jobs, employment, web page design, free graphics, website designers, artworkers, graphic clipart and any other associated graphic design resource.

Vector Logo Design Vs Raster Logo Design

By: Hussein Ali

Raster graphics are images that are defined in terms of a generally rectangular grid of pixels, or picture elements. Each pixel is one small square of colour, which, when combined with other pixels side by side, merge together to form one solid image to the eye.

Raster formats
There have been a number of formats developed over the years to store raster graphics. Some of the most popular formats are discussed below, each with their advantages and disadvantages.

BMP - Bitmap Graphics (Avoid wherever possible)

• Easy to create with the built-in Windows Paint program.
• Long history, therefore good, universal support.
  
• No compression means the format is lossless.
• Creates huge files since no file compression is used.
• No transparency.

GIF - Graphics Interchange Format (Good for the web, on images of less than 256 colours, for example simple geometric shapes e.g. bullets for lists)

• Creates small files as good compression is used.
  
• Universally supported across platforms.
  
• Transparency supported.
  
• Animation supported.
  
• Palette of colours limited to 256 per image.
• Transparency is only 1-bit, therefore no translucency.

JPG - Joint Photographic Expert Group (Good for the web, for images like photographs where colour depth is important but lossless formats produce large file sizes)

• Lossy compression format produces relatively small files.
  
• Universally supported across platforms.
  
• Artifacts visible at high compression rates.
  
• No transparency.

PNG - Portable Network Graphics (Great for the web, but be careful if using transparency. Good trade-off of quality and compression)

• Both lossy and lossless compression available.
  
• Both 1-bit and full alpha channel transparency available.
  
• Small file sizes produced.
  
• Poor support in some web browsers for full channel transparency.
• Compression not as great as lossy formats.

Vector Graphics

Where raster graphics are defined in terms of individual pixels, vector graphics are actually stored as mathematical rules - widths, heights, curves, proportions, ratios. Where raster graphics have a set height and width and look pixelated when stretched beyond these boundaries, vector graphics render themselves to the space given to them, such that they are resolution independent. login in to http://prowebb.com to view image exmaples of raster vs vector.

Vector based logos is not based on pixels any longer. It is based on points set at proportional distances, joined with lines and curves, and filled with a solid black colour. When drawing curves in vector graphics programs, a number of points are defined and dragged such that a smooth curve is plotted. This curve is independent of dimensions but is saved as in proportions and ratios such that it will scale to any resolution.

Vector artwork can be modified and stretched without havinng to worry about loss of quality, clarity or sharpness. Because of their mathematical origins, Vector Graphics are readily scalable without distortion.

Vector graphics formats

Again, a number of formats exist for storing vector graphics, each with their advantages. It is important to note that, by their very definition, vector graphics are SMALL in comparison to raster graphics when it comes to file size. Since they are not saving information on each and every pixel, but rather rules for rendering, file size is cut immensely. The universally accepted format for vector graphics, particularly when it comes to company logos and sending files to print, is EPS - Encapsulated PostScript. PostScript is a format developed by Adobe to describe pages to a printer, plotter, or screen. Rather than storing straight data it stores instructions for the makeup of the page. Fonts are stored as individual character vector objects, for example, so they can be printed at as high a resolution as the printer can print. Macromedia's Flash technology is an excellent example of vector graphics working at their finest - whatever the window size, vector elements of the Flash movie appear crisply anti-aliased, and individual frames can even be printed in high resolution due to the vector-based nature.

Popular raster graphics programs

• Adobe Photoshop
• Jasc Paint Shop Pro
  
• Macromedia Fireworks (tailored to web design)
  
• The GIMP

Popular vector graphics programs

• Adobe Illustrator
• CorelDraw
  
• Macromedia Freehand
  
• Macromedia Fireworks (tailored to web design)

Popular vector graphics animation programs

• Macromedia Flash

A good question. At first glance, vector graphics seem to overcome all the difficulties of raster graphics. They can be resized to any size without loss of quality, and pixelation just doesn't occur. File size is also greatly reduced. However, each format has an individual purpose. A photograph cannot be expressed as a vector graphic because it simply isn't vector data. A sunset cannot be defined mathematically, at the risk of starting a philosophical argument on the world around us. The real world is not vector-based. The table in front of you has an infinite pixel depth, infinite variations in colours, infinite variations in relief and texture. Vector graphics are reserved for images such as typefaces, lines, curves. Complex vector images can be created but they have been created specifically in vectors. Photographs and complex raster effects like lens flares are defined with pixel-by-pixel lighting and colour effects, not with vectors.

Logos for businesses should always be created as a vector. Why? For maximum usage. It's all very well creating a great raster logo with lens flares and bevels and gradients but what happens when it needs to be on a huge banner in a hall? Or, at the other extreme, printed on headed notepaper. Raster effects just are not practical when it comes to corporate identities. With vector-based logos, the image will scale to any size and any application; raster graphics would require re-rendering each time a new size was required, not to mention problems with transparency across print and computer platforms.

About the Author:

Hussein Ali is a Graphic designer and web developer at Prowebb, a web design company located in Northridge, California. For more information about the company or the article you read above, visit us at prowebb.com

Winning Logo Design - How to Earn Big Money from your Logo Designs

By: Horatio Farquaar

Making a living out of selling Logo Designs can be fraught with danger. Cuthroats willing to slash your throat on street corners, drug crazed thugs and conniving conmen are just some of the things to avoid. Its a jungle out there so make sure your logo design is bulletproof.

Buy Low - Sell high
In terms of outlay the resources you'll need to produce your logo designs are pretty minimal and the returns can be huge. What you'll need is either a pen and paper or in todays modern fangled world a mouse and computer to produce your designs. Pop along to your local electrical retailer and see what offers they've got on for computers. Alternatively make one yourself out of an old radio and a broken down TV. Hey presto a fully functioning desktop publishing empire for the price of a cup of tea.

Look close to home for design inspiration
Now that you're fully set up to produce quality logo designs, you've actually got to come up with some rather fancy ideas. A good place to go for inspiration is the front living room where you'll be amazed to find lots of branded products just waiting to be copied and served up as your own logo design ideas. Another place you might want to look at is your own kitchen. Go on, take a look in your fridge - it's brimming with things like cream cheese, beefburgers and probably some skanky vegetables. If that doesn't inspire you to create, I don't know what will

Hands up who wants a logo?
Your hardest task in making your logos pay for your living is going to be finding anyone vaguely interested in what you have to offer. Once you've asked your small circle of friends and family for the umpteenth time whether they want to pay you to produce a logo for them, its time to look at advertising your services to a wider audience. Try producing a TV commercial using a movie camera and the help of a local TV production crew. Once your ad is shown on primetime TV those orders will start to rollin...

...or they would have done, but for one fact on this journey of self discovery we forgot to build ourselves a website or leave a contact number for people to call. In hindsight remember to have a website designer build you a logo design website before you spend thousands on producing your tv ad. OK, for arguments sake lets say we had a website ready beforehand and now we've got something like 200 logos to produce, how are we going to cope? Outsource, my friend and soon like this article recommends - you'll be earning BIG BIG moneys baby. Damned right.

Mindtap Graphic Design Resources is your single point entry into the UK creative industries. We are looking to create a unique site where you can access information on UK graphic design, UK logo design, graphic design tutorials, graphic designer careers, graphics software, graphics tutorials, graphic designers, logo creation, freelancer resources, graphic designer jobs, employment, web page design, free graphics, website designers, artworkers, graphic clipart and any other associated graphic design resource.

Logos and Branding-Maximize their Power

By: Jessica Dockter

Most of us know effective marketing is the result of consistent marketing efforts to target audiences, but it’s easy to forget about incorporating your logos (or branding) effectively. A few questions you want to ask before you start a massive marketing effort are:

1. Does my logo represent the services or products I’m trying to sell?
2. Is it appealing?
3. Is it easy to read?
4. Does it correlate to my website?

If you answered all these questions with a yes, it’s time to look at the many ways you can use marketing tools such as a logo to improve customer loyalty and increase your visibility. Everything you use should have some consistence. Is your logo the same on all business cards, letterheads, outdoor advertising, website, cars banners, etc? I realize this may seem obvious, but it’s surprising how often businesses and individuals may use a certain type of look for paper marketing tools, another look for web marketing tools, and still another look for outdoor advertisements.

There is a very successful landscape firm in my area. They use a large single (oak shaped) green leaf. Underneath their leaf they have attractive lettering in black giving the company name and phone number. It’s is easy to read. I can always tell it’s them. Their trucks, marketing flyers, newspaper advertisements, business cards and bus stop ads are all the same. During the summer, I may see their logo as much as three or four times per day; once when I read the morning paper, whenever a truck is working, or whenever I drive past the bus stop.

Experts who have studied advertising strategies understand that most human beings will seek comfort and familiarity. The more often the public is exposed to your logo, the more likely you’ll be able to sell your products once you have an opportunity to meet face to face.

To summarize, make sure your logo works for your business, advertise consistently using your logo consistently and then ask for a sale. Also, remember to build customer loyalty and increase up sale by using logos on all follow up correspondence. If the person you are talking to needs your product or service and they’ve seen your logo 10-15 times, it’s highly likely you’ll get a yes on your next sale.

About the Author:

Jessica Dockter is the owner and director of L.E.E. Design, a graphic design and marketing firm. She has helped dozens of clients create effective logos and branding material. For samples of their work please visit http://www.leedesign.org

Accounting Logos - Salient Features of Accounting Logo Design

By: Jahanzaib Hasan

There is a lot of consideration when being burdened with the complex tasks of creating and designing a logo, which not only reflects the image of the company, but will catch the attention of the consumer and client population. Logos need to be eye catching, and can be considered as tools which give positive first-time impressions of the industries or organizations they’re representing. Prior to a business promoting its major products and services in the market, its entrepreneur needs to be creative and design a logo, which is both innovative and creative.

For the purpose of his/her business making a ground-breaking presence in the market, it is very necessary for him/her to create a logo design which possesses originality, and has a mesmerizing effect on the consumers. Imaginative logos help in characterizing the nature of the business involved. In designing logos for accounting firms one need to pay close attention to both detail and creativity. Accounting is basically related to finance, so the inclusion of suitable accounting symbols such as ‘@’, ‘$’ into the logo design could help define the company name. However, they should be altered a bit to add that touch of individuality and creativity.

Consider the use of formal fonts

In designing accounting based logos, one must bear mind that the accounting company is formal in nature. In respect of this it is stressed that excessive use should be made of the more formal based fonts like ‘Times New Roman’ and ‘Arial’. As a common practice among accounting firms, it is also necessary that accounting based logos should be associated with the name of the accounting organization.

Focus on color and style presentations

Referring to color and style, accounting-based logos should be of a three dimensional nature. This could not only speak volumes for the accounting company, but adds a sense of professionalism to the designed logo. Don’t ornate on color depth when designing such logos. Accounting logos need to be as uncomplicated and formal as possible. Colors like light to bottle green, with a tinge of light blue or mustard yellow will most probably do. Don’t ornate on heavy colors as this will only destroy the company image and cause its clients to be repelled away from such a company. Remember, the more vivacious and in-depth the colors are in an accounting logo, the higher is the probability of attaining an unprofessional image among its solemn and serious clients.

In a nutshell, when it comes to designing accounting logos, a few salient features of accounting design need to be put into perspective. These include adding not too much color, sticking to formal based fonts, and most importantly, including the business name under the logo, in an endeavor to gain maximum exposure and recognition among clients.

About the Author:

Jehanzaib Hassan writes on Accounting Logos
For more information about Logo Designs please visit the website of Logo Design Guru

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

Some 'Golden Rules' Of Logo Design

By: Wong Weng Chen

While the variables are infinite (that's a good thing - it means that every logo can be unique) there are certain benchmarks (I hesitate to call them rules) that if you follow, will pretty well insure that you'll end up with a decent and workable logo. While whether or not a logo is 'good' remains completely subjective, following these pointers will give you a logo that's usable, practical and promising a long shelf life.

1) Uniqueness
Your logo should be able to stand out as completely 'yours'. It's surprising how many times we get asked to 'copy' logos - we've even had clients request a 'version' of my brand. Not a good idea. On top of the potential legal complications nothing screams 'unprofessional' like a logo that's looks even remotely like someone else's. Do not copy. I'll say it again. Do. Not. Copy.

2) Timeless
Every few years there's a trend, or fad, that new logos seems to embrace. A few years ago it was the 'swoosh' - made logos all hi-tech and 'internety'. Trouble is, everybody jumped on that bandwagon and the treatment rapidly became hackneyed and trite. Few years hence, and we've got lots of people stuck with out of date designs. The latest design logo trend is so-called 2.0, a technique that (like a lot of design trends) can be traced back to Apple Computers. Take your logo, add a 'gel' treatment, give it glassy reflection at the bottom and you're all set. (hey - the 3D version of our house could qualify). Web 2.0 is still going strong, but I'll go out on a limb and say it will be yesterday's news by end of summer.

3) Gimmick Free
Special FX and filters are usually applied, by inexperienced designers, to logos that are 'missing something'. Trouble is, what the logo is generally missing is any design integrity, and adding bevels, lens flares and drop shadows is the logo design version of 'putting lipstick on a pig'. While it certainly shows how cool the latest design software is, it doesn't do much for the professionalism of your mark. Such treatments are fine for glamour shots (used as display pieces on brochures and the like) but are only going to cause grief down the road, especially when it comes to application of your new logo on standard business material. Your logo should be as technically simple as possible for adaptability, which just happened to be number 4 on our list...

4) Adaptability
Over the life of your company, you'll want to plaster your logo over everything you send out. That's the point of having a logo in the first place. In order to do this, you'll need a logo that's adaptable to every occasion and while they may look 'pretty' , the design gimmicks we just talked about render your logo impractical for many of these uses. Some of these uses - checks, FAXes, embroidery, newspaper ads, invoices, letterheads, etc. Your new logo has to work on all of them. You'll also need a quality black and white version that can reproduce as a halftone grayscale, or in the cases of low-resolution BW reproduction, a linear version.

5) Scalability
When using your logo, you'll need to be able to use it small. Real small. Postage stamp size. Classic example of this - over the years, I've designed a load of sports event posters that feature logos from dozens of event sponsors. Space only permits the logos to be featured as very small images and it's always the simpler logos that stand out when viewed from a distance. The cluttered logos aren't recognizable to any great degree and the sponsors are probably wasting their money, especially if inclusion on the poster is the only benefit of their sponsorship. When it comes to scalability, the text portion of the logo is the most important, as that's the piece you want people to remember. Scrawny, sickly text doesn't read very well at half an inch high.

6) Color is Secondary
Colors are extremely important. Using consistent corporate colors will become part of your brand - that's understood. However, when it comes to the design of your logo, color must always be secondary. A logo that requires color to 'hold' the design together is fine when reproduction is optimal - websites, 4 color process printing and what have you - but even then only if the size is appropriate as well. Logos that rely too much on color tend to blend together when used small (see above) and unless the contrast between the two colors is pronounced, will be a grey mess if used in black and white. As for low-resolution reproduction (FAXES, checks, etc) you can forget about readability completely - logos that use color as a design cornerstone usually come out as black blotches on a FAX transmission and with all their money, banks still haven't figured out how to print a decent check.

7) Appropriate Aspect Ratio & Footprint
The aspect ratio of a logo is the relationship between a logo's height and it's width. Bottom line, you don't want a logo that's too tall, or too wide. Square'ish' is always best as this allows the maximum adaptability of a logo, especially when it's being used in conjunction with other artwork. The 'footprint' of a logo refers to the amount of physical space that's required to place a logo on any page. If the footprint is 'wonky' - trailing design elements 'poke' outside the footprint - it can greatly affect the size that the design can be used at, as well as the visual impact of same.

Like most 'rules' of design, not all of these will apply in every situation, and in many cases, we'll toss them out completely. However, they should give you a road map that will help you navigate the sometimes frustrating creative process to design your new logo.

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

Logo Design: Its History, Evolution and Future

The emergence of the word "logo" can be traced back to ancient Greece. A logo essentially referred to a form of cipher consisting of the initials of a name designed for easy recognition among the viewers. Such ciphers/ logos were widely used as monograms of the rulers and their dynasties in the ancient Greek and Roman coins. During the thirteenth century, the concept of logo design developed from ordinary ciphers to distinct trademarks for various traders and organizations.

The evolution of a logo as an indispensable branding strategy started of in the 1800’s. This was marked by the well-known story of a London based curio dealer named Marcus Samuel who used to sell shell-covered boxes. Over a period of time his business flourished and thus he started dealing in a variety of objects like kerosene, jewel and later on oil. By the year 1830 his company had a worldwide presence. Finally in the year 1897 his business was popularly known as the Shell Transport and Trading Company being visually represented by a simple seashell as its trademark/ logo, which later on became one of the most successful and probably the world’s best-known logo design. It was during this period, the very essence of a logo graduated a step further with the introduction of the famous “Rock of Gibraltar” logo representing Prudential Financial, Inc. This particular trademark served not only as a simple logo design but also projected the company as a powerful entity possessing the similar attributes of endurance and security as that of the “Rock of Gibraltar”. This is a classic example of how a relevant graphical image can communicate a message with a lot more impact that what mere words can do.

Over the years, rapid industrialization led to fierce competition, which in turn led to an increased importance of having a logo as the brand identifier. In order to stay and lead a competition, a distinct logo design is a crucial part of a company’s branding strategy. Today, there are thousands of logos around us and many more are added every year, out of which only a few stay in our mind. In such a competitive market, every corporate entity desires to have a distinct and powerful presence. A good logo design certainly helps in building up a strong brand presence of the company.

In the present context, a logo is not just a text or a graphical image designed to represent a company. A variety of factors are taken into consideration that finally results into a good logo design. A good logo design is the result of extensive research, which can only be carried out by professional logo design companies. Over the centuries, good corporate logo designs have played a vital part in scripting the success stories of various companies and organizations. In the coming years, with the introduction of many more brands and business entities, the marketplace will get even more competitive, and thus the services of a professional logo firm can only facilitate a company in carving out a niche segment for themselves.

Alfred Anderson has rich experience in the field of online brand marketing. His interests includes Internet marketing and research on emerging online business trends. Company Logo Design-Business Logo Design

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