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.

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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

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