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LogoPalooza 2 Visit us on the web: TheLogoFactory.com Call us Toll Free : 1•866•897•9701

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Examples logos featured in Logopalooza – Volume Two – are the copyright and/or trademark of respective holders. Used by permission. All other rights reserved. Examples of in-progress work product are copyright and/or trademark The Logo Factory Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or reproduction prohibited. Logopalooza Volume Two – copyright 2008 The Logo Factory Inc. Accompanying text is copyright 2008 The Logo Factory Inc. All rights reserved.

For further information on The Logo Factory please visit us on the web at TheLogoFactory.com or call us toll-free at 1•866•891•9794 (USA & Canada only). International 1•905•564•6747.

By e-mail: [email protected]

The Logo Factory Inc.6741 Columbus Road, Unit 10, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. L6T 5G9

LOGO DESIGN - A FEW WORDS

On a surface level, the benefits are simple. A great logo on a well-designed letterhead design business card will stand out against a bunch that aren't. A nicely designed brochure or flyer will stand out better than one that isn't. You want to be among the

.05% of promotional material that isn't headed for the trash. Simple yes, but it's more than that. On an 'gut' level a well executed logo design gives your clients a

psychological 'lift'. A well-designed logo (accompanied by an effective 'look-and-feel') gives newcomers to

your business a perception of professionalism and attention to detail. You look after all the 'nuts and bolts' of your business and in turn, will look after them. Conversely, if you pay such little attention to your businesses' image - what's really going on behind the scenes? A well-designed logo and corporate identity gives the impression that you care about your business, and in turn, care about the things your business does. You take pride in everything about your company - from how it looks, which obviously translates to how it looks after its customers. It is an overall image of strength, quality and professionalism that starts the minute your clients are exposed to your business. A great logo is the cornerstone of your brand, as well as the spark plug that drives your marketing. Ready to get started?

In this, The Logo Factory's Logopalooza Volume Two, we'll share some design tips as well as showcasing some visual solutions created by our designers. You'll find everything from incredibly simple icons, to fantastically complex illustrative works as well as the ideas and philosophies behind them. The logos featured all have one thing in common – they represent companies that have recognized the value of branding and the importance of establishing a solid visual identity in an increasingly cluttered market place.

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Over the years, we've created logos for every industry and type of business imaginable and each project requires afresh approach, from simple iconic treatments, to marks incorporating fully rendered and accurate illustrations.Regardless of the complexity of a design, every logo must be technically sound, allowing for reproduction on thewidest range of media. Understanding potential usage, and the restrictions of same, is critical to the successfuldevelopment of any logo. Real estate icons and logos are among the most challenging – an extremely competitivefield combined with a wide array of applications.


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - START OUT RIGHT

When you're in the market to have a new logo developed, there's always the temptation to take some short cuts. Usually to save time, money or a combination of both. Trouble is, most of these 'cookie cutter' solutions will turn out to be neither inexpensive or fast, and may cause a ton of headaches down the road - especially when your fledgling company starts to become more high-profile. Some examples? You may think about using a clip art logo. Not a good idea - the image probably isn't licensed for use as a logo or if it is, is already being used by lots of other people. You may think about downloading a logo template - similarly not a good idea - as most of these template sites are 'anonymous' and you're never going to be sure if the work is original. Even if the work is legit, it certainly won't be unique. The very idea of 'templates' involves many people using the same design. And if it is unique, the chances that you'll get the correct formats are slim). Hosting a logo design contest has similar drawbacks and caveats. At the end of the day, there's only one effective way to design a unique, effective logo and that's to work with a seasoned professional with the experience to get your job right.

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LOGO DESIGN TIP - A LOGO IS JUST THE BEGINNING

True, it's an important beginning, but a beginning never the less. Don't expect your logo to single-handedly develop your company's 'brand'. Far from it. It is only by repeated use of your logo, combined with graphical elements (your marketing artwork, ads, etc) as well as the old-fashioned stuff (business ethic, customer service, etc) that will create your 'brand' or corporate image. Having said that, however, your new logo is the corner stone of these efforts, and its pretty important to get it right.

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While The Logo Factory has made the development of illustrative logos our specialty, we also have exhaustiveexperience when it comes to creating more traditional, iconic designs. Certain uses favor an iconic approach –embroidery for example – and often a simple graphical approach is required. Like our illustrative designs, our iconiclogos are the result of a well-established logo design process – from rough thumbnail sketches and concepts throughto final rendering and formatting. Each project requires research into the particular industry involved – the trends,the pitfalls and the client's goals. At the end of the project we hope to have a mark that both the client, and ourdesigners, are proud to call their own.


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - DESIGN FOR YOUR AUDIENCE

Naturally, you want to like your logo - we've know lots of times were people are reluctant to use their logo as they no longer 'like' it. On the other hand, keep in mind that your logo is to appeal to your customers, and should be created with them in mind. You may be the most conservative person on the planet, but if you're trying to market to the hip-hop crowd, your sensibilities are probably different than your 'audience'. A logo that you 'like' probably won't appeal to them.

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Often, our designers are limited with the amount of design latitude a project will allow. That's generally not the casewith logos for media and entertainment companies – more often than not these projects allow a wide range ofdesign leeway, usually with very dynamic results. As with all logos however, there may be some reproductionrestrictions, often necessitating the development of a series of logos from the same 'family' – each with a specificusage. Pictured above is the logo 'family' for famous radio shock jock Steve Dahl – one featuring a portrait of theDJ, and another generic icon (inset) for his Los Angeles radio show. To insure consistent reproduction, we also createblack and whites, linears and reverse background versions for most of our logo projects.


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - THE ESSENCE OF YOUR COMPANY

Your logo needs to portray the essence of your company. Are you a serious company, or one that revels in being whimsical. Are you appealing to a conservative set? Then a cartoon logo probably wouldn't be the best choice. Trying to brand a sports bar or an ice cream parlour? Then a logo that would work for a financial institution probably won't cut it either. Understanding a particular industry's 'theme' is important, and where a designer's experience comes into play.

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LOGO DESIGN TIP - STRIVE TO BE DIFFERENT

You'd be surprised how many people ask designers to create logos that are very similar to their competitors. Kinds misses the point, no? The idea of your own logo is just that - your own logo. While it can be helpful to look at logos that your competitors are using (or even people in the same industry), this should never be used as a guide to creating your logo. The idea here is to be different than your competitors. To stand out in a cluttered marketplace. To have a logo that's better than theirs Or, at the very least - different.

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LOGO DESIGN TIP - A LOGO NEEDS INSTANT IMPACT

Your new logo will probably not have the luxury of being in your audience's eye for a lot of time. In fact, you probably have a few seconds (at the outside) to 'grab' the viewers attention. If your logo needs to be deciphered, or has an elaborate 'back story', there's probably little chance that it will communicate the essence of your company, service or product effectively.

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As one of the pioneers of working remotely with clients via the Internet, The Logo Factory has developed a uniquedesign delivery system, while still focusing on our original mandate – the creation of great logos. And while ourstudio has many imitators, our originality still stands out where it counts the most – our development of awardwinning corporate identity and brand artwork. Our in-house creative team consists of the most experienced logodesigners in the world, and rather than market ourselves through retail sales gimmicks like other so-called 'logodesign studios', we are content to let our work speak for


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - A TAGLINE IS NOT PART OF A LOGO

A tagline is the phrase or few words that describe a company, or the company's mission. Generally stated, taglines are featured under the logo (or in circular logos - around the logo). They're cool and all, but it's not advisable to include them in the initial design phases of your logo. Wordy taglines will require a small font that will become illegible at smaller sizes. Also, a tagline can create a lot of visual clutter in many applications. It's always better to have that ever-so clever tagline as a separate element that you can add when appropriate, or when doing so will not interfere with the design integrity of your logo itself.

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LOGO DESIGN TIP - FONTS & SPACING

Whenever words are typed out in any design software package, the program ‘guesses’ how close the letters should be to eachother. This is known as Kerning - or more accurately in this case - ‘auto’ Kerning. Alas, these are only estimates and some programs do it better than others and what looks good on your monitor will look hideous when enlarged to billboard size. The only way to effectively space typography is by ‘eyeball’ and by hand. Some letter combinations - V & A for example - require tighter spacing than say, M & N. Setting up correctly spaced typography is critical - poorly spaced letters will register in the viewer’s minds eye as an amateur-hour logo, even if they can’t quite put their finger on what’s wrong. And yes, this also includes the ‘tag line’ of your design. And while we’re talking about fonts,, if you’re going to use off-the-shelf fonts - acceptable but custom is better - there are certain type faces that were never meant to be used as display. Chauncery Script is one. Papyrus was cool about six thousand logos ago. And oh yeah - keep the number of different fonts down to a minimun. A logo with anything more than two font styles risks imitating a ransom note…

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In an increasingly cluttered marketplace, it is becoming more and more difficult to create original and uniquesimplistic logos. Even large corporations have been 'caught out' – their new corporate identities looking very similarto already-in-use symbols. While their applications are slightly more limited, highly illustrative logos can help createa truly distinctive brand and can even be more engaging, especially if offered on incentives and wearables. For thisreason, illustrative logos are popular with bars and restaurants such as the Kokobana Mexican Grill (above). Thesehighly detailed designs require the services of skilled illustrators - a cursory knowledge of publishing software issimply not enough to 'pull off' this kind of mark.


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With their involvement in the advertising industry, common sense would dictate that marketing companies realizethe importance of a great brand design. It should also come as no surprise that many marketing companiesoutsource their own brands to a studio that they trust – The Logo Factory. It's often difficult for even the mostdynamic companies to create their own 'look and feel' internally and a fresh creative approach is often the solution. We also work with ad agencies and design studios whose specialty is something other than logo creation, or to solve a stagnant project that requires an entirely new approach, while still remaining well within the original creative budget.


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - SIZE DOES MATTER

Your new logo needs to reproduce at a variety of different sizes - particularly on the smallish side. Overly complex logos can 'gum up' when reproduced as a very small image. Think business card, fax header. How about a key chain? Or a ballpoint pen? Take a look at the Nike 'swoosh'. Not a very dynamic logo but it is recognizable on a shirt sleeve on the television where a complex logo wouldn't be. Think of your logo as a mega-sized image as well. Like a billboard. Knowing how your logo is going to be used, both in size and media, can help your designer create a logo that's appropriate in terms of complexity.

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Sometimes a logo project will demand design elements from all the various logo types – iconic, textual andillustrative - and can test the mettle of even the most experienced logo designer. While iconic logos can often becreated through a trial-and-error process, sometimes even through sheer luck, a highly illustrative logo requires aminimum level of artistic prowess and skill to pull off. An artist tackling a project of this nature needs to combinetraditional drawing skills with modern typography and technical know-how. The illustration also has to work as alogo – rather than just a pretty picture – and be in a format that lends itself to the various types of mediareproduction required.


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - MAXIMUM 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.

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Branding and logo design used to be the purview of commercial interests. No longer. As community basedorganizations, churches and religious organizations embrace modern technology to get out their particular message, many have taken to 'branding' themselves and are often looking for non-cliché design solutions for logos and their identities. Community based logos must be sensitive to the themes being portrayed, and the designer must often take a 'toned down' approach throughout the process. That's not to say community based designs have to be boring – they don't – but sometimes a more refined and measured design solution is the most effective way of delivering the mark's message.


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Often, a logo is meant to portray a theme. Maybe even tell a fairly complex story. Such designs require a skilleddesigner – someone who is able to distill the company story down to one graphic image, be it an icon or afull-blown illustrative treatment. Regardless of the approach, any logo has but a few seconds to communicate thecompany message, and accordingly, any logo project should not be taken lightly. An effective logo should be lookedupon as an investment – not simply another 'operating' expense. If executed effectively, a logo can help build acompany's marketability and will (hopefully) last the lifetime of the entity it represents.


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - SIMPLE IS SOMETIMES BETTER

A complex logo can be difficult to reproduce and more importantly, difficult to remember. Better to have a simple version for your main logo, and a souped-up version when a more complex version is appropriate, and/or the reproduction medium allows.

An illustrative logo is sometimes appropriate - especially if you're planning to market merchandise featuring your new mark, but keep this in mind - this kind of complex logo requires the skill set of a fairly experienced designer who not only knows typography, graphics and design, but can draw as well.

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While many of our clients are looking for a 'wow' factor when it comes to their new corporate identity, it is often the simpler iconic treatment that is more suitable. This is particularly true of companies that are marketing high-ticket items to a select demographic, hi-tech companies or logos for medical and health services. Graphical icons can still relate a story and theme, but in a much more subdued manner. Only through careful consideration of a client's goals, industry and target audience can an appropriate design strategy be mapped out. Implementation of this strategy requires an team with design experience and technical knowledge that is required by this design discipline.


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - ASPECT RATIOS

The aspect ratio (the relationship between the height and width of a logo) is critical. A logo that is too tall and skinny, or too wide and short, is not visually pleasing, and you'll end up with all sorts of layout issues when it comes to setting up your logo in artwork, especially when combined with other graphic elements ie: business card, websites, etc. A logo that is closer to a 'golden mean' - almost the aspect relationship of a business card - is much more pleasing and more adaptable to working in other artwork. Square is pretty cool too - circle logos are very strong visually due to their 'square aspect ratio'

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H o m e Pa g e .c o m

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While one of the more challenging brand types, a character logo also offers marketing opportunities that otherwise might be unavailable from more traditional solutions. Aside from being the central component of a logo, a mascot can be featured in numerous situations and environments, creating a universal appeal for a business, product or service. Development of effective characters is not an easy task, but requires a designer with understanding of this medium, as well as experience in incorporating the mascot as part of a logo. Accordingly, a character logo should only be tasked to a designer with appropriate experience. While certainly not for every application, a character logo offers the ability to stand out on the logo design landscape.


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - LOGO FOOTPRINT

Similar concept to aspect rations, the 'footprint' (the physical boundaries that are required for reproduction) of your logo design is often overlooked when inexperienced designers are developing their first logos. Using a footprint effectively is sometimes key to a logos success. Simply put, you can imagine your new logo's footprint as a bounding box around the minimum area needed to reproduce your logo. When designing a logo it is important to keep in mind 'trailing elements' of your final design - that is, parts of your logo that extend beyond the main image area. These elements can greatly affect the size that your logo can be used, especially in conjunction with other artwork.

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Simple logos are the most versatile. Their applications are practically unlimited, and most recognizable brandswould fall under this description. That's not to say a simple logo has to be boring or non-descript – it could beargued that it's more difficult to pare a company's identity down to a few shapes than it is to develop a highly complex illustrative logo. Developing a simple logo, be it iconic or text based, requires a creative solution – not just a series of swooshes and nondescript shapes. When developing a simple logo, our designers tackle the project from various angles – often ending up with a series of effective designs, each one having the potential to be the final mark and resulting in a difficult decision as to the final selection.


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - KEEP IT METAPHOR LIGHT

While it’s nice for your logo to actually ‘mean’ something (i.e. – this color represents growth, this dot represents our product) sometimes clients wish to write ‘War-and-Peace’ with their logo’s metaphors. An overworked logo is not a pretty sight. The most memorable logos are also the most simple; the memorable complex logos are often highly rendered illustrations, not a bunch of geometric shapes. Dozens of swooshes, dots and colors – all professing to ‘mean’ something will not mean anything to the first time viewer even though it might be a 'cool' back story to tell.

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Specializing in logo design for over a decade has allowed The Logo Factory to develop a unique approach tocorporate identity, as well as develop experience in almost every imaginable industry and service – restaurants and food services as one particular example. Whether the logo is for an upscale ethnic eatery, or a wild and wooly sports bar, logos for this particular industry require attention to the image portrayed, as well as the market to which the design appeals. A corporate identity for a restaurant can be iconic, illustrative or graphical – but must remain dynamic for the lifespan of the business as well as be adaptable enough for the variety of uses required - from menus and signage, to embroidered goods and glassware.


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - DISCONNECT ICONS & TEXT

If your corporate identiy is to feature both an iconic logo and a textual treatment of your company name, it's best to have the elements as distinct pieces of artwork as opposed to overlapping, intertwining, etc. This way, you'll be able to use either the text or icon solo, and the logo will still stand up. If your company is a new start-up, you'll need to feature its name in any use for quite some time. Once you're a little more established, you can use the icon solo without losing any brand recognition.

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Text based logos are the simplest (and favored by Fortune 500 corporations) logotype but can be enormously difficult to design - the designer is limited in the 'tricks of the trade' that are available and when using 'off-the-shelf' font work, your logo runs the risk of being uninspiring. On the other hand, a memorable logo font can help 'brand' your name and is generally easy to reproduce on a wide variety of promotional items, as well as being almost universally adaptable throughout the wide range of marketing and advertising materials available. If we were to boil everything down to the main advantage of font-based logos it would be this - the design promotes your name almost exclusively, and helps makes the name of your company memorable to potential clients and customers.


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - COLOR IS SECONDARY

The most important part of your logo project is the design itself. Oh sure, it's nice to see your logo in the colors that you will eventually use, but in the initial stages of any design process the colors are of secondary importance. They can always be changed,or edited later. Now, having said that...

Consider color choices carefully. Whether you utilize a two spot color, or four color process design will greatly impact any reproduction costs in the future. While not critical in the initial design phases, your choice of corporate color will have a ripple effect throughout all you corporate 'look-and-feel' material and is a decision that should not be taken lightly in the final stages of the design process.

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Icon logos generally feature highly simplified graphics (symbols) that reflect an aspect of the company and/or product portrayed. These graphics can be highly abstract in concept or feature a reasonably accurate depiction of an idea, concept or item. Truth to tell, it's the treatment of the image, as well as the subject matter, that defines an iconic logo. Icon logotypes are perhaps the most common (a slim margin over graphical) and is probably the type of design that comes to mind if you were asked to describe"what makes a logo". But despite their relative simplicity, these logos are often the most difficult to design - it's certainly not easy to take complex ideas or concepts and break them down into a few abstract shapes.


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - CAREFUL ABOUT WEB COLORS

In traditional media that is. And vice versa. Some web colors are beyond a CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) range - meaning that the color cannot be printed using CMYK or Pantone equivalents. To make things more complicated, sometimes web safe colors CAN be converted successfully. Best advice - if there's a particular web-safe color you wish to use, a professional designer will be able to tell you of it's usability is outside of your monitor

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LOGO DESIGN TIP - DON'T CHANGE (ALMOST NEVER)

Once you've developed your logo, it's in your best interest to keep it. Brand recognition takes time (some studies state that viewers have to see a logo three times - or more - before they'll remember it the next time). There's an awful lot of logo clutter out there, so only be repetition will your logo break through. If you're going to change or update your logo, think very, very long and hard about it. If you decide to go ahead, then make sure you get it right that time. Changing a logo dramatically more than once (in a short period of time) may tell your audience that you're flaky and unreliable. Not good in business.

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Cartoon logos are not for every application, company or business and if desired, should be approached with some caution. A cartoon logo development must be tailored carefully to the market segment, theme and marketing plans of the business or company depicted. There are times when a cartoonish logo is not only inappropriate, but could be downright damaging to the business depicted. It's hard to imagine a bank, accountant or a financial planning company with a cartoon logo as their mascot - that image would hardly inspire an aura of strength, stability or financial reliability. In other cases, a cartoon logo is not only appropriate, but demanded, especially when trying to demonstrate unorthodox ideas or concepts or marketing to a particular market segment.


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - REPETITION & MORE REPETITION

You want to know why the Nike logo is so successful? Is it because it's a 'great' logo? Far from it. Other than being remarkably simply, the Nike 'swoosh' is painfully uninspiring. No, the Nike logo is successful because it's been seen a cazillion times more than any other sports logos. On TV. On the shirts of top athletes. On the sports equipment of almost every professional sports team out there. Simply put, the Nike logo is so successful because it's been driven into our subconscious by constant exposure. And that's the same philosophy you should take with your logo. Granted, you don't have the promotional budget of giants like Nike, Apple or FedEx, but do what you can. Plaster your new logo everywhere. Every scrap of paper that leaves your office should feature your logo. Put it on your car (could be a tax write-off too). Letterheads, Brochure. Presentation folders. Use your new logo until you're sick of it. And then use it some some more. In fact, that's a pretty good rule of thumb - at the point you're getting sick of your logo (and you'll be tempted to change it) it's just starting to get some traction.

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Who needs a logo? In the purest sense - nobody does. Anybody can create a business without one. In theory, anyone can toil away, providing their client base with the best in service and/or products - relying on word of mouth to expand. Putting faith in the old fashioned method of knocking door-to-door. Many of you are not convinced of the value of a logo. Or the expense involved in creating one. "My business will succeed by itself" you exclaim, "I don't need a logo!" Oh sure, you still need to concentrate on your business basics (a great brand will not bail out a sloppy business - we don't promise that). But a decent logo (and hopefully a great one) will help to carve out a preconception of what your business is all about, and that will HELP your business to succeed.


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LOGO DESIGN TIP - HAVE REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS

Keep in mind that your new logo is but the beginning. True, it’s an important beginning, but a beginning nonetheless. You shouldn’t expect your logo to single-handedly develop your company’s ‘brand’ and turn your new company into the latest commercial empire. Far from it. It is only by repeated use of your logo on marketing material - business cards, letterheads, website - as well as some old-fashioned elbow-grease - business ethic, customer service - that will develop your ‘brand’ or corporate image in today’s over saturated business market. Still, your new logo is the cornerstone of these efforts, and it’s pretty important to get it right. For some logo design ideas, you can take a look at the examples we've featured in this volume of Logopalooza, or you can always visit our design gallery on our website at TheLogoFactory.com.

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There is no fast-and-true rule for automotive logos - every application has its unique parameters, depending on the theme, market and direction of the car company involved. Designs and corporate identities for automotive companies can range from cartoon-like to corporate, conservative to radical. To be sure, the auto industry encompasses a wide range of business types - from auto sales & car dealerships, to parts, tires and accessories. Of particular note when developing an automotive logo is the planned usage and the restraints that may be involved. If a logo is to be applied to vinyl signs & signage the logo has to be simple and linear. If the logo is to appear primarily in traditional advertising, our designers can take a wider latitude. This design was selected for publication in Logo Lounge.


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THINGS TO AVOID - PURSE SHOPPING

A very close relative of art-directing the job. When you view your new logo and your reaction is instant. “There it is! It’s perfect! Just what I want”. At this point, the purse-shopping phenomenon can kick in - “Now, why don’t we try moving the text down, the globe to the right?” If you have developed a killer logo, your reaction will be similar to the people you’re trying to reach. Fumbling around for a ‘better’ version of a ‘perfect’ logo will only weaken its design, or worse, lose the original appeal completely. It would appear that most purse shopping is brought on by client’s desire to get their ‘money’s worth’, and exhausting what they perceive is the time paid for in the design charges. Remember, you’re not paying for someone to put X number of hours into your design. You’re looking for that designer to utilize their skill, talents and knowledge of software into creating the icon that will represent your company for years. Milking a design for a few dollars can only hurt its integrity.

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THINGS TO AVOID - DON'T COPY. EVER

As strange as it might seem, designers sometimes get asked to 'copy' other people's logos. While this is a bad idea for a variety of reasons, including copyright and trademark problems down the road, and something any professional would refuse to do, the bottom line is that it defeats the purpose of developing a great logo in the first place. That logo that you like may be a great logo - for the company that's using it. It won't work for you. While it's very helpful for our designers to view types of logos that you 'like' in order to assess the direction that your project will take, it's best to keep the influence of other people's brands to a minimum. When your company becomes successful, it's always better to have a logo that's completely yours, rather than a mark that can be traced to someone else.

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THINGS TO AVOID - DESIGN GIMMICKS

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 your 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 used on the standard version of your logo, are only going to cause grief down the road, especially when it comes to application of your new logo on typical business material. Your logo should be as technically simple as possible for adaptability.

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THINGS TO AVOID - CLICHÉS (LIKE THE PLAGUE)

Logo trends come and go every couple of years. In the latter half of the 90's the trend was the swoosh (or was it the swish?). A combo homage to Nike and an attempt by every company on the planet to illustrate that they were all high-tech and stuff, the swoosh became the most overdone graphic element in recent memory. Then came shadows. Then 'gel' blends and reflections (like many graphic trends, thanks to Apple). Now, it's the so-called Web 2.0 'look' and feel. How to tell of a logo trend is just that? Simple. Is everybody doing it? Then it's a trend. It will be very passe in a few months or years and you'll be stuck with tens of thousands of business items plastered with a logo that causes you to shudder every time you look at it. Stick to the classic types of logos - longevity, adaptability and impact will be the pay-off.

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THINGS TO AVOID - CLIENT AS ART DIRECTOR

As designers, we are trained in many aspects of design, graphics and technology. By the time you view preliminary designs, we have attempted every variation of that particular design, having moved swooshes, right, left, up and down. Micro-tweaks will not improve the design if it is not to your liking. Best to tell your designer that you’re not happy with the design, and work from fresh proposals. It’s highly unlikely a design that does not have the 'ah-ha' factor can be forced into a design that you love by moving its elements around. Generally speaking designers are aware of two golden rules - 'don't get married to any artwork' and 'it's never personal'. A professional designer can take direction, criticism and frank opinions.

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THINGS TO AVOID - DESIGN BY COMMITTEE

Perhaps the most difficult project for a designer, and the most frustrating for a client. A large group of people are responsible for selecting, approving and modifying the logo throughout the various design stages. Keep in mind that it usually the loudest (and dare we say – the committee staffer with the largest ego) who invariably makes their opinion heard – not the committee member who has a keen sense of design. Better to select a ‘voice’ for the committee who is keenly aware of your group’s goals.

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TECHNICAL - VECTOR BASED LOGO ARTWORK

A Vector based image is the raw source file of your logo, created out of Vector shapes, which can be filled with accurate color through the Pantone Matching System. Vector based images should be the format for ALL business logos . A Vector can be thought of as a shape made up of rubber bands that are wrapped around nails (Vector points) pushed into a peg board. If the nails (or in this case points) are moved, the shape will change. This allows designers to be able to edit artwork quickly and accurately. Vector files are also resolution independent, meaning that they can are scalable to any size. Vector based logo formats can be printed as Spot Color OR Four Color Process depending on your requirements and the number of colors in your logo. Editing Vector based art may require the use of a professional-level vector drawing program such as Adobe Illustrator.


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TECHNICAL - PIXEL BASED LOGO ARTWORK

A Pixel based image is made up from a grid of varying colored pixels that when viewed from a distance form the overall image details. Pixel based images can be CMYK or RGB color palettes. Pixel based images are resolution dependent and must be prepared specifically for the usage planned. A 72 dpi Pixel based image can be used in electronic media (web) while a 266 (or higher) dpi image is required for print. Due to the number of colors required to create images most Pixel based images will require Four Color Process printing, rather than the much more economical (and accurate) Spot Color printing.

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TECHNICAL - SPOT COLOR LOGOS

Using premixed ink swatches (ie: Pantone Matching System), a designer, client or printer is able to select the exact color tones desired in a particular logo. This is very similar to selecting swatches of premixed paint to go on your wall at home. Your printer will take the file, and output a metal plate for each color. These are referred to as Spot colors. The plates are applied to the press, inked up with the appropriate color, and then the paper is run though the press, with one impression for each color. What comes out at the other side is your completed image. When working with your logo design, your designer can still add the 'appearance' of more colors by adding screens and tones of a particular Spot Color. If handled correctly, this should not be a concern - it will not increase the reproduction costs of your logo, while giving the appearance of more colors than we're actually using. Spot Color reproduction is generally more economical than Four Color Process printing which requires four sets of plates, film and typically a larger press. Spot Color reproduction is also more accurate in terms of color matching as the color values are absolute. Spot Color reproduction requires a vector based version of your logo. Spot Color logos will require careful color matching to be accurately converted into Four Color Process format - required by many discount print shops who 'gang up' several print jobs in order to offer cut-rate pricing.


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TECHNICAL - FOUR COLOR LOGOS

While monitors use RGB (Red, Green & Blue) to preview full-color images, traditional printing uses CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black) also known as Four Color Process printing (or simply Four Color). In this method of printing, logo artwork is set up so that it uses percentages of the 4 base 4 color process printing inks. These percentages are created using varying sizes and densities of dots - most noticeable in the low resolution printing of most newspapers. When these varying amounts of the 4 base inks are printed one over the other, the resulting variations will print as new colors. Rather than having the color tones premixed like Spot Color inks, we are basically having the inks mixed 'on the fly' on the press instead. Four Color reproduction is generally more expensive than Spot Color and color accuracy is largely dependant on the skill and professionalism of the shop printing your material. It should be noted that the colors created by 4 Color Process printing are not solid colors at all, but rather a series of dots. This is most noticeable in the photographs reproduced in your local newspaper. Four Color reproduction can utilize either vector based or pixel based versions of your logo (as long as the image has adequate resolution).

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TECHNICAL - OUTLINE FONTS

Whenever the digital artwork file for a logo (ie: .EPS file) is opened in a computer graphics program such as Adobe Illustrator, the computer must have access to any fonts contained in the artwork. If the fonts are not available, the results can be unpredictable. In order to avoid this, any fonts that are contained in your logo are converted to Vector based shapes. This allows anyone to open the artwork files, whether or not they have the fonts installed, and the logo artwork will remain consistent. Fonts converted to Vector based shapes are referred to as outlined fonts.

Outlined fonts are no longer editable by simply typing new letters, but are only editable as artwork - like any Vector based images. To properly edit the text in logo that features outlined fonts, your designer will have to replace the text completely. In order to do this, they will have to match the font, install that font, and then perform any editing required. This new text can then be re-outlined for maximum compatibility.

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ABOUT US - THE LOGO FACTORY STUDIO

The Logo Factory Inc. is a web-centric corporate identity design studio that develops new business logo design and corporate identity for clients throughout the world, and has been doing so since 1996. Clients can visit our web site at www.thelogofactory.com, view our logo examples, submit their job requests to our talented team of logo designers, who can then take these ideas and bring them to visual reality with preliminary designs. These initial concepts can be previewed on our Factory Floor section, a restricted access area where clients can request revisions and fine- tune their logo until project finalization. Throughout the design process, clients never have to leave their monitor, whether they're in The USA, Europe or Asia. Once the project is completed, clients can download all the relevant logo files and formats from our web site, while our design staff can guide clients through the add-on design services phase - everything from brochures, to letterhead design, stationery and presentation folder design to sophisticated web design and logo animation utilizing the latest in web publishing technology. Currently in development is our video animation studio, producing HD video for web and DVD applications.

Logopalooza is The Logo Factory'òs marketing brand and encompasses our studio blog, podcast series and Logo Manual publications available in printed form and as a download from our web site.

At date of writing, Logopalooza Volume One has been downloaded over 50,000 timrs from our website. Look for Logopalooza Volume Three to be released early 2009. Interested in having your work featured in Logopalooza Volume Three?

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THE LOGO FACTORY - HELPFUL LINKS

If you are viewing this volume of Logopalooza on your computer, you can visit any of these helpful links by clicking on the desired subject. Your browser will need a Flash Player plug-in to view animations (Quicktime plug-in for video):

*Also available on YouTube. Click Here.

THE LOGO FACTORYLOGO DESIGN EXAMPLESLOGO DESIGN ARTICLESLOGO DESIGN TECHNICAL INFORMATION FLASH LOGO ANIMATIONLOGO REPAIR & CLEANUPTHE LOGO FACTORY STUDIO BLOGLOGO DESIGN PRICINGORDER YOUR NEW LOGONEW! LOGO DESIGN VIDEO*

http://www.thelogofactory.com

http://www.thelogofactory.com/logo_design_galleries/gallery1.html

http://www.thelogofactory.com/library/index.html

http://www.thelogofactory.com/library/technical.html

http://www.thelogofactory.com/logo_design_flash/flash_logos.html

http://www.thelogofactory.com/logo_design_repair/logorepair.html

http://www.thelogofactory.com/logo_blog/index.php

http://www.thelogofactory.com/logo_design_pricing.html

http://www.thelogofactory.com/order-gateway/order-logo.html

http://www.thelogofactory.com/video/

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheLogoFactory

LogoPalooza is a production of The Logo Factory Inc. - The Corporate Image Art Company. All trademarks are the property of their respective holders, used with permission. All other rights reserved. For more information visit

our web site at www.TheLogoFactory.com and www.LogoPalooza.net