Logos and Illustrations

Why is a Logo
so Impor­tant?

First off, what is a logo?

Sim­ply put, a logo is a name, sym­bol, or trade­mark of a com­pany or orga­ni­za­tion. Logos can be made up of text that is con­fig­ured in a unique way. Your logo can be an illus­tra­tion with your company’s name on or around the illus­tra­tion. Or your logo can be a sym­bol. A logo may also be a com­bi­na­tion of these, but its goal is always to project the company’s intended image in a sim­ple, unique way.

Why should you use a logo?

One rea­son is that peo­ple process an image in their mind more eas­ily than words alone. A logo serves as the visual stim­u­la­tion to kick-start the audience’s mem­ory, leav­ing a greater and length­ier impact than words alone can. It is the sim­plest and most direct way to pro­mote your business.

Logos give brand name recog­ni­tion and adds a visual appeal to any doc­u­ment or web page. Because your logo is a unique graphic image, your vis­i­tors’ eyes will nat­u­rally be drawn to it both on the web and on your printed materials.

Types of Logos

Text Logos

Words in their purest form ARE images. Type fonts come in all shapes and sizes, which con­vey dif­fer­ent impres­sions on the audi­ence. A thick font con­veys strength and power. A script font con­veys ele­gance and aus­ter­ity, and a slanted (italic) type­face con­veys move­ment. Your com­pany name thus can be your own logo, pro­vided your type font dis­plays the intended qual­i­ties of the organization.

Sym­bol Logos

A sym­bol uses an image or images that con­vey an actual or abstract rep­re­sen­ta­tion of a busi­ness. Because a sym­bol alone is less direct than text, it leaves itself open to a wider inter­pre­ta­tion of what the busi­ness is about. Using a sym­bol in your logo has sev­eral possibilities.

It may be a take on a com­pany name. One exam­ple would be show­ing a logo with an ocean wave in a com­pany that calls them­selves “Wave­length Optics,” which has noth­ing to do with the ocean but is actu­ally an opti­cal engi­neer­ing business.

It may cre­ate an entirely new sym­bolic mean­ing. For instance, peo­ple did not orig­i­nally asso­ciate the Nike “swoosh” with the com­pany. But due to its cor­po­rate rise and pres­ence every­where, peo­ple have imme­di­ately grown to think “Nike” when­ever they see a swoosh. The same is true for the McDonald’s golden arches, or a national flag.

Text and Sym­bol Logos

A brief amount of text, or some­times just an abbre­vi­a­tion, com­pli­ments the sym­bol and pro­vides that extra bit of clar­ity on what the busi­ness is about.

There are many choices to con­sider when decid­ing the logo that best fits the image of your com­pany. Never limit your­self to one option. It can be very easy to see an image you per­son­ally like and think it would look attrac­tive in one for­mat with­out giv­ing thought to how it will look every­where else. In the end, it’s not about what you want your logo to look like. How your audi­ence per­ceives your logo is more important.

Your logo should be com­pat­i­ble with your image

If you are a finan­cial or legal insti­tu­tion, you will prob­a­bly want a logo that is more con­ser­v­a­tive in design and color. Navy blue, maroon, and dark teal are good color selec­tions for pro­ject­ing a con­ser­v­a­tive image.

If you are an artist or a state-of-the-art com­puter com­pany, you may want a logo that is more abstract and con­tem­po­rary. Shapes and sym­bols are good choices for an abstract look. Even using black and white as col­ors on a unique design gives a con­tem­po­rary look and feel.

Your logo design should be simple

One rea­son your logo should be sim­ple is that peo­ple process an image in their mind more read­ily than words alone. The other rea­son that your logo should be “sim­ple” is that the sim­pler your logo is, the eas­ier it will be for your graphic designer to re-size and re-color it for var­i­ous design pur­poses. You should have var­i­ous logo sizes (small, medium, and large), a web ver­sion and a print ver­sion of your logo, and a black-and-white and color ver­sion. Always plan beyond your ini­tial design pur­poses for your logo since the ulti­mate goal of your busi­ness is to expand.

Your logo should be unique and recognizable

There are two rea­sons you need an unique logo. First, you want peo­ple to see a visual rep­re­sen­ta­tion of your com­pany or busi­ness. When peo­ple see your logo, you want them to imme­di­ately asso­ciate that logo design with you and no one else. You don’t want your logo to be a piece of clip art because some­one might asso­ciate that clip art with your com­peti­tor. Using an image or a type­face that is all too com­mon defeats the pur­pose of hav­ing a logo, and can even have a neg­a­tive back­lash among your audi­ence who would view your com­pany as unimaginative.

Sec­ond, a unique cor­po­rate iden­tity is impor­tant because you don’t want to vio­late any copy­rights or trade­marks of other com­pa­nies. If your logo is too sim­i­lar to another company’s logo, it is in your best inter­est to mod­ify or redesign the logo. What it would cost you in time and money to have it redone would be very small com­pared to wind­ing up in court for a copy­right violation.

If your logo is sim­ple and unique, and if peo­ple visit your web site repeat­edly, peo­ple will asso­ciate your logo with your com­pany. When done prop­erly, a logo is one of the sim­plest ways to make a brand name recog­ni­tion impact.

Why choose Cre­ative Juices to design your logo

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All our logos, cor­po­rate images and brand­ing visu­als are care­fully researched and designed to best rep­re­sent your com­pany image. We work closely with you and give you sev­eral fresh and orig­i­nal con­cepts to choose from so you’ll never be dis­ap­pointed with the results. Whether you want a unique icon or a cre­ative use of type, Cre­ative Juices can help you out!

A pro­fes­sion­ally designed logo, web­site, brochure or busi­ness card by Cre­ative Juices is a smart invest­ment in the future of your com­pany. Your prof­its will increase because your cus­tomers will believe you have what it takes to sat­isfy their needs.

Con­tact us today for a FREE con­sul­ta­tion and esti­mate. We do not use tem­plates or clip art. We are not a generic, online logo design fac­tory uti­liz­ing graphic design stu­dents at cheap rates. Nor do we try to up-sell you to buy some­thing you don’t want. But if you do need a web­site, brochure or sta­tionery we would be very happy to help you.

We guar­an­tee to make every effort to com­plete each project to your sat­is­fac­tion. You can’t lose! Call 310–791-5803 for an appoint­ment to stop by and meet us. Speak to the actual per­son who will be design­ing your image.

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Free Mar­ket­ing Tips

Talk one on one with your logo designer.
Call Chuck at Cre­ative Juices 310–791-5803.