Starbucks, one of the biggest coffee chains of the world, recently introduced a new nameless logo. Though the new logo design highlights the company’s signature twin-tailed siren, it no longer includes the words ‘Coffee’ and ‘Starbucks’. The introduction of a nameless logo has sparked off a controversy regarding its usefulness.

Most people believe that nameless logos only work for companies who have already established themselves as a brand. Probably that is the reason why Starbucks did not hesitate to take this bold step.

Logos can be broadly divided into three categories-

Typographic logos- Typographic logos highlight the company’s name in unusual and creative ways. A good example of a company that uses typographic logo is Calvin Klein. The logo of this company highlights the initials of the company name in an interesting way.

Since typographical logo involves only playing around with text and fonts, many assume that it is easy to design. However, the reality is different. Designers have to choose a unique font to distinguish the logo in midst of thousands of others. Additionally, they have to pay attention to other factors, such as letter and word spacing and shape of the letterforms.

Type and symbol logos- These logos involve symbols and name of the company. Apart from creating awareness about a company, type and symbol logos can subtly highlight values of a company.

The logo design of the famous Jaguar car company can serve here as a good example. While the upper part of the logo highlights a wild cat jumping, the lower part points out the name of the company. The wild cat creates a powerful image and the strong typeface that highlights the company’s name, matches it perfectly.

Symbol only logos- Companies that have created a strong brand identity of their own usually opt for symbol only logos. Examples can include Apple, Shell, and Starbucks.

Simplicity is the biggest thing that symbol only logos can teach designers. A good way of understanding the simplicity involved in famous logos is to break them down in their basic forms.

If you remove text of the National Geographic logo, for example, you will be left only with a rectangle. Implementing this strategy by yourself will help you to understand that when it comes to powerful designs, simplicity is the key.

Nameless logos can be successful, only in case of companies who have earned great popularity. As part of a logo design company, if you have to deal with a client who wants a nameless logo for his/ her start-up company, convince the person that it will not be a good idea. Rather, assure the client that a typographic logo or type and symbol logo would be the perfect choice.

Of course, if you are designing for a renowned company that everyone knows, it’s a different matter.

Many young people these days are willing to become graphic designers. Benefits of being a graphic designer can include good money, creative satisfaction, and flexible timings (you can work as an employee or a freelance graphic designer).

Since graphic designing is a lucrative career option, many youngsters are willing to know about the skills that are necessary to break into this field. Of course, an exact definition of a perfect graphic designer does not exist. Still, we have pointed out few traits that a good graphic designer should possess.

1.   Latest technological expertise

It may sound harsh to some, but fact remains that mere sketching and pencil-drawing skills will not help you to acquire a good job in the graphic designing industry. Recent technological advances have altered the concept of graphic design. Today, even a small-scale firm opts for computers to create and modify designs.

For these reasons, to become a graphic designer, you must possess a basic knowledge of using computers. More specifically, you should be aware of graphic software, such as Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Freehand.

If you are planning to become a designer but yet to know graphic software, start gathering information about it. Remember that searching for graphic designer jobs, without possessing the essential skills, would result in a futile search.

2.   Print production knowledge

Graphic design has a strong association with printing. In most cases, clients ask designers to print their creations. For this reason, many companies these days hire only those candidates who possess at least fundamental printing knowledge.

To master print design, you need to understand print layout software, such as Quark Express, and Adobe. Additionally, you should have an in-depth knowledge of concepts, such as master pages, grid layout, and color separations.

3.   Creativity

Surveys reveal that while hiring graphic designers, employers look for people with strong creative and aesthetic sense.

A designing industry thrives mainly on creativity. Unless you are creative and possess the ability to come up with unique designs, you will not succeed as a graphic designer. Graphic and logo design industry is a fiercely competitive field, where creativity will help you to gain an additional edge over your rivals.

4.   Educational background

Educational background plays an important role in the designing field. All those who are looking for entry-level graphic design jobs should possess a bachelor’s degree. However, if you want to work as an assistant graphic designer, a diploma certificate would be sufficient.

5.   Good communication skills

Most jobs these days require candidates to possess good communication skills. This is also important in graphic designing field, because here you need to communicate with clients regularly.

Apart from verbal skills, strong writing skills are crucial. The reason is that many times clients ask designers to write a tag line or brief description of their products.

6.   Portfolio presentation

A well-made portfolio is a valuable resource available to a person, who is seeking a job. Surprisingly, many choose to ignore it. They believe that a person who has an experience of more than 10 years in the designing field should create a portfolio. However, this is a wrong concept.

Your portfolio acts as your representative, highlights your personal and professional accomplishments, and points out your values. Remember that a well-made portfolio can create a strong impression on minds of your prospective employers.

Apart from all these skills, knowledge about web designing can act as an extra advantage. Upgrading your skills regularly is equally important.

In the logo design industry, creating unique logos and meeting deadlines are not enough. A logo designer should possess creativity skills. Along with it, the designer needs to possess the ability to convince clients that the logo meets their requirements perfectly.

However, things do not work out so perfectly in the designing industry. Clients are often stubborn about their preferences. Many a times, the designer, working on behalf of a logo design company, gives in to the client’s demands. As a result, quality of work suffers, with the designer grumbling that the client has murdered his/her creative skills.

As a designer, you need to accept the fact that clients will always find some fault in logo designs. In such a situation, you can follow the client’s instructions and make necessary changes. Alternatively, you can try to convince him/her. Here are few tips that you can consider:

• Confidence is the Key

When it comes to handling clients, confidence is the key. Confidence creates the impression that you possess the required expertise and skills. Clients have more faith in confident designers and usually, do not push them for making unnecessary changes. If you appear confident and assertive before the client, there are high chances that he/she will allow you to retain the original design.

• Gently Highlight Your Skills and Expertise

Confidence represents the first step of convincing the client. The next step is to point out your credentials and expertise. This does not mean that you have to present your degree, testimonials, or certificates before them. Rather, this would mean creating the image of a passionate designer who is completed devoted to the client’s project.

• Point Out Your past Successful Projects

If the client still forces you to make unnecessary changes, point out your past projects that have earned reputation and acclaim. Most clients want to make changes because they do not have complete faith in the designers. Discussing about your past successful projects will reassure them. However, consider the fact that this may not be the right strategy in every situation. Some clients may evaluate this strategy as defensive or egoistic.

Still, if you can tactfully implement this strategy, it may convince the client.

• Avoid the Defensive Approach

If you are working as a designer in a logo design company in India, you should avoid the defensive approach at any cost. Understand the client’s point of view and stay levelheaded. Do not take the disagreements or criticisms personally. Remember that clients do not have any personal grudge against you. A defensive approach will convince them that you are an egoistic person and they may react negatively.

• Do Not Dismiss the Client’s Suggestions Altogether

Many designers make the mistake of rejecting a client’s ideas altogether. This creates the impression that the designer is an egoistic person who cannot accept criticisms. The right way of handling the situation is to convince the client that you have considered his/her ideas, and, if you have rejected those ideas, explain the reasons behind it. This will help the client to understand the reasons behind the rejection.

In the logo designing industry, disagreements with clients is common. The best way to deal with this situation is to adopt a sensitive and yet, firm attitude. Communicate with your client regularly. If you do not want to accept the client’s suggestions, explain the reasons behind it and state how it would benefit the project.

With corporate branding and marketing of products, brands and their logos now have a huge impact on consumer minds. People these days not only buy a product by its brand name, but prefer to call it so too. For example, we don’t go to a fast food restaurant and say we want a burger and a bottle of water, instead say, “Give me one Big Mac and one bottle of Kinley.” That’s the impact of brands!

We all have our own favorite brands and like their names, but most of us have misconceptions about brand names. Let’s explore the famous brand names and find out how they came into existence.

Adidas- Adidas is often thought of as the acronym for “All Day I Dream About Sports”. The brand name is actually derived from the founder of the company, Adolf Dassler. “Adi” stands for Adolf and “Das” stands for Dassler.

Adobe- This software giant got its name from a river! Unbelievable, but true! Adobe’s co- founder, John Warnock’s house is beside the Adobe Creek River in California.

Google- The mighty Google is well-known to everyone, but do you know how the name came into being? The company wanted to patent the word “Googol” as their brand name. “Googol” is a number number that means 1 followed by 100 zeros. “Google” was actually a spelling mistake.

Apple- Apple’s logo design has nothing to do with the type of products the company manufactures. Why is the half-eaten apple then used as their logo? Newton discovered gravity when he saw an apple falling from a tree. The Apple logo stands for motivation for new innovation.

Nike- Nike was derived from the “Greek goddess of victory”. That’s why they use the ‘swoosh’ in their logo’s design. The tick also personifies victory.

Toyota- This world famous Japanese car manufacturer got its name from its founder, Sakichi Toyoda, whose surname was initially used as the brand name, but was later, changed to “Toyota”. The word Toyota uses eight letters of the Japanese alphabets. Eight is the lucky number in Japan. The company wanted to give their brand name both numerological luck and a ringing sound for universal appeal.

Coca Cola- We love to drink Coca Cola, but how many of us really know what the name stands for? The secret lies in the recipe for this popular beverage, which uses coca leaves and kola nuts. Coca-Cola maker, John S. Pemberton, changed the spelling of “kola” into “cola” to create the famous brand name “Coca Cola”.

Hotmail- Hotmail is based on HTML and the company wanted to give it a name that will sound like HTML and have the word “mail” at the end. They finally selected the name “HoTMaiL”, but later changed the word casing and made it “Hotmail”.

Mercedes- Emil Jellineks, the man behind this company, patented the car’s engine after his daughter, Mercédès Jellinek.

Hope my article gave you some new information and also rectified some old misconceptions about famous brand names.

You can’t find new clients if you don’t promote yourself. You have to make people hear you and hire you to stay in competition. However, self-promotion needs intelligent strategy to garner the desired result.

Every small and big company promotes their service and there is nothing bad in this. Unless you tell people about yourself and what you are offering, how will they know about you? Of course, self-promotion does not mean banging your own drum without clear focus. Nobody likes a bragger, but everyone likes to hear the achievements of a talented man.

Here are some tactful self-promotion suggestions that will help you capture the target audience’s attention.

Let Your Work Do The Talking- Before promotion, you need something that you can promote. What is the best thing that a man can promote about himself? His work or the services he provides of course.

If you have created an amazing logo design or started providing website designing at an affordable cost, people will be more interested in you.

To promote yourself, you first need to believe in yourself and the work you do. If you feel that you can design a website the way no one else can, your self confidence will boost your self-promotional skills.

Promotion Must Be Planned- Some people like to promote their work to the world as soon as they do it, while some people like to share their success with the people they trust and gradually let other people know about their achievements.

You can brag about your work if you know it’s flawless, but the wise thing to do is to give it some time. Let the small number of users try it and when you make it absolutely excellent, promote it. A good example of thoughtful promotion is Google +. Till date, Google has not made it available to everyone.

Tell People How You Can Change Their Business- When you meet a new client and want to impress him, don’t say things like, “I have 10 years experience” or “I have worked with X,Y, Z brand.”

There are several other web designers in the market who have worked more than a decade in this industry and have worked with many more brands than you ever did. Why will the customer come to you?

To interest clients, tell them how you can improve their business and earn them more profits. Claims like, “my website design will increase the conversion rate by 20% for you” will impress them. But, when you claim such things, show him data, where you helped your past clients to get more customers through your unique web design. One page statistical data is much more convincing than an hour of futile talk.

Listen More, Talk Less- This is the most subtle way of self-promotion. You may meet two clients one day. One of them is facing a problem with the contact form and another with the products page of his website. Unless you know what their problem is, you may start telling what a good webpage designer you are to the person who is looking for a great contact form!

Listen to your potential client’s problems and then offer them the solutions by saying how efficient you are in that particular field. If your expertise can solve their problem, they will be more interested to hear your ideas.

Don’t Pretend- Every web designer has his own personality and style of work. Don’t try to be someone you are not. You can’t be a jack of all trades, and acting like one is the gravest mistake you can make.

If you are good at graphic design, only promote your graphic designing skills. If you start promoting yourself as an expert in all aspects of  web development and fail to deliver, people will realize you are nothing but a liar. This will not only damage your image, but hurt your business as well. If you claim something, stick to it and satisfy the clients with your service.

Every client likes a sincere web designer who fulfills his promise. Hollow self-promotion will land you in trouble. When you promote your work, service or ideas, show people enough reasons to believe you.

Since the day man started creating something unique, others have been copying or stealing it. This is especially true of the Internet, and no one knows it better than us, at WebGuru.

Very recently, our site’s content was copied by another: http://www.webguiss.com/

Naturally, it was highly frustrating, not only because content was stolen from our site, but because our content writers would have to write all pages again to make pages free of duplicate content, (and we had only just updated our site 6 months ago!) .

No…request or threat mails don’t work; the site copying our content never did quite take it off and there’s a high probability, even updated content from our site will be copied by them. Unless we drag them to court for copyright infringement (which is a long-drawn process), there’s little chance we are getting our content back.

Obviously, for any company in our situation, it seems easier to get hold of the content team and drill out new textual matter from them than go through a court ordeal.

Point is…when someone steals your creative work, it’s frustrating, irritating and infuriating!!

Copycats Are Everywhere!

You may have heard the words “piracy” and “plagiarism” several times and they both mean “embezzle something that you don’t own”.

Piracy means illegal distribution of products such as, books, software, DVDs, etc, and it hurts both an industry, and an individual. Plagiarism is copying someone’s work, or idea, such as their website design, logo design, content, etc, causing a more or less personal loss of the person whose work has been copied. In short, piracy and plagiarism are the two menaces against “original” work.

PLAGIARISM

Forget the dictionary meaning! If someone plagiarizes your work, it means the person has no creativity. These people don’t have enough skills to create something original. They copy-paste other people’s articles, graphics, etc. and claim it as their own work. It’s the easiest way to earn fame.

Some smartasses will only tweak colors and font styles to make a graphic their creation, or change order of facts to make content their own. If you challenge them, their excuse is, “it’s inspired, but original.”

• Graphics Plagiarism- Some lame graphic designers do it everyday. Template vendors are among them. These people are like parasites that live on fame someone else deserves.

• Text Plagiarism- Happens all the time! Chunks of text from here, chunks from there, shuffle order of bullet points, shuffle order of phrases, click Thesaurus for synonyms and voila!…you’ve got new content!

• Online Plagiarism- If you find this blog post on someone else’s site, it means we are already victims of online plagiarism at the time of your reading.

PIRACY

The past 20 years has seen a massive boom in technology. New technology was launched in the market, and with it, gadgets, tools, etc. Luxury became necessity and so increased piracy. Besides, original products cost a lot. Pirated electronic gadgets, softwares, are available really, really cheap. End result…stuff the original; money rules; get the cheaper and pirated version!

Piracy and plagiarism happen all over the world. We blame copycats and pirates for the crime and have laws to punish them. Truth is, the root of the problem goes much deeper. If people themselves don’t stop drawing “inspiration”, buying or downloading pirated products, this hydra will keep growing, no matter what legal punishment any country bestows.

As for us…we are already changing our content…

The relation of Apple products with graphic and web design dates back to the 1980s. There was a time the professional design houses resorted to only Apple iMacs and Macbooks for high quality logo design or website design. Now, designers have cheaper Windows alternatives for their work, but Apple products remain in demand by the industry veterans.

With time, Apple has made foray into consumer electronics successfully and it’s innovative and category defining products like iPod and iPad, have won millions of gadget lovers worldwide. The iPad, which has sold millions of copies in various countries, is a unique device. This is a touch screen device for accessing websites and reading e books. The latest App store products from Apple make it a nifty design companion.

Graphic design professionals willing to utilise their iPad as a mobile design apparatus, need to invest in a good quality stylus. For coping with the iPad’s capacitive touch screen, a stylus should have a soft, squidgy tip.

The App store does contain a number of iPad apps that are ideal for drawing designs on the tablet. One such instance is iDraw, a capable vector-drawing application which has many features found in the desktop leviathan, Adobe Illustrator. This app costs just $8.99 and comes with a capable Bezier pen tool with complex path-editing features. It supports PDF export, a boon for the developers.

Designers will also benefit from the iPad app named Air Display. It makes the iPad function as the second display for a PC. It helps those designers who need to work with more than one software at a time and need extra screen space. With this app, designers can use the iPad as a drawing canvas in apps like Illustrator and Photoshop. It costs less than $10.

The iPad also comes in handy when designers want to showcase their design portfolio in places where web connectivity is not available. It is far easier to carry than a multimedia laptop.  It can become their portable digital portfolio. The apps like Portfolio for iPad are helpful in this regard.

The iPad, now in its second version, may not yet replace a notebook or multimedia PC for website design, but there are some useful apps that can be used by the designers who own this versatile device. They can use iPad design apps on the move to create some cool designs for print or online use. It is true that the iPad does not have a powerful CPU, GPU or loads of memory, but like almost all devices from Apple, it runs apps like a breeze!

Small or big, every business relies on an attractive and dynamic logo design for brand building. Some of these logos use a single letter for their company or product’s name, and some fuse multiple letters with creative design to advertise their brand.

Single letter designs can be just as powerful as multiple letter logos. Picture the McDonalds logo and the Coca-Cola logo. The golden arched ‘M’ is just as attractive as the lyrical ‘Coca Cola’, both instantly recalling products to the minds of their customers and viewers. Then again, some logos don’t use letters at all, like Apple, and yet create massive impact on viewers.

Which is Better – Single or Multiple?

o Single letter logos require utmost creativity. Single letters must blend with innovative and intelligently thought out design patterns to make logos memorable, expressive and capable of effectively representing the company’s brand.

Multiple letter logos are comparatively easier to make and memorize. They require little creative thought by way of design. Also, the company or product’s name is specifically mentioned making it manifolds easier for customers to recall products or services.

o Single letter logos are visually simple. They can be effective as instant brand recalls when adequately and strategically advertised and embedded into the minds and hearts of customers.

Companies with multiple letter logos have faster and better chances of reaching out to a wider audience owing to the obviousness of design itself.

o Single letter logos employ creativity that jumps out to viewers and pleases them. However, they are less direct in the message they carry. Multiple letter logos, by virtue of being highly specific, are more responsive.

Both single letter and multiple letter logos can be effective and expressive. It ultimately boils down to the designer’s creativity and the company’s target audience.

In today’s age of marketing, where every company strives hard to create a brand presence for themselves, a professional logo is a must-have that has the power to pave the way to success easily. Hence to stand tall amidst others, every company, be it small or big, ensures that they have a well designed logo that not only represents the company values and essence to its targeted audience but also adds to its corporate identity.

To make your business memorable and distinct in itself, logo design makes a vital need that acts as a communicative bridge between a company and its audience. Demanding for large amount of effort and time, creating an effective logo design that captures the fancy of potential customers is no child’s play. It has always been a challenge for designers to try out something unique and different in logo designing, so that it represents a company at its best. Here we will be presenting to you some cleverly done logo designs that are sure to entice your interest:

ED Logo

In this logo, the designer has broken all conventional rules of logo designing and taken it to a new high. The letters ‘E’ and ‘D’ has been brilliantly used in this design to take up with the shape of an electric plug.

Eight Logo

Displaying creativity at its best, this logo is too good to be ignored by anyone. The designer has used a unique style of typeface, where every letter used in the design looks like the digit 8. Undoubtedly an amazing design, the Eight logo is the best example of clever use of creativity.

Toblerone Logo

While toblerone makes the favorite chocolates for many, its logo is equally interesting. Have a close look at it and you will discover the creative genius of the designer. Amazingly done, the designer has used the image of a hidden bear on the Swiss Alps to represent the originating place of the chocolate, i.e. Bern, Switzerland, as Bern is also known as the “City of Bears”.

Amazon Logo

Simple and clean to look at, the logo of amazon.com exhibits amazing blend of creativity that communicates the company’s philosophy to its clients incredibly. Mark the arrow that goes from the letter A to Z in the word ‘amazon.com’, thus conveying the message that everything from A to Z is available at amazon.com. It also stands for a smile that represents customer satisfaction.

Logo represents the brand image of an organization and thus it has to be placed in a prominent position so that it can be viewed easily. Now, since logo design is an integral part of an organization’s corporate identity, you need to be a bit cautious while coming to the crucial conclusion. Color combination, navigation, contrast etc are some of those issues that can make your life a complete misery while positioning a logo in a website. Here we are going to help you to promote the brand image of your website by placing your logo perfectly:

Header
This is probably the best and the most favorite place to position a logo. Header is the most crucial part of a website and therefore, you should incorporate your logo in the header section to maximize the chances of seizing the attention of viewers at the very first glance. Moreover, majority of users are in the habit of clicking on the logo to return to the home page and therefore, you should try to use the logo as an image rather than making it a part of the background image.

Favicon
Favicon is a tiny little icon that appears just next to the URL of a website on your browser. By adding a favicon to your website, you can add a certain level of professionalism to a website. This practice helps surfers to locate a particular website from the crowd of other websites. By using a favicon, you can easily make your website looks different from the rest of the others.

Use In different Social Media
If you want to feel the power of social media, do not forget to use your company’s logo as the profile picture. It will add value to your organization’s social presence besides helping people to locate your company easily and effortlessly.

Gravatar
Globally Recognized Avatar, which is alternatively known as “Gravatars”, is a popular service that is widely employed for providing a unique global identity. This is a unique of kind of its program in which a particular image is assigned to an email id. Try to use logo of your company while registering your email because it will help people to recognize you easily and effortlessly and thus it can help you promote your brand, whenever you comment on a blog or write something as a guest writer.

Guest Posts
This is anther great way to project your brand image and to introduce  yourself to a new breed of people in different communities. Guest posts can help you to get valuable traffic. Try to use logo as against your personal picture in the guest column since it will help you to increase brand awareness among people.

Email
Email marketing has always been a part of branding and  has proved instrumental in generating leads. You should try to exploit its unlimited benefits by featuring the logo of your company in the signature section. However, you can place it at fore of the newsletter or emails if you are comfortable with the ongoing email marketing campaign.