More often than not, when I speak with Startups, they often have a full grasp of what their product will be and their hopes for where they can take it over the next few years. They will have a clear direction and focus for the business with tonnes of aspirations, hopes and dreams. What you need is a logo, a colour palette and a style font and all 3 will combine your brand, your logo, your stationery, your business.
Name it!
One thing that often gets lost in the beginning of a business is the thoughts towards a name or a logo for the business. The most important element of the personality of your business of product comes out of the logo. This is the coal face of your business and will give your business it’s much hoped for lasting impression.
Now, I know it’s our job to help with the logo and we can do that. However, coming up with a name can be a very subjective process. A name represents the company, explains its personality, its brand, it can lend credibility or fun to the business and picking the right name is crucial. There’s notone beter than the business owner to come up with it but its not always that easy for them. I remember in the past some clients ridiculing business names out there and erring on the side of caution and sticking with a defined combination of company owner’s names or a name that spells out exactly the prduct. This can indeed work but its one thing to be serious and reliable and a totally other thing to be memorable. If there was one company I could point at its Google. It’s possibly one of the most memorable and alternative names and yet, one of the most successful global brands. By all means be safe and serious but give thought to giving your company more than your own name. And giving it a sparkling personality! Either way come to us with your thoughts and we can work together to get the right name for your business.
Colour my logo
Colour is exceptionally important and a blend of colours can explain so much about your brand personality. Consider blues and darker tones for more serious, corporate reliable businesses. Green is often considered calming and reflecting nature. Purple is an outstanding colour celebrating individuality. Red, obviously for a passionate type but in a logo, it can be representative of sustainability or alternatively danger. Yellow is often seen as a fun colour giving thoughts of summer days and bright futures. However, colours can change personality when combined and can indeed set the tone and direction for your stationery, your website and your brand. My advice would be to start with what you like. After all you will be looking at it most of the time. After that, speak with your designer and work together on whether you can get a proof of a selection of colour options or combinations so that you can pick one that work for you. When it comes down to it, you will know what you like and I always encourage the client to go with their initial gut feeling.
Fonts – which is which?
There are several types and designs of fonts. Firstly the main 2 styles would be Serif and Sans Serif. A Serif is like Times Roman and has the small chiseled edges or ticks. Generally Serif Fonts can be representative of being reliable & dependable. If you are considering a Serif Font, your business may be of a more corporate nature. Having said that, Serifs have moved forward in recent years and there are others available that have less of a traditional feel to them. Sans Serif Fonts are like Ariel that are clean at the edge and don’t have the chiseled ticks. These are seen as being fun yet clean. Some say they are easy to read. Online, though a Serif often works better for reading. Most businesses I know use both. Maybe a Serif for headings and a Sans Serif for body text in brochures, flyers or information leaflets. Again, your designer will be able to pull some recommendations together for you. If you in doubt, you can always go to https://fonts.google.com/ and search what they have to offer. They are some of the best.
Of course, we can’t ignore Scripts. Scripts can be seen as being old fashioned, traditional or if used correctly give a feeling of a funky personality and approachability. For example my own logo at www.designerg.ie where I chose cool greens and a clean, black background to reflect my own design business and personality.
What’s extremely popular right now is the hand-drawn style font. I have written about this on my blog https://www.designerg.ie/the-hand-drawn-fonts-phenomenon/. It explains how this style of font is working well in terms of fostering a hip and relevant look and feel to various elements within design.
Whatever combination you decide to go with give yourself a break and go with what you want. Get the options you need from your designer. A good designer will get a feel for the business from your briefing meeting and be able to provide you with enough options to get you going. If there is one thing I know from experience is that once the logo is designed, my clients are usually thrilled. It’s the minute the business feels real and you can start working on getting your business or service out there. Good luck with whatever you decide!
This article was kindly written by Sinead at www.DesignerG.ie
