I’m as old-fashioned as they come.  Every time I watch Denis Leary’s stand-up comedy, I can’t help but to feel identified whenever he talks about simple things such as coffee-flavored coffee or Dunkin’ Donuts.  Some images are iconic to me, they define a moment or a place or even a feeling in my life.  These images became part of my routine and gave me solace and a couple of anecdotes.

That’s why I hate poor corporate identity makeovers.  They scrape off the good stuff.

A corporate identity to die for.

To me, and I think you’ve noticed this from my taste for UPA-style design, trends are just there to date products before they’re outdated.  I think basic notions of design create memorable corporate images and set solid bases that accept changes and even new technologies.

TGIF’s red-and-white stripes, for instance, translated easily to different media because it was a simple, powerful and balanced concept that became the synonym of good times and comfort food.

The building of a corporate identity goes beyond graphic elements and it becomes a synchronized effort between designers and the customers.  It cannot be attributed to just one element.

A little story (about corporate design and its impact)

One of the few coffee-flavored-coffee joints in my city is a little independent coffeeshop I’ve visited for years now.  They know me and they have the patience and kindness to put up with my coffee demands.  Sadly, they were going to a rough patch and they were willing to dismantle the whole thing.

Where would I go?  I couldn’t let this happen!

I talked to one of the guys from the design team about it.  It took him a couple of days to work on a new corporate design for that old joint (it was a busy week for us).  He showed them the drafts and, although reluctantly, they went for it.

Now I have issues to get me a table where to sit, write and enjoy my cup of coffee.  Oh, well… you can’t fight against progress.

Making the best out of your corporate design.

• Keep it simple.  Use basic color schemes, compositions, flows and graphic elements.
• If possible, try to create your own font.  While some generic fonts are trendy, they tend to become obsolete easily
• Always try to evoke and appeal.  Customers enjoy reminiscing  since it creates a bond with their past and simpler times.
• Be clever.  Make the best of the minimum of elements.  It always easier to add than to remove noise from a corporate image.

The dynamics between customers and brands are complex.  The easier you can create awareness, the easier they will keep you in mind.

Coca-Cola is one of those examples.  Its design is easily identifiable.  Even though the Coke symbol’s been translated to different languages, you can spot it easily.  And one of the most amazing things is that it’s nothing but a clever use of calligraphic fonts.

There are tutorials out there to create certain effects or to follow certain kind of design fad.  But it takes expertise and talent to make something memorable with nothing but words.  We writers make a living out of them, but good designers make them alive.

Why are these logotypes so fancy once again?

One of the side effects of the economy was the birth of an austere, conscious customer that wanted to be more involved in the market.  Some people learned to value their well-earned cash and wanted to get the most.  More than mere buyers, they wanted to help develop, enhance and create new products.

People got tired of fancy packages for measly products and misleading advertisement.  That’s why this wave of austerity spread to every single aspect of the market and companies, customers and designers championed a type of design that used a minimum of elements for a maximum of impact.

Logotypes embrace a vibe of simplicity.  A breeze of fresh air in these times.

Why to jump on the logotype bandwagon?

• Granted:  a well-done logotype design takes time, planing and tons of trial-and-error experimentation.  But, once you have it, its benefits are long-lasting.
• A logotype is easier to reproduce on different media (printed, embroidered, displayed on a screen…).
• Its typographical nature makes it ideal for brand-awareness linked to the company’s name.
• Logotypes embrace a sense of reliability and seriousness that sometimes can’t be achieved by iconographic design.

A logotype creates a measured impact on customers.  It stands for trust, clarity and sobriety.  Is that what your company stands for?

Then you’ve got an obvious choice to make.

These guys are amazing on their craft, but there’s one tiny little problem:

Due to the volume of work and the constant nagging of other departments, these guys cannot afford to spend more than an hour discussing a project with a customer.

That’s almost like driving a F1 car blindfolded.

When good ideas are bad news

I want to shake hands with the genius that came out with the idea of baptizing an energy drink with this name: COCAINE.  I’m not being sarcastic at all here.  I think this idea is pure genius.

Take a look at this: An energy drink marketed as something illegal, making use of street slang to promote it.  Design wise, I just LOVE the shade of red they chose for the can.

Now… the font they chose for the logotype.  Personally, I find substance abuse reprehensible and I cannot condone it, but the texture of the font is just perversely cheeky.  The red and white image of it makes you think of a completely different kind of Coke.  See?  Perversely clever.

That’s the problem:  A great idea, an outstanding execution, ironic design…

… a poor knowledge of the market, the customer and desperate reliance on gimmicky campaigns.

More than just a pretty face

Not knowing your customer or your market can really destroy your marketing campaign (and render your designs as null).  That’s why you have to know more than just the skills of your trade.  Talk with other people (yes, I know that designers tend to have rather reclusive lives but, hey, that’s what social networks and instant messengers are for), do some research and design logos based on what people NEED.

It’s tougher than coming up with something pretty, I know, but you can have your cake and eat it too, right?

Why keeping in touch with your customer?

• Faster feedback on every project.
• Accurate approach and materialization of concepts.
• Better sources to work with.
• Better chances of stretching deadlines (not recommended but it can save your tender loins…)
• Bigger, better, faster, meaner chances of coming up with something memorable

So, you see… everybody wins.  Research and exchange are two tools that anyone in the creative business must learn how to use.

Drawing pretty pictures won’t cut it anymore.

But today is one of those days on which the creative juices are rather evaporating away from my body. The only thing that kept me awake through this ordeal was the sound of my eyes sizzling due to the radiation emanating from my computer’s screen.  Crunchy eyes are not exactly the sign of great blog posting

And then, I saw some amazing designs and it hit me:  Of course! Textures!

I slapped my forehead so hard everyone turned around to see me.

First of all, let me show you something...

Please, check THIS out.  These designs were crafted by Paul Thurlby, a graphic designer from London.  The alphabet collection has all the things I fancy from a graphic design.  It’s vibrant, it’s colorful, creative and it’s got a distinctive personality that resembles, yet doesn’t copy, my beloved UPA style.

So, you might wonder… why the hell am I showing you this?

To illustrate the importance of textures.

Textures matter

Aside of the inherent beauty of these designs, I was thrilled by the little detail of the textures, specially the cracks and peels.  It rounded up the whole retro vibe in ways that could not be achieved by mere design or palette tones.  It becomes a sensory extra and it tells us a bit more about these images.

Thinking of textures (or just the illusion of textures) adds a new level of depth to your designs and makes them not only memorable but tangible.

Invading the third dimension

• What kind of object would your logo be if it had volume?  How much would it weight? How would it feel to the touch?  There are plenty of design and modeling tools out there to experiment but none can compare to your own senses.
• Colors generate specific notions of temperature.  Is it a cold logo or a warm logo?
• Different levels of gloss create a sensation of smoothness.  The glossier, the smoother will feel to the touch.

Playing around with textures generate different illusions about materials, age, temperature and overall feel.  That way, people can actually FEEL your logo and attach it to yet another realm of the mind.

If you want to know how’s a company doing, check its corporate identity.  If it is as crisp and consistent as it can be, then you know they have the funds, the time, the team and the time to invest on their own.

If changes, however, lessen the value of the company or look like patches on a quilt, then you know there’s something quite fishy going on.

Arbitrary?  Subjective?  Could be.  But bear in mind that this is a business that is based on perception.

Sharp tie, dirty shoes.

I once had a conversation with a designer, a close friend of mine, on which we were discussing about how to charge for our jobs.   He had an interesting charging system based on his customers’ shoes.

It didn’t matter how they were dressed:  if they had fine, polished, fancy shoes, he’d charge tons and offer credit; if they had lousy, dirty ones, he’d charge low but demand an advance.

It’s a matter of perception and priorities.  To him, the way they treated their shoes was a reflection of how they managed business and self-image.  To most of us, there are little details, perceptual, arbitrary details that make the difference.

That’s why I wear polished sneakers every time I go out with him.  I always end up getting decent deals.

Time to be fancy

Think about this for a second:  Do people identify your company’s colors?

It’s silly, but the combination (and proportion) of some colors create associations.  Flags, for instance.  They are one of the oldest corporate identities.  Entire nations gathered underneath the values and principles these banners stood for.

… plus, people like shiny colors.

Consistency means power.

Keeping a polished, consistent corporate identity creates an aura of reliability.  Keep that in mind this year and smooth your corporate image as much as you can.

Looks matter.  Specially when it comes to business.

It’s not as luscious as the Yves St. Laurent logo nor as refreshingly simple as the Armani logotype.  It conveys nothing and it looks bland, like a blatant ripoff of Chanel’s anagram.

In my opinion, it is a bland logo… but, damn… you can’t help but associating it to this nouveau-riche opulence that characterizes certain celebrities and artists.  Tacky, yet expensive.

You know that logo’s worth gold and praise.  How much are you willing to sacrifice in order to get such fame and power?

Red Carpet Logos

People learned to accept the unacceptable thanks to media.  Do we need to get another Black Eyed Peas song? Or how about a new movie starring Paris Hilton? Do we need that?  No, but it becomes part of our lives thanks to repetition and exposition.

Not all of the most famous logos are the best logos and vice versa.   However, clever promotion creates legends.

How to add value to your logo?

There are three things to consider here:

1. Create an image that lingers.  I can’t get the Google logo off of my mind (for the wrong reasons… but, sometimes, these quirks create closer relationships and incidental brand awareness), I can spot it easily and recognize it.
2. Never forget design:  create a logo that can be reproduced on several media, easy to reproduce and to remember.  Composition and simplicity are key.
3. Logo mutation can be a blessing or a curse.  Some logos can accept changes easily due to a flexible brand positioning campaign.  Some other, more rigid and iconic, are better to leave untouched.  Always bear in mind if you can keep tweaking and changing your logo regularly.  People will take note.

If you can make the customer’s experience richer, you’re on your way.  Dolce & Gabana’s logo is nothing special, but add it to any product and it will add a glimpse of luxury.

How much are you willing to give for the Touch of King Midas?

Then again, nothing can replace creativity, research and constant exchange of ideas with your customers.  That’s why I want to share some of my personal favorite freeware design tools.  You can use them to sketch your logo concepts or to perform very specific tasks.

Heck… sometimes, for the challenge of it, some of our designers use these for their own projects!

So, here’s a list of my favorite freeware logo design tools.  Don’t forget to check their websites out and donate if you can.

1. THE GIMP

The McDaddy of Freeware design software.  This is the closest you will ever get to more expensive programs (without paying a dime, of course.  Lots of features and plugins and an interface that strives to offer the same control as Photoshop.

2.  PIXIA (now PHIERNA)

A time-honored graphic design solution (specially by those who are into anime and manga).  A freeware program capable of creating smooth graphics.  It’s got tons of basic features.

3.  BLENDER

A powerful 3D modeling software with animation capabilities (which might not be pertinent to logo design, but they’re quite fun to use.

4.  GOOGLE SKETCHUP

This one is a surprisingly capable tool from our friends in Google.  Great for designing structural sketches.

5.  DIGITAL IMAGE TOOL

Simple, yet powerful.  This little program can help you with really basic tasks such as cropping, re-sizing and rotating digital images.  It’s quite useful for quick changes.

So, there you have five freeware logo design solutions that will make your life easier for free.

Happy Holidays and don’t forget to send me some cookies (or links to the logos or designs you make with these programs.)

… A HIDEOUS abomination, a deffective clone, unable to find a place amongst other logos.  “Your Logo For Free”… what an irony.

If we were to give away logos like that (let’s not think about copyright… let’s just focus on the originality of it… you know, to spare each other from a headache), do you think there would be a business focused on the creation of logos in the first place?

“Your Logo for Free”=Candy from strangers!

It might sound a bit far-fetched, but think about it:

1. You have NO IDEA whatsoever of the rights you have over that… um… “logo” (yes, I’m making quotation marks with my fingers as we speak… moving on…)
2. Free logos are usually “one size fits all” solutions.  Everyone gets the exact same clipart logo.  How original… it’s like going back to High School where everyone wants to be original wearing the same shirt…
3. These logos are usually stolen from other companies.  Check this out If they dare to charge for this, can you imagine how awful it gets?

Free Logos = What others don’t like

This is going to be cruel, but don’t pull away from me.  Remember all these charity rallies on which people would ask you to collaborate with canned goods?  You weren’t giving away the good stuff, were you?  You gave… what?  Prune juice?  Canned creamed corn?

Did you ever donated that AWESOME denim jacket to the Salvation Army, even if it was too short and tight for you?

People (unlike some magnanimous exceptions with a huge heart) don’t give away what they need but what they can get rid of.

In conclusion:  Free Logos=Not a good idea.

A logo is the first approach your customer has with your products or your company.  You want to hook them, to get their attention and, in the end, you want to get more sales.  It’s worth to invest some time and money before launching your company.  Like I’ve said before, it’s your company’s Power Tie.

“Free Logos” websites are fun if you want to create something you will delete after a while.  If you want to get serious, you might want to ask a logo company to do the work *hint hint*.

It’s amazing to see how people’s egos are bigger than their need to promote their products.  There’s always a self-appointed designer that wants to cut some corners and thinks it’s possible to make a logo on PowerPoint.  Sadly, the results are hideous.

You need to change your logo when it no longer serves its purpose: to identify properly your company, its products and services.

Reality check:  you need the BEST logo you can get.

Look, I want to be the first one to say that you really have to find ways to save.  It is pointless to spend tons of cash on outdated marketing strategies, but if there’s a smart investment you have to do is, well… your logo!

Settling for measly logos is not the same as getting a slightly dented car:  you cannot get away with it. (Come to think about it:  why would you get yourself a cheap broken car if you don’t have to?  To save a few pennies? TREAT YOURSELF RIGHT!).  A logo, specially if you’re a starting company, will give you a boost.  A memorable image that can be linked to your company’s name, products and services will be printed in the most wanted media ever

You guessed it:  it will be printed on your customers’ minds.

You really need to change your logo when:

• People say things like “your mom is so ugly she looks like (insert your company logo here)”
• Customers are embarrassed by it and avoid be seen carrying bags or boxes with your logo embedded in them.
• Printers hate your guts.
• Designers look at it as if they were looking Sin in the eye.
• It looks a lot like the logo from another company.

In other words: pamper your company with a nice logo design!

I know you’ve spent time and money on your company, you want to make it work, you’re passionate about your business and, while times have been kind of rough in the past, you’re willing to give your company whatever it needs to be prosper.

Here’s a hint:  start with a logo worth the admiration of others.  Take your time to talk to your design agency, let them guide you towards the most suitable solution for your corporate image, let them discuss different ideas until they come up with something nice.

Little details sum up and speak volumes.  If your logo is so hideous you had to tie a steak to it so the dog would play with it, it’s time to change.  Be humble and think of your customers first.

Logo designs

Yet, somewhere along the line, people completely forgot some basics about colors and ignored whatever technology and designers achieved in the last years.  It’s amazing to see how… um… liberal the use of colors became.  While some results are interesting, most of them look flimsy and amateur-like.  There’s got to be a method to this madness.

So here we’ll briefly discuss color, so we all can catch up.

1. Color is an optic illusion.

Yes.  Color, by itself, doesn’t exist.  It’s not a thing, only illusion.  It’s the result of the reflection of light towards a surface and, to make things more complicated, this light might have colors of its own.  In that order of ideas, there are two kinds of color (at least, design wise):

• Pigment color:  The color of a substance that reflects light.  If we combine the three primary colors (that is, the ones that cannot be obtained by any combination of pigments) on equal proportion, we will obtain black.  In the case of printed material, we obtain white by the absence of color on a surface
• Light color:  The color of light itself, created by the wave frequency of the emitting source.  The sum of its primary colors creates white.  Black is the absence of light and, in the case of electronic material, it is obtained thanks to mechanical features of the screen.

Why is this important?  Because, design wise, you have to think that the colors won’t look the same when printed or in a screen.  The main goal is to find equivalence and a means of translation that doesn’t look too opaque in paper or awfully bright in the screen.

2. Colors have an effect on people.

It’s been proven that colors have an effect on people’s minds.  We get a feeling from them and we create associations based on those feelings.  They are one of the most basic languages and using them wisely creates attractive images and an emotional response (which leads to a logical one.

3.  Colors can be combined within a logo (but you have to know them)

Contrasts make designs outstand from the background.  Usually having two shades of primary colors within the same design creates a big contrast.  Sometimes, using an extra color for emphasis creates smoother designs.  You always have to bear in mind that these colors must be able to be reproduced in different media.

A brief introduction to colors.  Before you start thinking of the colors you like, think of the ones that will definitely make a statement about your logo company and products.

The Holidays are soon to come:  Which is going to be this Holiday’s color?