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Home Articles & Tutorials Logo Design

August 17, 2015 By castle Leave a Comment

Logo Design

Logo Design – first considerations

Logo Design

One of the most important decisions you need to make, before commissioning a designer to begin work on your logo, is to decide how many colours will be used to produce your stationery/brand.

For instance, if your logo has been produced using a 4 colour process then this will impact on every type of print job you may require in the future. Business stationery, marketing materials, clothing, signage, promotional items, advertising – there can be a cost implication on many of the above if you choose your logo in a 4 colour design.

A professional designer, who may cost you more initially, will ask the sort of questions that could actually save you a lot of money in the long run.

He/she will probably recommend your logo is created in a vector program such as Adobe Illustrator. This gives the flexibility of your logo being designed in maybe 1 or 2 spot colours, or 4 process colours should you decide no expense will be spared on promoting your brand.

An added bonus is that the logo will be scalable, i.e. it can be enlarged to any size, (banners & signs for instance) without any loss of quality.

You will undoubtedly come across ‘designers’ selling logos from £20 upwards and although you may feel this is a bargain, just consider for a moment how much you will probably spend over the years on your stationery & marketing materials. Probably thousands of pounds.

For £20 you are going to get, at most, an hour or so of someone’s time, so it’s probably worth considering spending a little more and employing someone who will find out about your business goals and who will develop a brand for you that will make your product/service stand out above the crowd.

It’s common knowledge in the design business that many of the ‘cheaper’ logo designers rework existing logos or worse still, use logo clip art which they can quickly adapt to suit your business name.

Paying a realistic price will hopefully find you someone who will listen to your design brief and produce multiple concepts, until these are narrowed down to a choice you’re happy with.

How to find the right logo designer?

Probably the best way is by recommendation however, we all have different tastes so always check the logo designer’s portfolio. All the good ones will have a website showing their creative work.

Many also have their own design style which may be to your liking, or not. Personally, at this stage I wouldn’t even be thinking about prices. Find someone who’s work you like and then see what it will cost afterwards.
If you have a firm logo design concept in your head, and don’t really need to see multiple concepts, then mention this to your favoured designer as he/she just might be able to offer a small discount if the job is going to take less time than usual.

Can I trust my printing to a designer?

Absolutely. Many logo designers will have their preferred printer who they are used to working with and know the printer’s way of accepting print-ready files. In fact, we have many design agencies on our books and we work as their second ‘pair of eyes’. It’s very easy to make an expensive mistake in print, so having a printer who ‘flightchecks’ your files, and who can foresee potential problems arising, is a huge benefit to many designers.

Can I trust my logo design to a printer?

Obviously I’m biased but there’s no reason why you can’t get a professionally-designed logo produced by your local printer. Many have an experienced designer onboard, whether full-time or freelance, so can offer the logo design service in a professional manner. This particular designer will usually have a very good working knowledge of print, so will know what works well in many situations.

As mentioned at the top of this article, colour choice can impact on costs, so a printer worth their salt will always advise on the best way to keep costs to a minimum, without sacrificing quality.

Is a logo really that important?

A good logo will always be remembered and if brand awareness is important to you then I’d suggest not buying a logo purely on price. A beautifully-designed brochure is not going to have the right impact if you’re using a poor logo.

Related Posts

  • What Makes A Logo Stand The Test of Time?
  • Understanding The Importance of Business Printing For Brand Promotion

Filed Under: Articles & Tutorials Tagged With: branding, cheap logos, create a logo, logo design, logo designers

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Bleeds explained

Basically, a bleed is artwork that goes over the edge of the printed sheet.

If your design needs to have a bleed then it’s important to allow 3mm overlap (see image A below). As the letterhead will be printed on oversize material (SRA4), this gives the guillotine operator a chance to cut into the artwork and produce a good finished letterhead. (see image B below).

A
How to design a letterhead fig. 3
B
How to design a letterhead fig. 4

Why do we need a bleed?

If the artwork ended at the edge of the sheet and the guillotine cut was only 0.5mm out, then we could end up with an unsightly thin white strip down one edge of the sheet, which is not ideal.

Also, if there is a large stack of paper on the press, with the best will in the world there will be the odd sheet that doesn’t get fed through the press 100% accurately so if a bleed hasn’t been put in place this could cause issues.

Extending the artwork over the edge of the sheet allows for a little leeway when it comes to the time for trimming.

If you’ve set your workspace for A4 and intend to use bleeds then, depending on what software package you are using you may need to set the workspace to oversize A4 (SRA4), which measures 225mm x 320mm.