Lots of organizations come to our company, Advertising for Humanity, asking for “a new brand.” They typically mean a new name, or icon, or a new look and feel for their existing name. Lots of people think that brand begins and ends there — that once we shine up the name they can stick it below their email signature, pop it on their website, and, voila, they have a new brand. Much of our work consists of disabusing people of this notion.
Brand is much more than a name or a logo. Brand is everything, and everything is brand.
Brand is your strategy. If you’re a consumer brand, brand is your products and the story that those products tell together. Ikea’s kitchen chairs’ tendency to fall apart after two years is part of the company’s brand. If you’re a humanitarian organization, brand is your aspirations and the progress you are making toward them. Share Our Strength’s audacious goal to end child hunger in America in five years is its brand. The work the organization is doing to get governor after governor on board is its brand. Its seriousness is its brand. Back in 1969 NASA didn’t have the best logo. But man did it have a brand. It has a nicer logo now — but the brand no longer stands for anything. If you don’t Read more…

This list is an exploration of design principals used in some of the world’s most famous logos.
At the same time, the list was created as a way for designers to question themselves and the creative techniques they use when creating a logo design. Forcing the reader to reflect not only on the actual list, but also on their reaction to each listed insight, the last rule is the most important.

Do not use more than three colors.
Get rid of everything that is not absolutely necessary.
Type must be easy enough for your grandma to read.
The logo must be recognizable.
Create a unique shape or layout for the logo.
Completely ignore what your parents and/or spouse think about the design.
Confirm that the logo looks appealing to more than just three (3) individuals.
Do not combine elements from popular logos and claim it as original work.
Do not use clipart under any circumstances.
The logo should look good in black and white.
Make sure that the logo is recognizable when inverted.
Make sure that the logo is recognizable when resized.
If the logo contains an icon or symbol, as well as text, place each so that they complement one another.
Avoid recent logo design trends. Instead, make the logo look timeless.
Do not use special effects (including, but not limited to: gradients, drop shadows, reflections, and light bursts).
Fit the logo into a square layout if Read more…

Logo design is playing an increasingly vital role in the personalisation of companies, products, and services.  As the cornerstone of brand identity, a good logo helps set the stage for the development of a successful and long-lasting brand.
Designing an exceptional logo is time consuming and a lot of hard work.  To be able to interpret a design brief and come up with a design concept that distills the very essence of a company takes a very unique individual.
Aside from having a combination of raw talent, communication skills and a lot of patience (to name a few), it is essential that the designer develops an astute understanding of the basic principles of what makes a good logo design.
A good logo should be; simple, distinctive, relevant, memorable, timeless, and versatile.
Lets take a look at those principles in more detail.
1. Simple

Example: Seven Network (Australia) Logo
Designed by Ken Cato, in 2003
A good logo is simple in its construction, but not in its concept. Quite often to the inexperienced eye, a good logo may look so simple that it looks like it was put together in a matter of minutes.
The vast majority of logo designs that are both simple and successful are backed by many hours of research and unused concepts that never made the cut. It is usually the result of an extensive and exhaustive logo Read more…

Design is a universal language. It transcends all cultural and national boundaries. It is diverse and ever-changing. Despite the fact that designs can be universally appreciated, the artists behind them are all unique and talented individuals.
What kind of designer are you? What is your philosophy? How do you contribute to the design community? Designers from different walks of life might have similar answers to these questions, and yet we are all different.
Some designers take it upon themselves to educate those who have not yet developed an appreciation for Web design and art. Some designers aim to improve the overall quality of design on the Internet.
And of course, some designers strive primarily to make a good living from their talents so that they can live a comfortable life.
Whatever your reason for being a designer, you are unique.

If you want to be a well-paid designer, please the client.
If you want to be an award-winning designer, please yourself.
If you want to be a great designer, please the audience.

Spotting the 7 Different Designers
Human beings constantly wear masks to hide their true feelings, thoughts and personality quirks. Designers wear masks of their own: one to attend to clients, another to handle a project’s details, another to collaborate with colleagues and yet another to communicate with family and friends. Human nature is to wear a different Read more…

What is A Logo?
To understand what a logo is meant to do, we first must know what a logo is. A logo’s design is for immediate recognition, inspiring trust, admiration, loyalty and an implied superiority. The logo is one aspect of a company’s commercial brand, or economic entity, and its shapes, colours, fonts, and images usually are different from others in a similar market. Logos are also used to identify organizations and other non-commercial entities.
It makes me wonder why people have no logo or why they would even bother with a cheap logo design if a logo is meant to do all of these things?
Logo Design Contests
The worst deal you could probably go for is a logo design contest. Logo design contests are where you give a brief and then you have multiple designers come back to you with their designs. Although this sounds like a mighty good deal, the quality is usually far from anything you would want to represent your business.
You will be wasting your money and in the long term, in terms of damage done to your business, that amount could be quite considerable.
On another note, design contests & designers who design on a speculative basis are damaging the design industry as designers should not have to invest time and resources with no guarantee of payment.
Too Good To Be True Deals
If Read more…

Selecting the right man for the right job at the right time is an extremely difficult task. Clients, who are looking for graphic designers to do their work, often do not know how to select the appropriate graphic designer. Since the selection of a graphic designer is a very daunting and tiring process, clients tend to get frustrated and select the graphic designer they can easily locate.
There are several ways that clients go about searching for a graphic designer. Some of these include:

Checking design companies and freelance graphic designers.
Contacting established companies and their hired graphic designers.
Asking your business associates and relatives who have previously hired a graphic designer.
Posting free classified ads on online design forums.
Selecting a graphic designer through a design contest.

Criteria for selecting the graphic designer:
While there are numerous people who are offering their services as graphic designers, they differ in the level of experience, skill and professionalism. Searching for a suitable graphic designer can be quite a cumbersome process and cause an awful confusion for clients. Therefore, look out for the basic attributes of a graphic designer before selection. I have listed some of them below

A Strong and Dynamic Design Portfolio:
A strong portfolio is the foremost attribute that you should look for while choosing a graphic designer. An experienced and talented graphic designer can be judged by their design Read more…