Branding tips for a wet Friday

It's been another busy week at manage my website but we didn't want to finish it without another journal post.

And branding is foremost on our minds today.

Whatever your business, association, organisation or industry, one thing is for certain. You need a strong logo and branding to make your mark and differentiate yourself from your competitors. So how do you go about briefing your designer on your requirements?

You need to think about:

(a) Colour. Nescafe chose a red mug for their packaging because, subconsciously, people seem to think that coffee tastes at its best in a red vessel. Try drinking coffee at your normal strength in a beige mug and see what you think. Aquafresh and countless other health/hygiene brands choose green and blue for their branding because these are the colours that represent health, freshness and vitality. So which colours would best reflect the nature of your business?

(b) Tone. Do you want your company to be seen as traditional? Cutting edge? Arty? Conservative? Liberal? Minimalist? Expensive? Cheap? These qualities can all be reflected in your logo through various means, including typeface, illustration, colour and general layout. Let your designer know which logos you admire so that they have an idea of what you're looking for.

(c) Versatility. Your logo will need to be printable in both colour and mono, faxable, emailable, usable on the web, and it will need to look good on stationery and vehicles (if you have want them branded). Make sure  that what you end up with isn't too fussy and that nothing gets lost when you reduce its size or resolution.

(d) The time factor. Will your logo and branding stand the test of time and still look as good in 5 years time? Ideally your business will grow and your logo will become entrenched in your customers' minds. That means it needs to be timeless and, ideally, not follow current trends in an obvious way.

(e) Price. Don't scrimp on this too much. If you want quality of service and product, you need to be willing to pay for it. Costs can range dramatically depending on who you speak to, but always bear in mind that if you go for the cheapest offer, you're likely to get a cheap looking result.

If you'd like a quote or advice on branding, manage my website is here to help and will always work according to your budget. Just get in touch.