Posts Tagged Logo
Freelance Logo Design as a Business
Posted by in Uncategorized on November 12, 2009
The financial potential of such a venture is quite high, especially if you manage to build yourself a nice and complex portfolio. Working online as a freelance graphic designer can be very rewarding, from more points of view. First of all, you can create your own schedule and show flexibility in your work hours. Secondly, freelance logo design projects are easy to manage online, and the logo delivery and payment can also be handled over the Internet. The demand for freelance logo design is high because more and more web masters are turning their websites into a branded company, so they need to create unique and memorable logos as part of the branding strategy.
Tips for a successful freelance logo design business
Create a portfolio of your previously created logos to show your clients what your style and quality level is.
Improve your reputation as a freelance graphic designer by participating in the numerous online contests.
Even if your client will only use the logo as a JPG or GIF file you should still create it in vector form (using Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator), as the client might need it later for t-shirt printing of Flash animations.
Treat each client as he or she is your only client – this is a vital freelance logo design business characteristic. Take an extra minute to write a nice message, to create an additional mockup or to deliver the files promptly – if you do so the client will be happy and will return with future projects.
How about creating your own design website?
With thousands of new websites coming to life each and every day, it’s only natural that online graphic design services are a popular business. If you are one of the people skilled in graphic design and ready to earn some money online, then freelancing is the way to go. All you need is an online graphic design website where you can showcase your work and display your online graphic design service characteristics (pricing, delivery time, payment methods accepted). Creating a website and getting leads from it will take a little of your time, but once your business is rolling, your online profits will certainly make it worth it. Develop a nice looking and functional website and make sure to optimize it so that different relevant keywords, such as online graphic design services, or logo design rank high in the search engines. You can also turn your online graphic design web site into a genuine online business and create a brand image you can also use on business cards, letterheads or t-shirts.
Steps for creating a good online graphic design web site
Your website could turn, in time, into one of the most profitable online business opportunities, but you have to take some time and prepare it properly. Here area few steps that should help you give an attractive and efficient shape to your online graphic design services:
Create a good looking website. The online graphic design web site’s functionality is vital, but so is the way it is displayed from a visual point of view. Selling online graphic design web services on a dull and poorly built web site is the equivalent of a marketing suicide.
Don’t overcrowd it – you don’t have to display 400 logos and 200 banners in your portfolio to convince your clients how good your services are. Simply select 10-20 of each graphical element and give them a short explanatory text and maybe a testimonial.
Optimize your site for Google, MSN and Yahoo by talking about it in forums and making link exchanges with related websites. Your online graphic design service business name should appear as often as possible in various places – you never know where you will find a client.
Provillus
13 Tips for Finding a Graphic Designer
Posted by in Uncategorized on November 3, 2009
Are you ready to hire someone to design your logo, collaterals, or artwork for your website? Well, here’s just the information you need to get the best results from hiring your first (or your first successful) graphic designer.
To assure that we begin on the same page, a graphic designer designs your marketing materials – the print- and web-ready art which are then turned over to a printer or coded for the web for the final outcome. Some of their vocabulary can be foreign to you, and their processes may not be familiar either. We’ll address that and more with these tactics.
This advice gives you the essentials for hiring the right person for this critical project. The more qualified the designer, and the better the match between you and your designer will lead to more appealing final designs. the more professional you and your business will look.
1. Look at their work samples. Many designers offer a portfolio of samples either on their website, by email as a PDF, or in a hard-copy format. When you review these, look for a general design style that you like, not necessarily whether they have lots of experience within your particular industry. In fact, deep experience within an industry isn’t necessarily the best thing when you want a designer to put a fresh visual spin on your business and your issues.
2. Make sure they’ve actually done the work in their portfolio. This is especially true if you’re reviewing design companies or firms. Make sure that the designers who are still on staff created the work that you really admire.
Where this can come into play with solo designers is if the portfolio isn’t clear about their involvement in the development of all the design elements. For example, if they’re showing a brochure design or a website in their portfolio, but you love the logo; make sure that they created the logo before hiring them.
And, ask what the client’s involvement in the design of that logo is-if the client came to the designer with a sketch of the logo already created, then the logo may not be reproducible by the designer or firm alone.
3. Talk to the designer. Having an actual conversation with them can really help for two reasons:
To make sure you can communicate well with each other. If you each have very similar styles of communication, levels of energy, or enthusiasm about the project, then the project will most likely run very smoothly (or has a great potential for success). Also, make sure that you each understand what the other is saying-having similar definitions for concepts is amazingly helpful. When you don’t understand something, ask questions! To see if the two of you “gel” together. You’ll be working closely, so make sure that you get along! If you don’t like their personalities or vice-versa, then the relationship will most likely become strained and difficult. 4. Review their skills. This becomes especially important if you’re hiring a web designer-make sure the designer is qualified to provide you with all the technical components you’ll need. For example, web coding, forms coding, HTML newsletter integration and Search Engine Optimization are all somewhat technical fields that not all designers can deliver. Make sure you’ll be able to get what you need.
5. Check their references. If you really like a particular project in their portfolio, see if you can get that client’s contact information. But, if the designer can’t release it, that’s not necessarily the worst sign-maybe the client prefers that their contact information be kept private. Or they’ve moved, and haven’t told the designer how to get in touch with them. Be open to reasons why they may not be able to furnish a particular reference.
6. Learn about their processes. Find out how they plan to execute on the work that you’d like to have done. Ask what the designer needs you to do, what you’ll be asked to review and approve, how decisions are made, and how they’re made final. Make sure your designer is able to guide you through the design process, providing all the information you’ll need along the way.
7. Check their turn-around time for replying to emails, sending quotes, and returning calls. Make sure that it’s in line with the turn-around time that you expect throughout the project. Turn-around time here can also indicate the designer’s level of excitement about your project. However, if it’s a bit slow, make sure they weren’t just out of their office at meetings for the day, or tied up in another deadline-understand that they’re a small business as well, and the fact that they’re busy is probably a sign of how effective they are for their clients!
8. Review the rights that they’re selling to you. Make sure that you have the copyright and reproduction rights that you want. Think as far into the future as possible-you want to make sure that you’ll have what you need as your business grows. You don’t want to have to come back to your designer and re-negotiate your rights in a few years!
9. You may be tempted to ask for some sample designs for your specific project. This is known as work on “spec” (speculation) -having a designer do work without a guarantee of getting the project. While designers can understand your fears-what if you don’t like the logo we develop, what if we don’t “get” what you want, what if…
Asking a designer to work on spec isn’t very fair. The first round of designs on any project is the most time-consuming to create-it often consists of researching your company and your competitors, brainstorming on the creative side, and generating first ideas. You wouldn’t ask a doctor to diagnose you before paying for his time, and then offer to pay him if you like the diagnosis-it’s no more fair to do so with a designer.
10. Make sure that you’ll get the deliverables you expect. Some designers don’t plan to include final files in their deliverables to you-if you want to have the original files delivered to you along with printed collateral or the final files uploaded to your web server, make sure the designer knows that up-front. It may change the pricing.
If you want to be able to edit the final files, make sure that the designer can deliver the files to you in a way that you can edit them. Realize that, depending on the software that you have, this may either limit the design or be impossible, but you probably won’t get the files in the specific format you want unless you ask!
And, if you envision having your final files in a particular format-such as having your letterhead in Microsoft Word-be sure to ask for that. Many designers don’t consider Word files to be part of a standard set of deliverables.
11. Have a realistic schedule and check the designer’s turnaround time. Allocate enough time for your project to be completed-rush jobs never turn out to be as good as they could be if enough time were allotted. An average logo project takes weeks, not days!
Also, be sure that they have time available in their schedule to complete your project on your timeline. Check for upcoming vacations, and whether they work evenings and weekends if your timeline calls for that.
12. Make sure that you’re both clear about revisions. Many designers include a set number of revisions in their project packages. Make sure that you understand what constitutes a revision, how many you’ll get and what happens once they’re all used up.
13. Get it in writing. A contract can help to lay out expectations for the project on both your end and the designer’s. Once you have a contract from your designer, make sure to read it carefully-it will often state exactly what you’re going to get out of the project, how you’re expected to pay for designs, what you’re paying for, and how to get out of the contract (in case you have to cancel the project for any reason). And, if it doesn’t make things clear, ask the designer to elaborate for you.
Following these steps gives you all of the background information you need for optimum results when hiring a designer. Use them as a reference when you review designer’s websites, meet with, or interview your potential designer. Understanding the process and expected outcome does wonders for a smooth transition from ideas to reality.
Sitegrinder
Designing an Annual Report for Charities and Corporate Customers
Posted by in Uncategorized on October 23, 2009
As a legal need, the submission of an annual report to shareholders, investors and trustees is something that can re-inforce the organisations core branding and values. A poorly designed document is going to reflect badly on the organisation and in some cases may mean investor withdrawal if they are particularly upset. So here then are the right ways to go about things.
Choosing the right annual report designers
Many charities and some corporate firms are tied to strictly budgeted guidelines and often use amateur designers or recommended friends to produce these complex reports. Would you let a helpful friend come in and have a go at cutting your hair off without any credentials to back up their skills? Of course not, unless you were really tight. It obviously makes sense then to choose an annual report design company that have a proven track history in this field and can show off some impressive design portfolio of past annual reports they have designed to back up their quality.
Don’t make a mess of the figures
More often than not an annual report graphic designer will be handed over a bunch of excel documents including balance sheet reports and financial statement reports and be expected to turn a page of numbers into something approaching creative design. You could just flow in the columns and leave it at that but far more worthwhile a design idea would be to introduce some visual elements such as 3D pie charts or columns to illustrate the figures and annual financial statements.
Make full use of white space – the designers default trick
White space, to fill or not to fill that is the question. On balance and especially if you are able to maintain a straight face while convincing a head of accounting that leaving the page design as a minimal exercise in preserving a blank canvas is the way to best portray annual report designs, you should always try to move in the white space design direction. Another good design trick to use on annual financial statements is to have a photoshoot and have the normally camera shy accounting division staged to look like they mean business. Perhaps have Norman the financial director waving his arms about in a faux businessy way. It will provide an amusing counter balance to the dry waffle contained in the report wording.
High production printing if in budget is the cherry on the cake
Although for many smaller charitable organisations, spending a sizeable chunk of their funding on something that could have been printed out on their office inkjet and stapled in the corner, on a gatefold die cut, spot varnished annual report may seem frivolous and down right irresponsible. However for those corporate clients that are looking for that competitive edge over their rivals, the one upmanship that a ridiculously expensive annual report is going to afford them is worth its wait in gold. Lets not forget that the annual report is a signifier of how well the organisation has been doing over the last financial year and to not revel in a ludicrously wasteful way is missing a trick.
Hopefully these pointers should offer a good argument for employing the best annual report graphic design strategies the client can afford. A financial report design should make you want to rub the page with glee not send you to the land of nod.
Cheat Codes
Things to See When Choosing a Logo Design Company
Posted by in Uncategorized on October 14, 2009
Logo is the face of your company. It is the first and foremost step in establishing corporate identity of a business. People often treat it as mere graphic symbol and don’t pay enough attention to how it looks; whether or not it reflects philosophy and objective of the business or not. We are living in a world that is witnessing rapid development in all walks of life. Corporate world is welcoming new players aboard everyday. In such scenario, where competition has become the key to success, logo plays the role of a savior. A brilliantly designed logo has the power to set your business on the path the leads to pinnacle of success. However, it is not easy to find a logo design company that can provide you with high quality results. There are myriad logo design companies that are providing clients with logo and other corporate identity related designing. Some of these are good but expensive while some are reasonable but produce run-of-the-mill results.
Since a logo is something that a spectator would see about the company or a product, it should be distinct, unique and unforgettable. When a logo design company takes up designing job it ensures to incorporate all important elements to the concoction of a logo: appropriate colors, philosophy of the product/business and communicativeness. A good logo design company becomes best when it learns the art of adding communication to the designs. Whether, it logo or stationary or website, each step in the ladder of distinct corporate image should synchronize with other. It does not matter if a logo design company is working on the corporate identity of the business or product from the scratch.
There are certain things that should be identified in a logo design company before selecting one. First thing that one must see is the logo design portfolio which is available with the design company. Most of the logo design companies have made their portfolios available on their website. Spent some time to take a look at the portfolio; this small exercise will save you from further problems. The portfolio will let you summarize the capabilities of the designers. Reviewing portfolio will help you to decide whether or not you should utilize services of that logo design company.
Rates are an important aspect you must check out before giving you critical job in the hands of the logo design company. Designing is a specialized field and requires money for research and study. There are many logo design companies that offer their services for extremely easy-on-pocket rates but this attraction makes you weep for all the days to come. Corporate designing is an investment that you make to take your business to new heights; ensuring that it soars amongst your competitors.
Third step in the quest of finding a professional logo design agency is to see if your logo design company takes you in confidence during the phase of creating your designs. This way you will know how your design moulds from idea into reality. Transparency will save from further hassle of amendments that you might need otherwise.
Always ascertain if the company has refund policy. Refund policy means the company is sure about its performance, quality and turnaround time and is confident that the client will never turn down the job completely.
Also make sure that you get original work in the name of designs. There are numerous logo design companies that take inspiration from the work of other companies to the extent of copying. You business/product can bear serious consequence of this”inspiration” if you are unable to detect. Professional logo design companies inspire their own brains. Trusting average design companies can be really disastrous to business/product.
You have to know what you want from your logo and convey your ideas to the design company with absolute lucidity. Your logo or other corporate designs must be created keeping in view the consumers and their choices. A consumer would like to see precise, make sense logo. If your logo design company fails in producing the desired results then your entire effort, time and money will go in vain.
Very few logo design companies offer all of the mentioned qualities. If it is reasonable, it would not provide with quality or might not be fast. There are certain logo design companies that hire novice designers to work on crucial corporate designs. However, there is one logo design company that doesn’t compromise on anything. Infinity Logo Design provides its clients with exclusive portfolio that lists the logos we have created for our clients. Though, we are engaged in extensive research, unlike other companies, we charge our clients very reasonably. Reasonable rates let all and sundry to use our services. We believe in keeping our clients abreast with the developments in their jobs. This practice prevents us from future hassle of modifications. Winning our clients is more important to us. Therefore, we have introduced refund policy on the logo design; though in the entire history of Infinity Logo Design we have ever needed to refund money to our clients. They have always loved the results. Some of them have become our lifetime members while others drop by occasionally. High quality deigns, reasonable rates and fastest turnaround time with 24/7 customer services have made Infinity Logo Design one of the most preferred design service amongst people.
Free Wordpress Plugins
Join Designfirms, A Directory of Designers!!
Posted by in Uncategorized on October 8, 2009
Join Designfirms, A Directory of Designers!!
Designfirms is a web portal which provides multiple options to end users and business owners by having different categories of services such as web designing, graphic designing, web marketing,Banner and Logo Designing , Copywriting ,SEO Specialists, fashion designing and interior designing etc on a single platform.
This is to inform all the Web designers and developers that you can now register yourself to enhance your visibility in the market as well as increase your leads by posting your profile which would inturn assist clients and business owners to find out the best suitable company to design websites for them.
If you are looking for a Web designer then designfirms is the right place for you to find Web Designers and Programmers like Website Templates Designer, Logo designer, Web developers, banner designer, SEO specialists , Fashion Designers ,Interior Designers and copywriters etc.
Designfirms also provides an opportunity to students from various colleges to share their website designs and templates and live projects on its site.
We invite you to open an account and submit your portfolio on designfirms (sign up is totally free) To register yourself , you can just visit the below mentiond link –
http://designfirms.in/signup.php
For more information on design firms(Design Firms) ,various categories of designers avaliable such as web designers , web developers and programmers , logo designers , banner and template designers , fashion and interior designers and website designers etc. and the various cities it spans you can also visit the below website – www.designfirms.in
Free Wordpress Plugins