All the logo above are examples of wordmarks.

What is a logo, anyway?

A logo is your unique way of visually describing your business or product. Usually it contains words (your business name or product) and some sort of illustrative element — an icon or a simplified illustration. Ideally it is strong, attractive and tells people something about your business.

I find clients can get really stuck on this part: what the illustrative element should be, or what it should represent. Sometimes, clients have no idea what that visual icon or illustration should be. Or in what style it should be rendered. Usually, they’re in a hurry to get their new logo finished so they can start using it on a new brochure or on a new website. And developing just the right visual icon or illustration takes time. It takes a lot of time — for both the client and the designer.

What purpose does a logo serve?

It’s nice to have an attractive logo and sometimes a beautifully crafted logo can rise to the level of art. While that’s fun, it’s not necessary in a good logo.

More than anything else, a logo has to be functional.

It should make for a strong and identifiable visual on your storefront, on your web page, on your letterhead, and everywhere else you use it. A wordmark, or logotype, is really just a consistently applied way of writing your name, whether blocky, swashy, funky, old fashioned, classy, etc. It can be enormously effective for branding — just take a look at all the wordmark logos above. While they’re all professional and effective, none of them use an illustrative element or icon; they are created with type only. Do you really need more than a consistent and clean typographic solution for your own business?

We could slave together, you and I, for days, weeks and months to to make the most beautifully expressive icon to represent your business, or we could instead take an easier approach with a wordmark. It’ll save you time and money, but it won’t sacrifice your professional identity. When in the market for a new logo, don’t overlook this easier solution, the logotype.

Clients, you need to spend time thinking about — and identifying — your business brand.

Without a brand, your business simply looks and feels like every other related business out there. And looking just like everyone else probably means you don’t stand out in any significant way. A brand helps your potential customer find you.

During the “discovery” phase of working together, your designer will need to understand your brand personality. This understanding will ultimately drive the creation of your logo, marketing materials, and website. “Brand personality” represents the visual look of your materials — colors, fonts, layout, amount of white space, stock photo choices, graphic style, etc. — and includes the tone of the words on the page (your content).

If you haven’t done so before, you’ll want to establish your brand personality.

Is your business rustic, stylish, playful, accomplished, earthy, elegant, eclectic, upscale, charming, honest, youthful, simple…or something else?

Every business owner or marketing director needs to be able to define their company’s brand. Once you’ve done so, all marketing efforts should reflect that defined brand for consistency and brand-building.

CMH prides itself on offering high-quality, independent healthcare options in a small-town, rural setting—a place where the natural environment is a big reason people choose to live and work in Cloquet. Their brand always keeps it “real,” and never feels corporate or impersonal.

Use the links/resources below to help identify your brand personality. Spend some time brainstorming with your partners or staff while you work through these exercises. Whether the exercises focus on words, archetypes or a style spectrum, they’ll all help you communicate your product or business.

Print these out, make your own notes, and share with your designer.  You’ll want to be able to articulate your brand when you talk about your new marketing project with any designer. And you’ll always want to create future marketing pieces that reflect and fit into your brand’s style.

Spend 30 minutes and hone your brand with these fun exercises:

• If your company were a couch…or, which couch feels most like your company?
  Take the couch test from designer Karen Barranco.
• Uncover your Brand Personality Quiz.
• Every brand needs a personality. Take the brand quiz and discover your archetype.

Are you a thought leader? Are you an expert in your field? Do you have a perspective on your particular expertise that is unique? Do you have information you’d like to share with others?

Maybe you simply have stories or insights you’d like to share — whether recipes, special techniques, artistic images, or musings on various subjects. Maybe you’re a poet and want to share your poetry to a wider audience.

More and more, we’re being told that “content is king” in digital marketing. That having more content on your website is much better than having less.

Keven Kelleher brings a wealth of experience to his role as FTO trainer. He’s passionate about staying on top of trends in educational approaches as well as the challenges facing law enforcement agencies, university security departments, and private security firms. He keeps FTO professionals informed about important trends in his blog, “News from the Field.”

Including a blog function on your site is an easy way to beef up your online content and useful for positioning yourself as an expert in what you know or do.

If you’re a personal injury lawyer, you could provide stories about cases where you’ve had success, or helped potential clients understand typical outcomes with common auto injuries. If you’re a B2B consultant, you might provide professional and helpful tips for your typical client. If you’ve been published or regularly give presentations, you could provide your published articles or recent Powerpoint presentations online. There are many ways to provide fresh content on your website, whether for purely business reasons or for your creative writing pleasure.

If you want to create updated and fresh content on your website, you’ll want a blog.

If having current content is important, then you might consider including a blog on your new site. You’ll need to commit to writing something roughly once a month, have basic writing and grammar skills, and be willing to learn some simple WordPress login and posting skills (or be willing to pay for someone else to write and post your content).

A stagnant blog is not a “blog”—it’s just another page on your website. If you want a blog on your new site, make sure you really want to write regularly, or hire someone who will write fresh content for you.

But let me give you fair warning: there is nothing more unprofessional than starting a blog and two or three years later, having no additional content added to that blog. Without fresh ideas there is no reason for a reader to return. Outdated content has the opposite effect of positioning you as an expert or thought leader — it dings your credibility. So don’t let your blog sit untouched. Make sure you really want to write regularly — or hire someone who will write for you — if you want this function on your website.

Some people have a ton of fun with blogging, and some feel overwhelmed at the mere thought of having to write anything. Know where you fall on that spectrum.

Then tell your designer if you want this function included on your new website. If you do, brainstorm with your designer and staff and get a feel for what kind of content you might write. Remember, you want to provide information that will position yourself favorably to your potential customers and that will enhance your overall website content.

Helpful resources if you decide to blog regularly on your website:

If you’ve decided to write a blog, you won’t have to pay attention to the information about hosts and servers, blog design, or even the technicalities of setting up a blog in the following links (this will be taken care of by your website developer). Instead, focus on the idea of blogging with these links and start developing what your customers want to read about:

15 Reasons I Think You Should Blog, from Becoming Minimalist, a lifestyle blogger

How to Turn One Content Idea into a Fascinating Four-Part Series, online resources from Copyblogger

A Guide on How To Create a Guide That’ll Drive You 361,494 Visitors, and other tips and ideas for “expert” how-to blogging at Quicksprout

Instead of printing plain (and predictable) business cards, print 2-sided cards that make people say “wow!”

Tell your story in pictures by using the back side of your card for visual expression. It’s inexpensive and fun.

I usually recommend that clients print 2-sided business cards, and I’ve always wanted an excuse to design for a Moo business card. These inexpensive cards can’t be beat for showing potential clients the scope of your work — they allow you to print a different image on each card. They come in packages of 50, 100, or 200 cards. You simply upload your images to be printed using either a Moo template or your own design. They even come with a cool business card holder.

Moo cards allow you to show the diversity and depth of your services or skills; they allow you to showcase your products, whether lovely floral arrangements or hand-made jewelry.

Moo offers another nifty product called MiniCards, which are smaller than business cards and make an unusual, inexpensive mini-portfolio you can give away to clients and are also packaged with an attractive presentation case. If you don’t need a portfolio, use them to promote your website or blog, passing them out to friends and clients. Use your own images or use Moo’s images.

I subscribe to Moo’s business professional blog, where there is never a shortage of great resource articles for small business owners. In addition, the site offers many inspirational tidbits using real-life Moo customer ideas, all just a click away.

A picture is always worth a thousand words. Let your pictures tell your story.

Designing a logo is one of the biggest challenges I face as a graphic designer. On the quest for the perfect logo, where do we start?

When clients come to me for a new logo design I feel a mixture of excitement…and dread. Before I actually get started I often worry: how will I come up with something new, different, original, and perfect? But once I actually start designing, once the creative juices start flowing, then solutions start to emerge. Sometimes I discover an unexpected visual direction. Usually by the time I’m ready to show the client my first round of logo ideas, I can’t wait to get their feedback.

The logo design process takes time, and to ensure success for both client and logo (meaning the client actually likes what I design for them and the logo comes to fruition), I give an assignment to my clients before our first meeting. I’ll use a logo I did for Northland OB/GYN Associates here as an example. (The three logos shown above were design variations I presented to them based on feedback they gave to me about their business, and what they desired in a logo redesign.)

If you do your homework before you meet with your logo designer, I guarantee you’ll end up with a better logo.

—RESEARCH YOUR COMPETITION. The Internet is a great research tool when you’re looking for both information and images. Start your research by searching for similar businesses to your own, looking at their websites, and noting their logos, their colors…and your reaction. Is it appealing? Is it appropriate? Do you like the font used? Do you like the symbol? Does it communicate well on the page?

Make a research “report” of the logo images you find by clicking on them and saving them to your desktop. They’ll likely be in a .gif or .jpeg file format. Once you save them to your desktop, create a new document in a program like Word (any text program will do) and insert them on the page. Create as many pages as you need to accommodate your collected logo image files. Try to size them similarly on the page. Then print the pages. Voila! You have just researched your competition. This is very helpful background information for a designer, especially when you can then talk through what you like on the pages…and why. Your logo report may look something like this:

Your logo designer will really appreciate when you do your homework by researching similar businesses and their logos…and when you’re prepared to discuss what you DO like and DON’T like about the logos you’ve gathered.

A side benefit of doing this research is that you’ve just looked at many competitor websites. Hopefully, you’ve made notes and even printed out pages that offer good ideas you can borrow for your own site.

—BRAINSTORM. What colors fit your business? What kinds of symbols or pictorial elements suit what you do? Is there an idea you’ve always had for what your logo should look like? In your region, are there symbols that are continually overused? If so, steer clear. Here in Duluth, if you were to tell me you must use the shape of Lake Superior or the outline of the Aerial Lift Bridge in your new logo, I would steer you toward something else. Both images are already way overused; you’ll do better by setting yourself apart graphically.

One client brought a Crate and Barrel catalog to our logo meeting. She told me how she loved the bright product colors and clean presentation of the catalog. She told me of her love of everything Marimekko. I immediately understood what she was looking for in her logo design.

—LESS IS ALWAYS MORE. A simple mark or symbol needs to be visible both large and small. Your complicated logo illustration might look great when it’s used large, but what happens when it’s used teeny tiny, in black and white, printed from a not-so-great inkjet printer?

—FLEXIBILITY IS KEY. Will it fit into a small, square space? What if you only have a horizontal space — like imprinting on a pen — for your logo? Will it reproduce well in full color and in black & white? I typically design all my logos with a couple of format versions for flexibility, like square and horizontal versions. This flexibility means my clients always have a logo that works within the space available.

I prefer to create a “flexible” logo system for clients. This ensures they’ll always have a logo that fits, whether it’s a horizontal, square or vertical space. How many times have you seen examples where a very horizontal logo is forced to fit into a square advertising space…and the logo is so small it’s unreadable?

Let’s face it: in advertising, image is everything and first impressions count. Your professionally designed logo will go a long way toward positively branding your business.

Does a logo always need a symbol or picture within the design? Nope. In fact, you may develop a better logo if you stay away from icons. Read my article on typographic logos here.