Consider the template

When you create a new store on eBay, you will be presented with a choice of four simple templates to pick one. The color options of these templates are limited and for coherence, you need to choose the template which will best match the logo you want. It is possible for you to create your own template, but for the beginners, it is highly recommended you go alone with the standard templates availed by eBay. The templates are basic but flexible and they make it possible for you to create professional stores without having a lot of design skills. The take away here therefore, is that you should consider keenly your choice of template because you will have to match it with the logo.

Remember the elements of a great logo

When creating a logo for eBay store front, you want the name of your store to be an easy one for potential and current customers will remember fast. The competition in eBay is quite immense and if you present shoppers with tough or obscure names, then they won’t remember it and you will not be in a position to make a lot of money.

It also pays to remember to use colors appropriately on your logo. eBay has very conspicuous colors in their logo and for contrast, it is advisable not to use the predominant colors of the eBay logo on your store. This is likely to appear confusing to your potential customers and your will fail to stand out in order to attract the right audience.

Still related to the name, consider choosing an appropriate image that will tell the story of your store in a short and concise manner. Your choice of graphics should be dictated upon by the kind of products you offer and your potential clients should tell the moment they see your logo what it is all about. Ambiguous images might end up confusing shoppers and this may prevent from marketing your eBay store front effectively.

Uniqueness

Your store will not stand out from the crowd if your logo is just like the rest. Due to this, you must create a completely unique logo to set you apart from the masses. You can go through the various logos of some of the store in your niche to get an idea on what the top guys have done with their logos and also for some inspiration. After that, be sure to come up with your own original sketches and not copied work from other stores in eBay.

Make a scalable logo

The current trends suggest that the number of people accessing the internet with mobile device is almost overtaking the number of people accessing the internet with desktop devices. It implies that mobile users have increased and websites and ecommerce store owners must adjust appropriately to make it easy for the mobile users to access their websites. One way of doing so is by creating a mobile friendly store, but since eBay store fronts are already optimized for the mobile, it is upon you to create a logo that optimized for the mobile devices as well, and this comes down to scalability.

On scalability still, you have to ensure that the logo has the versatility to render properly in different sizes as well. This is because you may wish to use the logo in other branding materials such as newsletters, company letter heads, billboards, and marketing posters amongst others and the last thing you desire is for the logo to lose its quality when rendered on the various materials.

Simplicity

It is also important to ensure that the logo is clean and simple. Gone are the days when you could cram a plethora of elements in one logo and still hope that it will be great. For the leading brands on the world to most promising startups, you will easily recognize that they have simple logos, and mostly depict minimal designs. Since it has been proven that simple logos work best, you should also strive to make simple logos for your eBay store front.

Follow these tips for creating a print friendly logo!

The post Design a Logo for My eBay Store Front appeared first on LogoMaven | Easy Logo Design Software & Logo Maker.

Businesses are slowly moving away from brick and mortar stores to more robust solutions, such as online stores.

One of the main reasons of this is because they are easier to run and also have the potential of doing business globally.

Etsy is one solution and gives people the ability to run online stores at the comfort of their living rooms.

But even for the online stores, the basic concepts of branding and marketing remains.

If you want to attract more clients to come to your online stores, you have to stand out from the crowd with effective branding strategies.

Below are the various tips and tricks you can employ to design a logo for your Etsy store and bring you all the benefits you need.

Simplicity rules

A glance at the world’s leading eCommerce store will be a clear testament to the fact that simple logos work well for online stores.

Amazon’s logo is nicely designed and it has been a major driving force behind the company’s branding success.

Etsy store owners can be pick few tips from this logo and implement them in their designs.

For instance, the logo is largely text-based and it is clearly formatted and well organized.

If such a design is adopted, the logo will be memorable to the current store users and potential customers will also notice it quite easily.

Optimize for mobile

It is no longer a convenience but rather a necessity for online stores to be mobile friendly so that mobile users can also have a chance to access the stores online.

It will interest you to know that the number of mobile users has grown so immensely, thus making mobile traffic a major source for most of the eCommerce stores.

In regards to logo design for Etsy stores, the logo should have the versatility to render in mobile devices as well, so that mobile users don’t miss a chance to recognize the store simply because the logo is not mobile friendly.

But the logo shouldn’t be just optimized for mobile alone.

The versatility should also be depicted when you need to scale it up or down.

For instance, you may be interested in creating various marketing materials such as posters, flyers, business cards, email signatures etc.

In putting the logo in such materials, it is imperative for it to maintain its legibility and not lose any of its qualities.

Use images or tagline to reveal your unique selling points

To run a successful Etsy store or any other eCommerce store, it is imperative to distinguish yourself from the competition by providing a truly unique selling point.

Since there are several stores competing for the same audiences in the internet, your logo should inform your target audience of the kind of value they will get when they purchase from your store.

The best way to do this is to use images or your tagline to reveal your unique selling points to the target audiences.

Because the potential customers may not have time to go through your website in detail, by revealing your USP in the logo, they will feel compelled to check out your store.

Consider horizontal designs

When designing a logo for your Etsy store, it may be tempting to keep the design to just one corner of the website, usually the top left corner.

Whereas this is the norm and almost every store is doing it that way, to attract more attention, you should consider using as much as possible the horizontal length of the web page.

If you minimize the vertical space and instead stretch the text and the graphics of the logo to cover the horizontal plane, the logo will be easily recognizable, thus contributing to the branding efforts of your Etsy store.

Additionally, such an alignment will give you the chance to showcase more of your products on the store.

Use images properly

Finally, you should make good use of the images.

From well performing online stores like Amazon, it is not possible to think about the logo without the upward pointing arrow coming to mind.

Again, such logos use art minimally, hence it is important to use images that are unquestionably related to the kinds of goods you are selling on your Etsy store.

Look for a clean and a minimalist image that is simple enough and will have the ability to stick in the minds of your customers or potential clients who visit the website.

These tips, if used religiously, will enable you to create an outstanding logo for your Etsy store.

Remember, the competition among fellow Etsy stores is very high and you need to do everything necessary to stand out.

One of these ways is to have a nicely designed, unique, and original logo.

Use these color tools with your logo!

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Create the logo yourself

For you to create a worthwhile logo for your business, some design skills and knowledge will be required. This is usually the most preferred path for those who are design conscious and who want to have total control over all the aspects of the creation process. This option gives you the ability to create the logo just as you had imagined it and it will not cost you a thing, given that you will not be paying anyone to do it on your behalf.

However, as much as creating the business logo on your own may sound appealing; it comes with certain disadvantages which you’d better be ready to contend with in advance. To begin with, you must possess designs skills and knowledge for you to create the logo without any professional help. Not everyone is a designer and if you have never tried it before, then this wouldn’t be the right choice for you.

In addition to having design skills and knowledge, it will be imperative to know how to use various graphics programs for logo creation. Some of the programs are pretty expensive and it wouldn’t make any financial sense to purchase them just to make one logo and this is why you may consider our second option of creating a logo for your business.

Order the logo for a graphics designer

The second option, and which is preferred by many entrepreneurs, is to entrust their logo creation to the professional graphics designers. With this option, you are guaranteed of having a high quality output that will represent your business in the most professional manner, visually. Besides, there are so many places where you can get such qualified professional logo designers at affordable rates. Some of the benefits you get by traveling down this route when creating a logo for your business include-:

• Access to a pool of designers and you are able to choose from the very best
• You are guaranteed of getting a unique and quality business logo
• Takes less time compared to creating the logo on your own
• Sometimes the cost of designing the business logo can be relatively cheap.

But despite the advantages, there are certain things you may not like about ordering your logo from a graphics designer. For instance, finding a very good designer may be a challenge, given the nature of the freelance marketplaces and the huge number of designers available. You may find one or two very good designers, but they will be very expensive and this can be a little bit of a setback, especially if you are just starting out and you are pressed for finances. Finally, you won’t have a lot of control over the creation process and there are no guarantees that the designer will translate all your ideas into a perfect design.

Order it from a studio

Ordering the creation of your business logo from a design studio is almost similar to ordering from a freelance graphics designer, but it comes with advantages not available when you consider working with the freelancers. For instance, you will have a chance to work with very talented designers on your logo project and there is also a wide range of design studios for you to choose from. Communication with the designers will also be easy and this will lead to great finish at the end. However, if you decide to order form the studio, be prepared to spend a huge amount for the service fee and it is also a time consuming affair since you will have to consult with the studio designers at every stage of the design.

Use an online logo generator

With the advent of the internet and advancement in technology, there is a plethora of free online design tools people can use to make logos for their businesses. Not the very best option to say the least, but the online logo generators have the benefits of being free and easy to use and also you don’t need to have any design skills to create a logo for your business. Additionally, the results are almost instant and you have a wide variety of options to choose from. You will however have to contend with the fact that you don’t have actual control over the design and your customization options are also very limited.

Learn how to make a daycare logo here!

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Raster Graphics

Raster is the commonly used type of graphics. They comprise of tiny continuous of colored boxes known as dots or pixels. When creating images or graphics for print, Raster graphics are usually measured in dots per inch (dpi), but when the images are meant for use in the web then they are measured in pixel per inch (ppi). These measurements allow the designers to measure the amount of color information contained in a specific image. The most popular file formats for Raster graphics include jpg, png, tiff, gif, psd and bmp. In the creation of Raster graphics, there are lots of tools which can be used, with Adobe Photoshop being the preferred one by the majority.

Pros and cons of Raster images

One of the greatest advantages of Raster graphics is that they offer greater color detail because they are pixel based. With this, Raster images have a finite number of pixels. Therefore, should you attempt to enlarge the graphic; the computer will try to fill in the gaps of the missing pixels with the colors which it thinks matches the spaces. This interpolation of data is what will make the images appear blurry or pixilated, since the computer cannot guess correctly the exactly colors which ought to be in those spaces.

The second advantage of using Raster is the precise editing that they allow the editors to have. When working with Raster graphics, designers have more precise editing control over the details and the color information. It will interest you to know that all the individual pixels with the color information in Raster images can be edited one by one, therefore, if you are a perfectionist designer, then Raster images gives you the highest levels of customization possible. The editing possibilities are simply endless.

On the other hand, there are certain characteristic of Raster images that are not admirable at all. The first con of these graphics is that they are blurry or get pixilated when enlarged. This is because the images are made of a finite number of pixels and when they are enlarged, the computer tries to guess the right color that should be in the additional gaps. The image will thus appear blurry because the computer has no way of telling the right color which should be filled in the gaps.

The second con for Raster graphics lies on their size. They are large in nature and might sometimes compromise the processing powers of the computers, even for faster machines.

Vector Graphics

Unlike Raster graphics which are comprised of individual pixels, vector graphics uses math to draw shapes in form of dots, curves and lines and they are infinitely scalable. The graphics uses the original math equation to create consistent shapes irrespective of whether they are being scaled up or down. This is why vector graphics are preferred for logos and large scale printing. For creating graphics meant for the web, you are free to use vector or Raster graphics since it is possible to export vector images to popular Raster formats such as png, jpg, etc.

Pros and cons of vector graphics

As indicated earlier, one of the pros of vector graphics is that they can be scaled infinitely without them compromising the image quality in any way. With them, you don’t have to worry about missing pixels, since the original mathematic equation will be applied to the shape consistently at all times.

Secondly, vector images are relatively smaller thus easy to work with and will not affect the processing power of computers as is the case with large Raster files. And finally, unlike their Raster based counterparts, vector graphics are never flattened and this simply implies that the original shapes exist in different layers, giving you the power to modify each element individually.

One of the limitations of vectors is their unsuitability for complex images that might require exact coloring. This is owing to the mathematical nature of how data is remembered by vectors. Though it may be possible to create basic color gradients with vectors, it will not be possible to match the color details available in Raster images, where you can edit each individual pixel.

Learn more common file formats for graphic designers here!

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Unknown to many, you don’t have to be a design geek to create a stunning logo which will drive your YouTube channel to success. All you have to do is follow certain conventions and also use trips and tricks which have been proven time and again to deliver quality logos. Presented below are a few factors worth taking into account if you want to create a magnificent YouTube logo for your channel-:

Begin by knowing what your message is

Your YouTube logo will be the brand identity for your channel for people who will be browsing YT videos. It should be designed in such a manner that people will be able to tell easily what your channel is all about. This makes it important to determine exactly the type of message you would like to share with your followers and viewers in the channel. Out of the message, it will be easy for you to decide on the other aspects of the logo such as the symbols, fonts, and colors amongst other design features.

Browse other YouTube channels

Once you have known what your congruent marketing message is, the next step is to browse other YouTube channels for more inspirations. By browsing the channels, it doesn’t imply that you lack in originality or you want to copy other people’s logo, but it is designed to give you an idea of what the top guys are doing right as far as YouTube logo design is concerned. Of great concern to you should be the leading channels in your niche, which also happens to be your greatest competitors. Have a look at their logos and pick a few cues you could use to make your logo even better than theirs.

Make a clean and functional logo

At this point, you already have an idea of the kind of message you would like to pass across to your channel visitors and you have also browsed the top channels in your niche and you now know what kind of logos are pulling the crowds in your niche. The next step is now the actual design of the logo. You have the option of doing the design on your own, which will give you lots of flexibility to translate your idea into the design.

But if you don’t have the design skills, you can outsource the creation to graphics designer, whom you will share with your inspiration so that they can transfer it to the design. Whichever option chosen, the logo must remain clean and functional since this is one of the characteristics of top performing logos in the world.

Depending on your research and the suitability of your channel, you can create the following logo types for your YouTube channel-:

Symbol or Icon logos – with this kind of a logo, a symbol or an icon is used in the design of the logo. It doesn’t include any letter like the channel name. The beauty of such logos is that they are very simple, yet powerful and remains memorable in the minds of potential clients for a very long time. Think about Apple logo for instance.

Word or Letter Mark Logos – with these logo types, letters or words are used as the primary essence of the logo. Google logo is an example of a word or letter mark logo.

Combination mark logos – with these, you use a combination of words, letters and symbols in creating your YouTube logo.

Get the colors right

The colors used in your YT channel logo are very important since colors have a way of passing different message or emotions to those who view the logo. Choose colors appropriately depending on the feelings or the emotional responses you intend to invoke from your channel visitors.

Choose the right logo sizes

YouTube recommends that your channel logo should render at 98 x 98px and you are recommended to upload sizes of about 800px x 800px. On the size still, remember that you are likely to use the logo in other social sharing sites, hence it should be versatile size that will cut across all your potential marketing platforms.

Make the logo memorable

Finally, a successful logo is one which is easily memorable. Your views should be in a position to recognize the logo easily even if they see it somewhere out of YouTube. In this manner, it becomes easier for them to remember your channel and this is very powerful for branding and marketing the channel.

Learn how to build a successful social media strategy here!

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Using a logo generator:

A logo generator is an excellent way that you can make use of a number of random images that would look great as a logo makeup. Free logo generators and logo makers can be both a great way that you can come up with excellent ideas for your logo design but potentially even have a completely finished logo design for your tech company. Using a free logo maker is an ideal way that you can get the ball rolling so that you could help to tell a professional company exactly what to do for designing your logo.

Picture the name on the logo:

Text design can be one of the toughest parts of any logo. Most startups definitely have to prominently display the text on their logo so that customers can come up with an idea of what the company is all about and the types of services that are delivered with that particular company. Picturing the name on the logo for text design is a crucial step to incorporating the logo into your branded material and more. This can help you envision the logo for your tech company.

Build something very unique:

A tech logo needs to be absolutely unique and maybe even a little bit zany. Every business is a little bit different from the competition in the tech industry and order to really set yourself apart you have to be creative and build something out of the ordinary. If you can build something unique that also showcases your corporate culture this can be ideal for the future of your business as well. A unique logo for your tech company will showcase your creativity.

Consider optimization:

Remember that your logo is going to have to going to many places including twitter, Facebook, your website and potentially even real signage outside of your business. Consider using the right file type as well as building a logo that will scale well across almost any sized space. Building a logo that’s very scalable and highly optimized is ideal. Designing a logo for your tech company that doesn’t scale well across social media is suicide in this industry. Always consider how the logo for your tech company will look across many different platforms.

Make it stand out:

3-D images and adding lots of effects to your text and images in the logo can really help it to stand out. One of the best ways that you can do this is with the help of a professional graphic designer. A pro designer or pro-logo maker will be able to help your logo stand out from the competition and they’ll be able to introduce a number of really impressive effects that can make the text almost leap away from your logo. While using an automatic logo generator can be an excellent way to get started, it’s professional help that really sets your logo apart and allows you to build a logo that will generate more responses in your industry.

Keep some of these top principles in mind when you are building a logo specifically for a tech startup company. Logos for a tech company can often require more thought due to the rapidly changing pace of the industry.

Learn where you should be using your logo here!

The post How can I design a logo for my tech company? appeared first on LogoMaven | Easy Logo Design Software & Logo Maker.

It is possible that an organization or a business entity has nothing to do with the animals. But, there are certain specific characters or features of the animal which they admire.  they would like to associate with their products and services.

For instance, when a lion is used in a logo, it could signify courage or dominance of the business in the given field. An eagle, on the other hand, might signify sharpness and accuracy while a dove might be used to show purity, sincerity and meekness of the organization. Animals can also be used in a logo as a base of identity for a given region or location of the business.

For example, using a bear in a logo might suggest that the business is located in the cold region or in the cold mountains. A kangaroo on the logo, on the other hand, will signify that the business must be operating from Australia or is dealing with Australian products and services.

Presented here are ten animal logos showing how animals can be used intelligently in a logo.

The World Wildlife Fund

The first awesome logo we look at featuring an animal is the World Wildlife Fund Logo. This is a simple black and white logo with a giant panda on it. The use of panda in the logo is not only appropriate because the organization mainly deals with wildlife protection. But, by choosing panda particularly, they are trying to raise awareness about the endangered species of animals. One of them is a Panda. From a designer’s point of view, the logo is an outright winner given that it is simple, minimalist and easily recognizable.

NBC Logo

NBC is a popular television channel in the United States. To help in its marketing and branding, they have a nicely designed logo in full bright colors. A closer look at the logo will reveal to you a peacock with the feathers spread out. It indicates the quality and richness in variety of the programs availed by the broadcaster.

Toblerone Logo

Toblerone is a brand chocolate which originated in Bern, Switzerland. The logo features the Matterhorn Mountain and a white bear climbing it. The bear has been used as a hidden symbol in the logo. It is a heraldic animal in Bern city hence its use in the company’s logo is very appropriate.

The Firefox Logo

Firefox is a renowned tech giant offering one of the best search engines on the internet. Its logo is one of the best animal logos you will ever come across. It features a fox blazing in fires and going around a globe. The fox is naturally an intelligent animal. Its use in this logo can be an indication of the efficiency and speed that users experience when they use the Firefox engine for searching on the internet.

Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium Logo

The Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium logo is another perfect demonstration of animal logos. Its design is plain and simple, and it uses negative space to illustrate lion and a chimp facing each other with a tree in between. Present at the roots of the tree is two fish swimming away. Also, two birds can be seen flying from the tree. This animal logo is appropriate as it signifies what people can expect to see at the zoo and aquarium.

Atlanta Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons logo is another beautiful animal logo you will enjoy looking at. The design depicts a falcon up in the air with the eyes focused and claws open. It is almost as if it is just about to make a swoop on prey. It signifies the aggression and the accuracy of the team.

Puma Logo

The Puma logo is another awesome animal logo you will lay your eyes on. The logo shows a puma taking a typical long jump over the letters. It shows power, speed, and aggression. These have been used by the sportswear.It is used to indicate some of the attributes desired by every athlete who uses their products.

The Ferrari Logo

The Ferrari logo is another animal logo that has been associated with the overall success of the Italian sports car manufacturer. The logo features a prancing horse as a sign of power and exceptional performance that customers can expect from the Italian brand car.

The Jaguar Logo

Jaguar is another car manufacturer with a beautiful animal logo. Just like the Ferrari, the Jaguar logo features a prancing animal. The Jaguar is ready with all of its teeth out and prepared to attack. It signifies aggression, power and exceptional performance offered by the car.

Check out what is wrong with The Met Museum Logo!

All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. AppMaven LLC or LogoMaven is not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned on this post. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Perhaps you have the urge to become a graphics designer or you already are, but you are still not sure if it is the thing you want to do. You will never know unless you take your time to try out your skills and see what you come up with. In the meantime, you should know you are a graphics designer if you experience or do the following-:

You judge a store based on their logo

If you are the kind of person who will look at a store’s logo and use that to inform your decision of whether or not to purchase from the store, know immediately that you are a graphics designer. Maybe the logo turns you off with the images they use. Maybe they are done in a manner that is not appealing to you hence you don’t want anything associated with the store. When you see the logo, your graphic design mind goes to work. It does a subconscious evaluation on the logo so you can tell if it is a terrible logo and leave the store.

You see design everywhere you go

Are you the kind of person that notices the font and the layout on the menu at your favorite restaurant? Does it bother you that the labels at the grocery store are rather big and user unfriendly? And do you feel that the branding on your favorite clothing line appeals to you in a special way?

If you are such a person, you should probably consider taking a career as a graphic designer more seriously. You know you are a graphics designer when you see designs everywhere you go. You not only see them but critique them and think of better ways which they could have been made greater if you feel that they are of mediocre quality.

You enjoy findings solutions to problems

Graphics designers are obsessed with trying to make the world around them more efficient. They are some kind of perfectionists who prefer to search for clear solutions to the problems they encounter on daily basis. If you are this person who finds that the tables at the bus terminus are rather complicated and, in turn, confusing travelers, then you are a graphics designer.

Also, if you find that the maps are complicated and make it difficult for you to find your way around, then you could make a very good graphics designer. Remember, hundreds of people use those tables and maps every day without every noticing anything wrong with them. And since you can notice the anomalies and think of better solutions, it shows that you are a very instinctive graphics designer.

You naturally appreciate good designs

You also know you are a graphics designer when you can notice good designs and appreciate them for the various elements of greatness they have. You are ready to accept that some designs are better than yours, and you are willing to take inspirations from them to apply and enhance your design skills.

You have a yearning to learn more

Perfection in graphic design comes by blending natural creativity and learning. With the advent of the internet, the graphics design industry moves very fast with many tools and styles being discovered. A proficient designer, therefore, needs to update their knowledge constantly and continue perfecting their natural skills in design. If you are the kind of person that is always eager to learn new things and stay at the top of the industry as far as graphic design is concerned, then you are a true graphic designer.

You are competitor

If you discover that you like competing with yourself, and you always want to become a better you with each design, then know that you are a graphic designer. You don’t have to compete with others or take part in design competitions. But you feel defeated when you think that you could have done a better job.

You have a genuine interest in the latest design trends

Professional designers know trends never last and they never form the basis of their designs. However, if you find that you have a genuine interest in learning about the recent trends in design, then you might as well be a graphics designs. Your aim is not to follow the trends and apply them in all your designs, but you are trying to get clues and inspirations and also have a general feel on where the industry is headed to.

Check out the best graphic design books here!

The post You Should Know You are a Graphic Designer If… appeared first on LogoMaven | Easy Logo Design Software & Logo Maker.

Since logos are designed to be seen by lots of people, the habit of using stock images can be pretty limiting. Therefore, as a professional designer, you should avoid using them in your design as much as possible. Here is why-:

Stock images are other people’s visions

Uniqueness is one aspect in logo design that is greatly admired. Everyone desires to have a logo that is unique to them and will never be found in any other place. Stock photos will always be another person’s idea or inspiration and using them in your logo will deny you the chance to be creative. It will also deny our clients the chance to have a unique logo. Besides, you may never manage to capture or stimulate the right emotions when you rely on another person’s image in your logo design.

There is no originality in using stock photo

The other danger of using stock images in logo design is the fact they lack in originality. Stock Photos offer free resources accessible to millions of people in the world. It is important to realize that millions of designers rely on such photos and download a lot of them on a daily basis. If you decide to use one in your logo design, you risk downloading a photo that has been downloaded and used for several times.

By this virtue alone, your logo design will lack originality, and you should not be surprised if you came across similar logo just like yours on the internet. You will lose the “wow” element of the logo. Those who see it may fail to see any inspiration in the design process. If you are a designer who loves originality, you will not want to use the stock photos.

Stock Photos are costly in the long run

Stock photos may be appealing if you need a quick fix for the design because you can get them quite cheaply and easily. However, you should not forget that cheap is always expensive in the long run. There are some direct costs involved in using stock photos in your logo other than the licensing fees, which in some cases may be very high, depending on the quality of the photo.

Again, it will take you a lot of time to scour through hundreds or even thousands of photos before you find the final one to use in your logo design. Besides, there are no guarantees that the stock photo will meet all your design purposes. Hence, using stock photos might just be a costly waste of time and resource compared to coming up with a design from scratch or using custom photos for the logo design.

Perfect logo or good enough logo

Before you decide on the image to use in your logo, you need to consider the goals and the vision of the logo. This should essentially come from the goals and objectives of the design as well as the kind of emotions you need to be evoked on those who will be seeing the image. Finding a stock photo that will meet such a specific is not easy.

In most of the times, you will use imagery close to what you wanted but not actually what will manage to meet all your design requirements. Essentially, stock photos will be “just good enough” but won’t let you have the perfect logo that will drive the brand of your business.

Stock photos are generic and boring in logo design

The other reason stock photos should never be used in logo design is because they are generic and very boring. It is very difficult to establish an immediate connection with the logo using a stock photo compared to a logo designed with a custom image.

By simply looking at logo with a stock photo, the audience will easily decipher that the image is not real or does not belong to the company hence you lose a chance to create an authentic connection with the audience. It implies that you have failed in creating credibility and trust with the potential audience, and this might cost the business regarding branding.

There are certain occasions when you might bump into very good quality stock images but as a professional designer, you should rely on your skills, expertise and intuition to use original images that will bring out the unique components of the logo.

Learn if it is possible to create a logo that transcends time here. 

The post Why Stock Photos Should be Avoided in Logos. appeared first on LogoMaven | Easy Logo Design Software & Logo Maker.

Brand exposure is important and by getting a professional logo and then sharing it in the right places you can work at improving your brand recognition. By improving your brand recognition you can improve your sales. This is really the only way that your small startup can turn into a bigger, more successful business for the future.

Here are some of the top places you can use your logo as a small business to improve your brand awareness:

Social Media:

If you don’t have a social media profile, you should think of creating one now. The most successful online businesses have their own online profiles today. That’s because they can market products and services out to their target market cheaply and effectively. Using your logo in marketing materials and for your profile picture on social media is important. Once you have a logo finalized you should consider using it for your profile picture on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and more.

Promo Items/digital advertising:

If you are building a banner ad or a print advertising spot, this is the perfect place to put your logo. If you put out a flyer or produce any kind of advertising online, you need to strongly consider including your logo somewhere on the same material. Without including your logo on print advertising or online advertising slots, you could be missing out on a prime chance for exposure. Including your ad in the bottom corner or as a main part of the advertisement if you are a new company, is a great idea.

Packaging:

Your logo is a must on your packaging. If you are selling a product that will be in retail locations or even a product that will be sold/shipped from an online store, you need to include your logo in the packaging. Logos on packaging are a fantastic way to improve your brand recognition. That’s because even if someone happens to see the box your product was shipped in located in someone’s recycling bin, this can show your product is being used in their local market. Packaging gets people excited to try your product. With a logo that shows your business culture, you could potentially influence a purchase.

Emails:

If your company uses email marketing or sends out any kind of email newsletter, you need to include your logo into the template for your emails right away. Showcasing your brand in any email message is a fantastic way to increase brand awareness. It can also help to improve the way that people feel about your brand. A customer or potential customer can see your logo whenever they get new news about your company. You can also influence their opinion of your logo or branding by showcasing different deals or offers with your logo distinctly displayed.

Webpage:

A logo must have a place on your company webpage. Including your logo on company webpages is essential for your logo to reach an international audience. You can go a step further as well and index your page with Google business. This will ensure that your logo comes up every time someone searches for basic info on the search engine about your company, but doesn’t visit the main page. A logo can be a big part of a webpage. Any small business needs to take advantage of displaying one on their home page/ throughout their pages. Even blog pages and businesses that are entirely based on the web know the value of branding. They also have strong logos distinctly displayed across their posts and main page content. Following this kind of visibility can only bring you success in brand awareness.

Business cards:

A logo displayed on a business card is a very professional move that is great for expanding your industry contacts. Many of the world’s top executives carry business cards that showcase the professional logo design of their company. Any small business needs to showcase their logo on business cards. Imagine being able to improve your brand awareness by showcasing your business cards at trade shows. People would be passing by and anyone could pick up your business card! By displaying your logo on your business card it becomes more than just a tool for contact information. It becomes a promotional tool as well. With a unique business card design as well as a trendy logo, you can really make an impact as a small business.

Keep these top areas in mind when you are thinking of where to put your logo. If you are in the early stages of your business and you need to increase brand awareness, don’t forget to take advantage of all of these spaces and more!

Check out this article on who needs a logo!

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