At some point in your career, you may be asked to print business cards or custom envelopes, or you may need to print business stationery. The job may involve designing a logo as well. If so, here are a few key concepts you may want to keep in mind during this process.
The logo will be presented in different sizes.
The logo you design will need to capture a client’s attention immediately and convey something about the business (what your client does, and also the tone or values of the business). On a business card the logo may be very small, but on a sign in front of the business the logo may be very large. Keep in mind that the logo is not just the mark (image, pictogram, etc.), but also the words (name of the company and perhaps the tag line). These must be readable and attractive in both large and small sizes.
Rule of Thumb: Make a mock-up of the logo (image and any related type) at multiple levels of enlargement to ensure that it is readable and conveys the company image in a positive light.
The logo will be presented in different orientations.
The logo you design will appear on a business card, on letterhead, on an envelope, perhaps on a statement of account and an invoice, maybe even on the side of a truck or the side of a building. It will probably even appear on the Internet.
Rule of Thumb: Consider how you will treat the logo in multiple orientations (flush left, flush right, centered–at the left top corner of an envelope vs. on a sheet of ). To be safe, create mock ups reflecting all potential uses of the logo and tagline (in different orientations). It will benefit the overall brand and look of the business if all elements of the corporate identity package reflect a coherent “whole,” and the best way to make this happen is to design them as a unified campaign.
The logo may not always appear in the colors you chose for the design.
Let’s say you want to fax a copy of the business invoice to a client. If you fax a document with a red and blue logo (for instance) at the top of the page, the client will receive the logo in black and white. Does a black and white version of the logo you designed still look acceptable?
Rule of Thumb: Design the logo and type treatment (tagline, etc.) in whatever colors you choose, but also see how they look in black and white. The same goes for use on the Internet. Not all web browsers or computer monitors render colors the same. Also, there are some colors that look better than others on the Web. So check your logo on several computers in several browsers to make sure.
Logo design comes up in many venues. Perhaps your client needs you to find a business card printing service, or a vendor for business envelope printing or even business stationery printing. Particularly if you are charged with either designing the logo yourself or hiring a designer and coordinating the design, the more uses you can take into account for the logo and words that accompany it, the better able you will be to provide a unified “look” for the entire corporate identity package.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, April 27th, 2011 at 3:38 pm and is filed under Business Cards, Envelope Printing, Printing.
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