Visual Identity

So it is time to give yourself a visual image. Congrats! But before you call an agency you should have a well thought out plan for what you want to do. Unless of course you want to spend more money. Then of course by all means let us do that for you. Have a clear focus. Even if you don't know what you want for your own brand know what you like of other brands. Keep a brand "like" folder and a brand "dislike" folder so you can better determine how your brand will visually feel.

What I am going to say may surprise you but don't spend all of your time on your logo. I know this sounds like strange advice coming from a marketing/design agency but I see so many clients who put so much into visual identity without understanding exactly what good brand recognition is. I know this is also going to tick off a lot of my design colleagues but I am also a business owner who re-launched during a recession and trust me when I say money needs to stretch. Keep it simple!! A logo is not the voice of your business it is the recognition of your business. This is confusing to a lot of new business start-ups but there is a huge difference. The voice of your business is told through your marketing plan and your logo or visual identity is told through repetition of the plan. It is just a piece of your advertising. Now here is a valuable piece of advice. No matter who creates this artwork for you make sure they create it as a vector image. This is usually created in a professional design program such as Adobe Illustrator. This vector image is the raw format of your logo. A good designer will supply you with your logo in .ai, .eps as well as compressed into a .jpeg or .tif along with a .pdf of the logo in K (shades of black) as well as in either one to four press colors C (Cyan) M (Magenta) Y (Yellow) and in a spot color which can be one of hundreds of thousands (best for business cards!) with a .pdf guide of all of these formats. This is part of the visual identity map and what your money is paying for. The designer should then supply to you to keep in a safe and well-know place as well as backed up on a media platform of a CD or DVD. This is a VERY important step because this is your identity. It would be like losing your social security number. NOT good. I cannot tell you how many times I hear a DOS or DOM tell me that the original agency that created their identity is no longer representing them and they don't have access to their files but they do have something that you can scan? That is not gonna work people. Follow this advice and it will save you time, money and lots of hair that you will pull out on the eleventh hour while you search the entire company storeroom and hard drive for any sign of it.

Once you know that you need to implement your visual brand into self-identity. In addition to business cards make sure to implement your logo on your emails, social media, ad campaigns and any other creative ideas you may have for placement. For example recently I was in a store specializing in body products and was buying a small gift to bring home to my mother. I asked if they had a little bag thinking like a sturdy little handle bag that I could give to my mother. Nothing wrapped just a little gift in their own bag. Not only did they not have one but they wanted to charge me $5 for a gift bag. For a company that specializes in small gift products they don't follow through with their final delivery of self-identity and are trying to make money off of their own visual identity. It is your biggest advertising so put it everywhere and don't be cheap with your customer. If you have to factor a few more pennies into your products to give a nicely wrapped package -- then do it!

One more area I want to cover with visual identity is when a business has too many brands under one umbrella. We all know Entrepreneurs have like a million ideas going through their minds on a daily basis. Everything is an opportunity. But you don't have to pull out a bag of tricks in every shape and size to brand your services. For instance I ran into a friend recently that is an idea Entrepreneur. A really successful one too. Problem is he had too many brands and they were not housed under one umbrella. He kept handing me business cards from different pockets. I kept waiting for the rabbit and colored scarves to come out next. It was like a business cardapolooza. I was so confused. I could not keep them straight and honestly knowing he is on facebook just threw the cards away and thought if I ever need X I will just call him. Don't brand overload your potential customers (or your friends for that matter). Take one main brand and make it the umbrella that houses the rest. Always remember that less is more. It is a rule that never gets old and never should.

Lastly, enjoy this process. It should be the funnest part of your business/marketing plan. Make it yours and own it. It is going to be your identity for (hopefully) and long, long time!