Logos love space

Put some space around your logo and it will immediately draw attention to itself. Try staring at the middle of a newspaper page and all you see is a confusing mush of words and pictures. Turn the page. As soon as something appears with some space around it, your eye is instantly drawn there. Place your logo in the middle of some space, and it is suddenly reaching out.

Getting the right format

Another way to ensure strong, consistent communication with your logo is to have it to hand in any common format, ready to supply it on demand:

If a magazine or advertising agency wants your logo, make sure you have the correct format for high resolution printing such as Adobe Illustrator .eps format or high resolution (minimum 300 pixels per inch / 120 pixels per centimetre) .tif format. A low resolution logo for PC use will end up rough, pixellated and with questionable colour matching when submitted for professional printing.
Conversely, if you email Word documents or PowerPoint slides to customers or colleagues, a high resolution logo will only make the file size unmanageably large, so you need a screen-resolution version of your logo (72 pixels per inch) if the file is to be viewed on-screen.

Ideally, you will also need a medium resolution logo (120-150 pixels/inch) if the file is intended to reproduce well from a desktop printer, in a PC friendly format such as .jpg or .bmp or .tif.

The key to properly communicating with your logo is space. Breathing space...

What is a brand?

You could be forgiven for thinking that branding is a black art, but in reality it’s simple to understand and control.

A brand, simply put, gives your customers a three dimensional view of what they are buying.

Firstly, there is your product or service itself
Then there is your company’s culture; what it aspires to be and the route it has chosen to get there
The final element is the way your product or service is delivered to the customer.

These three essentials form the relationship between your customer and your product or service. That relationship is your brand. Your logo design should act as a physical and emotional trigger, prompting the right response to your brand.