How to Choose a Logo for your Brand

07/032020

There are many factors that go into choosing a logo and I’ll start by explaining what I consider to be the most important one.

First things first,

Pick a name that will suit your brand, mission and overall purpose. Be inventive, choose a name that can be pronounced like a noun (rather than, “The website” or “Cool website”). You need to distinguish your company from others by brand, identity and mission.

Is this you?

It’s easy to pass off the front of the car as your brand, brand name or website. While this is understandable, if you’d like to have a higher profile you need to treat this a little more seriously and set up some interesting things.

The best logos/labels are created from the inside out. A logo is an encapsulation of your logo and company identity. It captures your brand, gives an impression of originality and the whole point of the business is to capture attention and this can be achieved through the images that are used.

Above all of these have a lasting impact on your brand, so it’s important to use one of each.

While this particular logo is used all over the site, it works wonderfully as a logo in itself.

Simple logos with solid colors (I’ve got a soft-focus, high contrast version that worked well) also work well in this situation.

Use a master page to educate, not scare off, your readers

If you’re planning on creating your own website, there’s a good chance that you’ll want to go all out, with all of your logo choices and choice of fonts.

However, what if you can’t do that?

Don’t worry — just as there are a lot of other factors to consider when creating your logo, too, so are this size issues.

Images on a mobile have to be sized differently from images on a desktop website, so keep that in mind.

Just think about what it would feel like to have your logo the size of a thumbnail, or an overlay on the top of a website that’s larger than your page.

And keep it simple, because each time your visitors have to add or remove information, it can break their flow, when they’re not expecting it.

While we’re at it, think about the average and maximum width of your web page.

Okay, we’re done with the example for now. Feel free to get fancy, but remember, while making a strong initial impression is helpful, it’s more important to include an emotional connection with your logo.

What really matters

I don’t see too many logos that really make an impact on people’s eyes. There is no consistent way to make people feel more welcome or more connected to the company or brand.

How do you create that?

That’s why having a logo that represents your company and mission is so important.

If you have a logo that connects your audience and your brand, it’s something that’s almost irresistible. That’s why it’s a critical piece in your branding strategy.

Don’t worry if your new logo design doesn’t work for all of your marketing efforts, but the brand represents your values and goals, and you want to make it stand out among all the logos out there.

To make this happen, you need to take some time to understand your audience and make sure that your logo represents your company and why people can trust your company and follow you to new destinations.

Have you picked a logo for your brand yet? We’d love to hear what you think!

How to Create Beautiful Websites

07/012020

If you’re like me, you’re a webmaster of a couple of websites and a blog. As far as I’m concerned, a website is a communication device, a way of generating hits. And every website is a work in progress. Whether you’re a newbie webmaster or you’re a seasoned pro, it can be difficult to figure out how to create a website that’s beautiful.

The process varies depending on the kind of website you want to create. If you’re in the business of selling clothing or beauty products, a website about your latest product launch might be more appropriate. On the other hand, if you’re an ecommerce site or a virtual office, you probably want to focus on design and style first. That’s why I thought I’d share my tips for creating beautiful websites using websites, and I’m going to share a few examples, too.

How to Create an Amazing Website

Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned pro, you need to design a website that’s user-friendly, intuitive, attractive, and usable.

And that means when you create your website, you need to get it right the first time.

Let’s say that you’re developing a website about a new product. You know it needs to be simple and accessible, and it should also be able to display your products as they’re currently displayed on your web site.

Before you dive into designing your site, you might want to read this article by Hosting Manual. It shows you how to host a website on Hostinger.

Here’s how to create a website based on your product concept in WordPress

Step #1: Set Up a WordPress Website

On the dashboard, look for themes. The website should include your logo, as well as your product names, price, and promotion.

Step #2: Tweak It!

Use the theme with good markup. Keep the posts and pages like tidy so that you can see how they work together.

Make sure you use images and backgrounds, because it adds to the look fo the website.

Step #3: Add Your Posts

Now it’s time to add your posts. If your website is a retailer, you should use a post like social media, video, or blog. If your website is a marketplace, you should use a post like listing or comment.

You can also create custom post types.

The syntax for your post type must be defined by you, and be easy to understand. For social media posts, follow the style of a social network. For example, if you are selling to Facebook users, use the Facebook format. For forum posts, follow the style of the forum you want your site to display. For blog posts, follow the style of your site’s content management system. If you’re using WordPress, make sure to add your post type to the Custom Post Types page in WordPress.

Step #4: Publish!

Put your product template on a separate page so that the user can see how your site displays their posts. Follow the website’s URL on your site, and you’re done!

If you have a fancy product template that includes moving slider buttons for moving between images, consider publishing that on a separate post so that users can see your product before purchasing.

Happy creating!

How to take better Instagram photos of your dog

05/112020

If you were to look through the camera roll on my phone, you’ll mostly see a lot of food, drinks, friend and family gatherings, screenshots of things that humor me, and my dog.

Any guess as to which subject is the most elusive target to shoot?

This is Max. He is no doubt the world’s greatest companion, but for the most part he’s a blur in a majority of photos taken of him. So when I get a good shot of him, I’m telling everyone!

The theme of Happy Medium’s upcoming Social Media Day 2014 is “No Filter Needed.” Below, I’ve compiled the best tips to help you take better Instagram photos of your dog, no filter needed.

Rule of Thirds

This is a basic photography composition principle in which your image should be divided by nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal and vertical lines, a tic tac toe grid if you will.

The point of the Rule of Thirds is to discourage shooting the subject or focal point in the center of the frame. Everything important in the photo should fall along the tic tac toe grid.

Instagram has a built in grid that you can use while taking photos to practice getting better at framing shots.

This photo of Max and I at Water Works Park is a good example of Rule of Thirds framing. If I had shot this image with him in the dead center, it would have still been a cute photo, sure, but paying attention to your surroundings will help you set up a better shot.

Turn off your flash

Flash is the enemy. Never use your flash again! The only time you should ever use a flash is if you are in a completely dark area and there is absolutely no way you could capture necessary evidence.

If there is some lighting to work with but not great, still, leave your flash off. Using your flash on your dog will give them those green alien eyes, rendering your image not shareable to anyone but your Mom.

It takes a bit of experimenting with your camera angles in relation to your light source but try to position your dog (if your pup is cooperative) so the light faces them. You can later go back and use some editing tools to sharpen and brighten up the image.

This photo was taken with no flash, but I did use some Instagram filters to lighten it up a bit. Instagram filters are essentially template photo settings that you can overlay on your photos. You can achieve more sophisticated edits on your own if you are familiar with custom photo editing tools until you’re happy with it.

Do Not Zoom

Get in there! But never use the zoom function, just get closer. Digital zoom really ruins photos. You can always crop the image later to zoom in, which performs the exact same function. Never zoom and shoot, just stop it now if you do. Once you snap a photo, you can always crop in, but you can’t crop back out.

If your dog is far away sometimes you can’t get closer because he’ll move and the moment will be lost. Instead take the photo where you stand, paying close attention to the environment around him (Rule of Thirds!) and set up the shot.

If I had taken one step closer, Max would have taken off running and the moment would have been gone. Zooming in before taking the photo would have ruined the image clarity. With Instagram I cropped to position the image so that it would look nice within a square aspect.

Don’t Hold Your Breath

Especially in low light situations, a steady hand is critical. It can make the difference between a crisp or blurry shot.

Snipers or sharp shooters are trained to squeeze the trigger while exhaling to ensure accuracy of their shot. When you hold your breath, your body tenses up and shaky hands result. Just breathe. Exhale as you press the shutter button.

Sounds pretty basic, but you are already trying to get a shot of your dog looking cute in unfavorable or unstable camera conditions and your first instinct is to quickly snap the photo before the moment is gone. Relax, breathe and eliminate the shaky hands!

Sneak Attack

Dogs, like humans, act differently when they know they are being photographed. There’s a good chance your dog will look away, move, walk away, try to get you to play with them, etc.

German Shepherds are showboaters with their stance, but if I were to call his name to look at me, there’s a good chance he will come running. Because he assumes when I call his name, I am calling him to come to me. Most of the time, I am.

Even if your dog is chill as can be, don’t give them the opportunity or satisfaction of sabotaging your photo. They know what they are doing.

No Humans

Of course, this isn’t a hard fast rule. I read a blog last year about an adorable dog named Kupo. Kupo, is a public figure in Palo Alto, California and has over a million likes on Facebook. His owner, Julie Zhuo was the first intern at Facebook in 2006, and now she’s director of product design. She’s pretty interesting.

Back to her dog. She wrote that adding toys, other dogs, cats, new settings, etc are great things to increase the likelihood of people liking your dog photo. But not humans.

Right now you’re thinking, her dog blog is all about developing an online persona for her Internet famous dog, so this wouldn’t necessarily apply to photos of me and my dog. Or does it?

I went back through all my Instagram photos, and the photos of just Max got many more likes than any photos of him and me.

First of all, getting someone else to take a well-timed, perfectly framed, non-shaky hands photo of both Max and me looking the way I want it to is a myth. But I have one photo I adore of the two of us.

And still, it didn’t get as many likes as any other photo of just him, even ones where he didn’t look as cute or the camera conditions were just meh.

I may have used Instagram filters on every single one of these photos, but if you follow the tips I outlined above, you will get much better mobile photos of your precious pup that you will be happy with, no filter needed.

Instagram marketing for brands has seen some major growth in recent months, so be sure to bring your burning questions to us.

Visual Social Media – It’s a Game-Changer

09/232019

In a world of convenience, visual updates are king. I recently read an article titled The Shift to Visual Social Media, which focuses on how visual social media is taking over the market and why smart brands are jumping on the wagon. The author walks us through the timeline of how blog posts became Facebook updates, which shrunk to Tweets and have now turned into Instagram or Pinterest posts.

This visual trend is, in part, due to users engaging with social media via their smartphones. Just like tweets were more convenient than updating a blog post, photos are now becoming less tedious than typing a status update.

Some companies have names that paint the picture, like my favorite hosting company, Greengeeks (read an awesome review about them here).

According to a study, 44% of respondents are more likely to engage with brands if they post pictures than any other media. Updates to the platforms have also been made to make them more succinct with the visual movement (i.e., Facebook Timeline) and the high successful new kids on the block (Instagram and Pinterest) are proving that the visual movement is here to stay.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is also evolving with this movement. Search engines no longer just rank websites alone. They now rank content based on social conversations and sharing.

So, what does this mean for your brand? It means adaptation is the key ingredient to your social media success. Smart brands that learn to navigate the visual social media movement will be prosperous in the social realm.

The Art of Logos

04/182019

Let me first introduce myself, being that this is my first blog entry on the Icon Resource.

My name is Hally and I am a graphic designer. On top of being a graphic designer, I have a great passion for the world of design and love bettering myself on research, trial and most definitely error, and through communication.

There, now that that’s out of the way – let’s talk a little about logos.  I recently got the opportunity to redesign one of our client’s logo.

There is a lot of thought that goes into redesigning a logo, after all a company’s logo is the face of their brand.

Before I even begin to sit at my computer and make my ideas a reality, I like to sit down with the client. Sometimes its hard for us to understand exactly what it is a client does just by digging around online.  By meeting face-to-face with your client you can get something far more than the surface facts about their business, you can gather their emotions in regards to their business.

A couple of key questions to ask your client before you start the design process:

  1. What impression do you want people to get from your logo (a.k.a. what do you want them to remember about you)
  2. Is your business traditional, modern, reinventing the wheel or unique?
  3. Make sure to ask them about their personal style preferences too.  This may include their favorite colors and what style of fonts they are drawn too – I find it usually works best to bring along some samples to give them a visual.

Designing a logo isn’t to be rushed. A logo truly does capture the meaning behind the entire brand – so put some time into it and really think about whose eyes it is you are trying to catch.