How to create a big brand logo

The process to create a professional logo is complex and subjective, the result depends of the graphic designer creativity and knowledge, it is important to understand that the main purpose of your logo is to create a connection between your brand and clients and not to satisfy a personal taste, if you understand this principle, it could be easier for you to judge your logo, or even you can analyze the strategy that you are using to promote your product or service, if you don’t have a logo yet, this is an excellent guide to get excellent results. Here is a list describing some common principles applied by professional graphic designers and advertising agencies to create iconic and recognized logos.

 

1. Your logo should be Simple

Simplicity, this is the most important rule to communicate our ideas,  We are exposed  to tons of information every single day, everything must be simple to get  our attention and the  logos are not the exception,  simple logos are recognized immediately, the color is another important aspect, usually a good concept looks amazing in black and white, the shape by itself should send the message to your clients and prospects, Logos with more than 2 colors and special effects or shadows, become weak and useless in small applications such as favicons and apps icons.

 

2. Your logo should be memorable and understood for everybody

The human capacity to remember is an important detail to be considered to create your logo, a good concept is usually placed in your head at first contact, this value makes it memorable. The shape of a logo is an important part here, logos with details and complex shapes are hard to remember and the brand identity usually get  lost,  if you see the Target logo above, you don’t have to look twice to put it in your brain, even you don’t need to be an artist to draw this logo on a piece of paper, which means this brand is been positioned really good  in your head.

 

3. Your logo should be proper

A logo shouldn’t explain what the company does, if you sell shoes, you don’t need a shoe in your logo, the most important objective is to transmit feeling and emotions, the logo should inspire to your clients to think in your brand in the way that you want to be recognized, that is why before create a professional logo you  should keep in mind what is your niche or ideal client and what do you want to communicate, for example take a look to the BMW logo above, it is  luxurious, classic, elegant. This principle will help you to identify some issues in the way you are presenting your company, maybe you have a great and modern logo with a sportive style for a company that produces classic furniture.

 

4. Your logo should be timeless

Being timeless means that your logo is so perfect that it doesn't need to be redesigned to get the same impact in future years. Products and services every day are better and competitive, but a company that wants to be in trend with the latest fashion in logo design might think they should change their logo every year, but that is a grave error, the customer hardly learned the logo and got use to it in a year, for example the Coca-Cola logo was introduced in 1887 and it has never been modified.

 

5. Your Logo should be able to Use on a variety of formats and media

The way how your logo is presented and displayed is really important, if you want recognition this is a fact that you should keep in mind, in the past the marks, logo or trademarks were used only in printed material, but these days everything has changed, a professional logo should be clear enough to be used in print, in a very high-resolution, apps, banner, business cards, T-shiert and even movil advertising.

What happens when you remove your logo from your branding?

First of all, your branding is more than just your logo. Branding is the perception that people have about your business, for that reason you can recognize some companies even without seeing their name or logo. So taking your company logo and adding it to a random picture or marketing piece is not enough to communicate your company`s message.

You brand identity is a detailed combination of images, typefaces and colors that need to communicate the same IDEA or FEELING. Your message must be consistent and all your marketing communication should be more congruent.

It is always important to bring new and refreshing elements through your marketing, so you can occasionally change some visual elements, but they must remain relevant and related to the product or service you offer. You can change typefaces and shapes sometimes, but you must always reflect your corporate culture and transmit the emotions you want your customer to feel.

Big brands don`t change much in the way they present their products and services, and when they do, they have a good reason for doing so. In simple terms, your branding is what differentiates you from the competition. It might be a certain design, a type of approach towards society and the clients or a certain policy. Brands usually communicate their message through names, terms, designs or symbols, basically everything that leaves the company.

What happens when you remove the logo? It depends on how good your branding is. If you have not spent enough time creating a strong message, removing the logo will be comparable to disaster, because your logo has been the only way the consumers were used to recognize your business.

As a business owner you need to create a brand that communicates your message through a certain line of illustrations, colors and feelings that are repeatedly conveyed through your stationery and marketing material. The logo is really important and it is there to remind everyone who`s taking responsibility for the message, in other words, your logo is your business signature and it should be supported by the branding to communicate the message.

Logo design for an international non-profit organization

Brainstorming

More than creating a logo to identify HESED as a traditional sports brand, it is important to highlight the humanitarian cause, HESED is a non-profit organization which fights poverty using sports and culture by doing humanitarian and social actions around the world.  The word HESED is totally new for us, but since it is the brand name, we must have a clear understanding of  its meaning. HESED  is a Hebrew word that means loving kindness and loyalty, which are perfect adjectives to identify the brand mission and vision. HELP PEOPLE.

 

Research

As was mentioned by the clients, their competitors are Adidas, Reebok, Nike and other sportswear brands, but an element that makes the different from these commercial brands is that HESED will be using the entire profit to fight poverty around the world, reason why we must include in our research some references from other organization with a similar mission.

If we observe these logos, we can identify two groups, on top we have some sports brands suggested by the client and at the bottom we have some well-known humanitarian organizations, if we see the styles are clearly different, while the sports brands use lines with movements and sharp traces, the other group logos use elements related with their mission; except one, Bennetton, this is not exactly a sports brand, but it has a strong image in the fashion industry and its campaigns are usually linked with humanitarian content, which are common factors with HEDSED.

Sketching

Here we have some random sketches that I have created to experiment possible shapes and forms to create the logo.

Logo Characteristics

After some modifications and final adjustments this is our proposal. HELP PEOPLE, these two words define the HESED mission as a non-profit organization, but it is important to understand that work against poverty takes more than good intentions and a good heart, and this is what I’m representing in this logo, A strong and bold heart helping poor people around the world.



 

We understand this is not a traditional graphic representation of a heart, make it obvious could lead us to a weak concept and become one of the hundreds companies using a heart as a logo. Another important aspect is the simplicity and connection with the brand name,  if we see the construction process at the left, after selecting the right typography, after couple movements we have and strong and solid concept.



 

Final logo and usage samples

Here we can see how the logo could be used over different colors



 



 



 



 

Javier’s work was featured in DJ Mag Italia among other experienced creatives around the world

This is the second time that Javier's work has been featured in a magazine, the first appearance was a full page article in one of the best publications specializing in the latin culture in the US. Now our work is getting recognition across seas. Our name is in DJ Mag Italia, the Italian edition of the cult magazine dedicated to music and club culture worldwide. Every month they feature international clubbing, partying, advertising, technology and fashion in the music industry around the world.

The reason why they contacted us was because they saw one of our logo creations in this website, it was The Drop TV. this is a logo created for a new music channel in Los Angeles. The logo was designed following a detailed creative process and the final result was a simple and powerful concept that captured perfectly the energy and purpose of the channel. This time we don't have a full page article, but what makes it important for us is that we have been featured among other experienced graphic professionals around the world. I am talking about creatives that have the talent to work with clients such as Emi, Virgin Music, Fernando Garibay (Lady Gaga director and compositor), Tiesto, Skrillex and so on.



View The Drop TV logo design process 

Who we are

We are Javier and Alejandra, a creative couple founders of Javier Branding for Success, our 20 years experience in the creative field has gave us the opportunity to work with a wide variety of clients, from small business to major brands. Rather than designing artistic pieces our creativity is always focused in creating solid and functional concepts, helping our clients to promote their products and/or services and increase their brand recognition and sales.

In 2005 we moved from Bogota, Colombia to Los Angeles with our dong Merlin. After some years in North America we can see that our career has been an exhilarating roller coaster ride! Sometimes going up like a rocket and other times coming down with the parachute closed. But this is part of learning process. Our talent plus the acquired experience have helped us to become a successful design studion in a challenging city like Los Angeles in a relatively short time.

[instapress userid="self" piccount="12" size="90" effect="0"]
View complete gallery here

 

Why you should hire us

Why you should hire us? This is a simple question and it should have a simple answer as well. Instead of trying to impress you with a large list of our skills and technical stuff, we will give you just one simple reason ...

"We came to the United States seven years ago. Since then we have created our brand from scratch, our creativity and design knowledge have helped us to become a successful graphic designers in a challenging city like Los Angeles in relative short time. Even faster than some designers and studios that have been here for a longer time".

Could we do the same for your business or personal branding? Our answer is irrefutable.

YES !!!

Our client list ranges from small local businesses to major brands such as Ed Hardy, FOX, DirecTV, Foreseeson, just to name a few. But don’t just take our word for it, read some of our clients testimonials and take a look to some of our latest projects.

We have designed a luxury magazine with 40.000 circulation nationwide

Alegria Magazine is a Luxury & Bilingual Latin Arts and Lifestyle magazine in The United States. Their target market is very diverse including all United States bilingual Latino community along side communities of all cultures. In particular, they are determined to give Spanish speakers more of a sophisticated magazine than is currently available in the US. The mission is to give people a publication that will allow them to discover the bilingual and bicultural experience currently lived in California. Alegria will expose their readers to new Latin American and local destinations as well as take them through the journey of the Art world, the life of inspiring celebrities and leaders, and the cultural exchanges happening right at this moment in America. Alegria is owned by Davina Ferreira and is headquartered in California www.alegriamagazine.com

 



View full magazine here

 



View full magazine here

 



View full magazine here

 



View full magazine here

 



View full magazine here

Why are emotions important in your marketing strategy?

 

Most people like to think they live their lives and determine their reality based on their logic and reason. But in reality, most decisions are based on our emotions. We justify our purchases with logic but we buy on emotions. And the emotions that we buy on, are about either avoiding pain or gaining pleasure. Be careful what “buying decisions” your emotions prod you to make.

 

How this works?

If we see this is not a complex theory, it is how our brain works. for example when I say the word “dog” if you’re like most people you have a picture of a dog in your mind. Your picture might be your dog when you were a child, your neighbor's barking dog, your ex-girlfriend's dog, or perhaps Scooby-Doo, Whatever the case, you had a picture in your mind and that’s because we translate words into pictures.

Next in the process come feelings. Your "dog" picture might generate certain feelings for you. Perhaps you had memories of your childhood, you remember you haven't heard your neighbor's dog for a while or remember you saw your ex the last week in a coffee shop and so on, those thoughts turned into a picture which led to some feelings for you.

If some of these feelings are strong we'll go ahead to take action, maybe you felt some nostalgic and call your parents,  you ask to your neighbor about his dog or you just have the crazy idea to call your ex. It is important to mention we are not talking about thoughts, we are talking about feelings, thoughts stay in your head, but feelings lead you to take action.

 

How to apply this concept to your marketing strategy?

Some people think emotions has no place in a marketing strategy, maybe they are right if we were talking about manuals and employee handbooks, but keep them out of your sales and marketing department. The big mistake in marketing is being boring. The world is full of advertisements. If your message is boring, you don’t have a chance.

Think something exciting about your product, but be careful, your message doesn’t need to sound like late night television to provoke emotion, it is important to get a clear idea about your niche, keep in mind aspect such as gender, age, locations, language and so on, then find common aspects between them, what they love, and what they hate, what keeps them awake at nights. You’ve got to know what aspects of their life they’re emotional about. Here is where social media starts getting importance in your business, social media is more than likes and comments, this is a priceless source and you have access to this data anytime you want.

 

3 ways good design makes you happy

This is an amazing video about how we all make all of our decisions based on emotions, not logic, it could help you to get a solid idea about this topic and bring some inspiration to start an effective marketing strategy right away. Here Don Norman turns his incisive eye toward beauty, fun, pleasure and emotion, as he looks at design that makes people happy. He names the three emotional cues that a well-designed product must hit to succeed.

Logo design for famous book series trilogy with over 18 years of brand recognition

This has been one of the more complex projects I has worked as a designer. It is more than creating a new logo, the client has hired me to create a new and fresh image for a brand with over 18 years of recognition. The Secret language is the name of the famous book series trilogy. Visit the website

 



The Secret Language of Birthdays: Translated into 15 languages, more than 1,000,000 hardcover copies have been sold after 34 printings. Per the author: "By the way, out of over 2 million people who own my books, they find them 80 to 85 percent accurate." This translates to there being a 15 to 20 per cent of error/inaccuracy in the information/personology in this book. The result of  years of observations of more than 20,000 people, including contemporary and historical figures. His extension of Henry Murray's concept of Personology posits that people born on the same day share certain traits.

The Secret Language of Relationships: More than 350,000 hardcover copies have been sold. This book presents 1,176 relationship profiles between any two individuals based on the week they were born. In each profile, six relationship realms are discussed: love, marriage, friendship, work, parent-child, and sibling.

The Secret Language of Destiny: More than 150,000 hardcover copies have been sold The third book in the Secret Language trilogy seeks to answer the question, Why am I here?. Based on an individuals complete date of birth, the book reveals what each person came into this life to achieve, what lesson is to be learned, and what goal is to be embraced.

 

BRIEF

The client was really specific about the logo requirements:

The logo will adorn all of our network websites to provide a continuity between them (since they will be designed quite differently from each other) and also to our 90,000+ products for sale online (www.cafepress.com/mypersonology)

We like your logo which is why we hired you. It is Authentic, Timeless, Intelligent, Trustworthy and Insightful

We want Black on White with a touch of Bright Red. We want to avoid color as much as possible since it undermines the qualities of Authenticity, Timelessness and Trustworthiness. We like Black on White since it respresents our printed material and Bright Red because as a warm and powerful hue it evokes passion, love and it warns of danger and is the color of life.

The iconic sun illustration on the book covers is a powerful reminder of our brand - perhaps the only existing brand identity other than the size and heft of the books themselves. We would love a version of that Sun that could accompany the name "The Secret Language" which could also be recognizable with no text included, just the Sun device itself.

 

BRAINSTORMING

The first problem to solve is: How can I support the 20.000 people study? It is a real number and not a random number typed on a website.

The answer is easy. There are three heavy volumes full of knowledge, these are not handbooks or PDF documents recompiled from the internet, and one of the most important aspects, they have been around for over 18 years, even before  The Secret. Based on this information, I think the books are an important element to keep in mind, this could be a solid base to support the brand with expertise and knowledge.



Another important aspect of the brand is the book layout concept. It  is classic, beautiful and timeless. This in part is attributed to the font used - a classic Sans Serif typeface which is always elegant and current... and easy to read.  In fact it could be the perfect typography to transmit the same attributes in the new logo.



Since the purpose of the brand is to be recognized in the market as unique in image and methodology, we must be careful to avoid focusing the logo concept in the word "Secret" for obvious reasons. I"m not saying it shouldn't include it in the logo, but I must be careful and avoid its use in the main symbol.

In conclusion, I have focused my brainstorming in three important areas to create the new brand logo.



1. The book is a solid base to support the brand with expertise and knowledge.

2. The sun is the symbol that has been the brand representation for over 18 years and it must be included in the new logo.

3. Sans Serif font could be the perfect typography to achieve a classic, beautiful and timeless look.

 

LOGO CONCEPTUALIZATION

The process to achieve a simple, solid and timeless logo involves several pages of sketches and notes, but I will try to explain the creative process in the simplest possible way. My challenge was to create a concept that combines these three fundamental elements mentioned above - book, sun and a Sans Serif Typography. Personally, I thought it was crazy to try to create a professional concept combining a sun and a book. Well, that is my problem to solve and that is the expertise the client is paying for.

After some brainstorming, sketching and research, I found the perfect solution to combine the book with the "L" letter, used for "Language". If we see this as an open book which is just perfect knowledge, it starts to make sense.



Now I have to find the way to incorporate the sun. As always, I must keep it simple. After a couple of days of test and sketching, I found the perfect solution - so unique that it is hard to think there is a better alternative. If we see the sunlight as a book pages, we have captured my idea to represent the "L" as a open book and also have incorporated the sun.



 

Rendering

And the final result is an open book lighting up.

A source of knowledge that will become the guide for a lot of people in their lives



 

Big mistake to avoid if you want to get traffic to your website and increase your sales

Big mistake to avoid if you want to get traffic to your website and increase your sales:

Almost every business owner makes the same mistake. They build a website to be used like a brochure, just to give information about their products or services…BIG mistake if you want to get targeted traffic to your website.
Why? People aren’t looking for marketing brochures, prospects and clients are looking for tips and ideas before buy products or hire your services, we spend hours in google and Facebook looking for answers , if you give those answers you will increase your website traffic and sells, a website created like a brochure is just for clients that are ready to buy and it hardly will help you to reach new prospects.

The solution

A BLOG style is the solution these days, informational and educational websites get up to 500% more response than basic BROCHURE style websites, if you understand this basic online marketing concept – you can double the response you get from your website, attracting more prospects and increase your sales dramatically.Why Facebook and Twitter are so popular? Everyone wants to read stories, what is happening in Los Angeles, find out fun facts, and get answers.

This is my advice: By giving people the information they are looking for, you can increase your website traffic and sales. Enjoy!

If you want to get your phone ringing and increase your sales the solution is simple. Don’t try to reach everyone, this is a huge marketing mistake, again… don’t try to reach everyone, it is important to find your ideal client, try to be specific at this point, keep in mind facts such as area, gender, age, income, etc. After your niche is identified it would be easier for you to create the right content to attract the attention. For example, I like sports cars and I’m thinking to replace my car by the end of this year and for sure there are thousands of people like me in this city, if you are a dealership owner in Los Angeles and you have sports cars in your inventory, you just have to create the right content to get the attention of “people who like sports cars  in Los Angeles”.

How to implement this strategy to your website?

Now that you know and efficient way to get new prospects and clients attention, you should start implementing this information into your website, keep it clear and easy to read, full of compelling headlines, great stories, and fact-filled content. News-style websites has been proven to get 500% more responses than complex layouts, that’s why when print was in style, editorials worked so well…because they were advertising sections that actually had a bit of content, too.
To get a response, first you need to attract readers. So try this simple tactic to increase your response rate by 500%, I have created this post Just to get in touch with you and more people interested in increase their products or services sells using their website, this is more efficient than an Advertisement promoting my website design services, if you are reading at this point is because I have fulfilled my purpose and your website could be one of my next projects

Creative logo design for a new sportswear brand

Creative logo design for a new sportswear brand:

This is the  second time that I have the complex task to design a logo for a clothing company, in this case this will be a new sportswear brand called Beat the Sweat, beyond than a nice logo, my idea is to design a professional concept that could be easily compared with famous brands in the same field. Is for that reason that I have started the design process doing a research based on great logos such as Nike, Adidas, Oakley, etc.

Research

After some time browsing sportswear brands, I have concluded that most than a regular logo, I must focus my creativity in creating an element that Identifies the brand, even without the name, for example, Adidas is recognized by three stripes; Puma is recognized by a Puma Jumping, Oakley is recognized by a thick vocal “O” and so on, additionally since the logo will be applied over different colors and materials, it won’t be necessary to work a specific color palette to achieve a solid brand recognition, basically I’ll be focused in creating a unique and memorable shape.


If we analyze the samples underneath,  these brands have created its identity using simple and solid shapes, specially arch and stripes and the most important aspect is that all of them are communicating movement in a graphic way.

Logo Conceptualization

After some brainstorming my idea was to design a balanced and symmetric concept and at the same time try to maintain a connection with the brand name “Beat the Sweat” after some sketching, I noticed that the initials BS could be simplified to find common aspect between them, I have tried to explain the process in the graphic underneath, if we see the negative space (pink areas) in both letters is very similar, the only difference is the top right shape, it is pointing to the left while the three others are pointing right, but not big deal, we still have a balanced concept.

Rendering

Now that I have a clear idea about the concept, it is time to experiment with different alternatives and shapes basically I tried to represent the brand initials BS, using the same shape duplicated four times and pointing to the same direction except the top right.

Typography choice

After the brand symbol was created I have started an additional exploration to select the right font to represent the brand name.

Logo Construction

After some days creating different shapes and doing some typographic exploration, I have created  the perfect shape to represent the brand,  here you can see a detailed construction process to make sure that the shape is perfect in proportion and balance  and at the same time this could be a great guide to recreate the logo in case that it needs to be reconstructed in the future.

Final logo and usage samples

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