A serious pitfall for many designers is skipping to the end of a logo project and starting to draw right away. Any qualified person can design a pretty logo in this way, but from our experience how effective that logo is depends on 5 other distinct processes being successful too.

So, removing the actual design process of the logo itself, this article reviews the other steps that we take to ensure that a logo is as effective as it can be for our clients and their companies.

Research

Research within the client’s industry for competition and comparables is critically important. Our first step with any corporate identity project is to survey the existing logos out there, making sure that we don’t duplicate someone else’s concept. This also assists us to avoid cliche or highly used elements used in an industry, and inspires our creativity knowing what else is out there already. This greatly assists our logos to stand-out for greater effectiveness in commerce.

Target Audiences

Establishing the target audiences is the only real way to focus the imagery and brand “feel” of a logo to be most effective. The emotional connection behind any logo is important, and the only way that can be accomplished is through clearly establishing the target audiences. The next time you’re out and about, look around at logos that attract you. You’ll find that you see many logos that have some attraction and are relevant to your needs, but your brain will automatically omit many logos from your attention. The little search engine in your head automatically edits logos and images of things that you’re not interested in from your perception, and that’s weird.

The Story

Most every successful logo and brand we have designed has a story that defines it. By crafting a story around a brand and logo, we make it easier for our client’s customers to identify with the logo, to personify it, or to make it their own to the point where they even want to wear it on their body. A good use of metaphor plays into this process, an the result is a more committed customer, and usually, if it’s done right, they don’t even know why.

Outstanding Client Experience

A superior client experience with a logo design process is surprisingly important in a logo’s overall effectiveness. We strive to design the client’s personal human element into all our logos in order to help our clients build teams with their final corporate identity. Success with any logo comes from within any organization as well as from without, so starting at home and making the logo concepts relevant to the client personally will only make the design process go smoothly, and can make a happy client into a client for life.

Metrics

Establishing quantifiable evaluation up front and checking on it at regular intervals is the only successful method to know if your logo is truly being effective for the target audiences. At the release of a logo into commerce, our clients have benchmarks that they’re looking to reach in business, and the logo itself contributes to these evaluation moments in a very real way. With data about a logo’s effectiveness, we’re able to know when it might be time to promote a logo with a particular media, or if it’s time for a logo revamp, update, or even the design of a whole new logo in order for the corporate identity to continue to reach our client’s target audiences over time.

At ID International we design corporate identity and logos on a daily basis for our clients, and if we’re not currently drawing pretty shapes and type on paper, each project is always in one of these above steps guaranteeing the project’s effectiveness.

Contact us at ID International anytime to learn more, and to launch your own corporate identity project with us at: www.identity-international.com

Print is alive and well. It hasn’t lost it’s effectiveness with the advent of technology, it has just become part of a bigger picture. As we see it as a branding agency, print design holds a key role in any brand development process. Each client is different, but at the very basic level, we all still want good business cards to represent us personally, and we want to use print to get the word out too. Websites simply cannot provide the confidence and personal connection that a stunning business card or a personal printed connection can provide.

Here we address some of the popular misconceptions about print design and printing in general in 2017. These below statistics come from Printing Industries of America “Value of Print”.

Misconception #1: Using Paper Kills Trees

The primary raw materials for paper is trees which is a renewable resource. Today in the US, private landowners plant about 4 million trees every day which is 3-4 times more than they harvest. Just 11% of the world’s forests are used for paper while 28% is used for lumber, and 53% for fuel. By providing a market for responsibly grown and recycled wood fiber, the US paper industry encourages forest land owners to continue to manage their lands with a surplus of new trees planted, rather than selling them for developmental or other non-forest uses.This is an especially important consideration in facing economic pressure from the US Federal Government to convert forest lands to non-forest uses.

Misconception #2: Electronic Communication is More Environmentally Friendly Than Print

In Europe and the US, around 60% of energy used to make paper comes from renewable resources. Adverse health effects from producing an e-reader are 70 times worse than producing a book. CO2 emissions from making just one CD are 4 times higher than printing a 100 page full color annual report. In 2016 alone, Americans generated 7.2 million tons of electronic waste. Printing is the only medium with a one-time carbon footprint. All other media require non-renewable energy every time they are used. And most unfortunately, 60-80% of all the electronic waste collected for recycling in the US is shipped overseas and often unsafely dismantled with fire… by children…

Misconception #3: Printing Isn’t Green

Being green does not mean going digital instead of print, it’s actually the opposite. 67% of all paper consumed in the US was recovered for recycling in 2016. Paper recovery has increased 85% since 1990. Electronic communication produces e-waste, allowing dangerous, non renewable, non recyclable chemicals to be dumped directly into ecosystems, while printed products are made with a renewable resource, and either recycled or consumed naturally in landfill compost. Once a printed product has served it’s purpose, it can be recycled and reentered into the cycle as a new product.

As you can see, print still has a solid place in the world as one of the best, most environmental ways for your business to communicate with customers. We would love to read your comments on this issue of sustainability when it comes to printed media, so add your comments here or contact us at ID International any time: www.identity-international.com

With the advent and ongoing proliferation of electronic media vs printed media, as a brand agency, we are very interested in the direct effectiveness of electronic vs print for our clients’ marketing and branding efforts. Here we address the current effectiveness of print design when used in any planned media campaign. These below statistics come from Printing Industries of America “Value of Print”.

Direct mail is still an important part of media campaigns

The primary raw materials for paper is trees which is a renewable resource. Today in the US, private Last year, 85% of consumers sorted through and read selected pieces of direct mail every day. 40% of consumers said that they have tried a new business after receiving direct mail. 73% of consumers prefer mail for receiving new product announcements or offers from companies they do business with as compared to 18% from email.

Printed mail does not cost more than digital advertising

76% of small business surveyed state that their ideal marketing mix is a combination of print and digital communications. In 2016, on average, a catalog sales lead costs $47.60 while email comes in at $53.85 per lead, and interestingly the response rate to direct mail on average has consistently been three times higher than email. Most importantly, nearly 90% of US consumers surveyed said that they prefer to receive direct mail in their mailbox vs their email inbox.

Print design can still yield greater returns

79% of total non-profit communication and gifts come through direct mail, only 10% online. 67% of online searches are driven by offline messages with 39%of shoppers making a purchase. Shoppers who receive a direct mail piece directing them to an online site spend an average of 13% more than those that did not receive a printed piece. Website supported by catalogs yield 1635 more revenue than those not supported by catalogs. 60% of merchants surveyed said that catalogs are their primary sales channel, websites come in second at 20%.

Mixing media is the best way to go

30% more dollars are spent by multimedia shoppers than single-medium shoppers. It’s all in the mix: 77% report regular use of search engines, 74% say they rely on print edition of magazines, 74% say they depend on e-newsletters related to their industry, while websites of professional publishers, associations, or others informing the industry came in at 55%.

At ID International, we strive to balance of each of our clients’ media needs within their industries and target audiences with both print and digital strategies. In the way, we are able to provide the greatest effectiveness for our clients’ investment dollars. Have questions? We’re ready. Contact us any time: www.identity-international.com

We are very pleased to announce that ID International been awarded with the Graphic Design USA (GDUSA) award for packaging design for our work on the “Graziers” product line for Sierra Nevada Cheese Company in Willows, California.

This professional recognition comes at a good time for us. We are entering many design competitions this year to show the our clients, our target audiences, and the design community that after 15 big years in business as a Branding Agency, that we’re still assisting our client companies to be successful and that we’re here to stay. ID International moved this last year into our new expanded workspace on Vallombrosa Avenue in Chico, California, in between T-Bar and Morning Thunder restaurants. We’re very proud of the creative space we’ve built, and welcome anyone to come by to check it out and review the current design projects on our big cork wall.

For more than 50 years, since 1963, Graphic Design USA (GDUSA) has been a business-to-business information source for graphic design professionals.

GDUSA covers news, people, project, trends, technology, products and services. The GDUSA brand now includes a 100,000 visitor-a-month website, a monthly e-newsletter, a digital version of the magazine formatted for desktop, tablet and phones, and several national design competitions that culminate in Annuals showcasing the best in Graphic Design, Inhouse Design, Web Design, Package Design, Healthcare Design, and Digital Design.

Other major initiatives include annual recognition of leading “Designers to Watch” and promising “Students To Watch”, and periodic benchmark “Reader Surveys” on the state of print design, technology in design, design education, and the use of stock imagery in design. The main office is located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan NYC.

ID International thanks GDUSA for this recognition, and we pledge to continue to push the design even further, with the intention of impressing them with more contest winners soon.

For more information about ID International’s design awards and award-winning services, check out our website: www.identity-international.com