A Premium High Quality Logo, FREE!

Thats right! You are not hearing things. Branding Effects is designing 3 Free Logos for 3 different companies. It is very easy to sign up and submit your entry to be randomly chosen for a free logo. We are only accepting 250 Entries, so Sign Up Today. Now your probably wondering how to do that. Simple.

1. Head over to our Facebook fan page.
2. Click on our “like” button.
3. Confirm you click liked by sending Branding Effects a message with the subject Logo Entry.
4. That’s it! Your done.

We are accepting entries up until the 1st of June, 2011. So get started today by heading over to our Facebook site now!

Taking a charge into the right direction.

Graphic Design is a very important part of the world today. It was important in the past and will stay important today. Think about it. Everywhere you look you either see a advertisement or some sort of graphic design that is being presented to you whether you like it or not. Someone had to make those designs that you see. If I was to take a random guess of how many designers there are today in the market I would say well over a million.

Branding Effects is like your toothpaste. Its true. As bizarre as it sounds it is true. You need it to stay fresh, clean and healthy. I love it. I’m not going to lie, it must be really hard for companies to choose a graphic designer or company for their projects because there are so many.

If your looking for a desirable, sustainable and professional design that is economic for your budget, than Branding Effects should be a name to write in your little book. We offer professional design at an unbelievable rate. We are backed with over 10 Yrs of experience. Design has become, just like the signs you see outside, a part of our every day life. Not only that, we are continually growing into a direction that has many great opportunities  that will arise.  Lets face it, graphic design is fun for us.

People usually have dreams and goals in life. When you find that goal or dream you should really shoot for the stars. That is why I love graphic design. Your limitations are nil and your able to do amazing things. Not only for yourself, but for others around you. Branding Effects is in process of establishing a separate organization just for churches. How wonderful is that? We really do care about our customers here. We don’t want to just design a piece for you. We want to make sure it reflects your company image and stand out from the others.

Branding Effects truly can create wonderful opportunities for your business. If you want a company that you can trust, than call us today. What does one phone call cost you? We’ll be designing things in the meantime.

How The Process Works In Creating A Logo

Logo Identity is one of the most important features when your branding your company.  If you think about it, with out this beautiful mark, you have absolutely nothing for your customers to remember you for.  What good is that?  Branding Effects like every other design, takes this very seriously and there is a routine that we go through every time when we are developing a brand identity or a logo some say.  There are a few steps in which we take to create a successful end result.

The process of creating a logo.

• Problem: Every situation you run into when designing a logo there is always some sort of problem or issue from the start.  You have to sit down with your client and figure out what the issue is.  For example, the issue could be the logo itself is missing one of the key traits a great identity should carry.Logos should always be memorable, sustainable, cohesive, original and distinctive.  If the logo is not meeting these key points then there is a problem.Another example would be a communication error.  Some way in some form the identity is not communicating with the consumer resulting in product failure. We need to address the issue and move on to the next step.

 

• Creative Brief: After the problem is addressed we can move on to the Creative Brief.  This process is where the client and designer sit down with one another and asked questions.  The designer will ask detailed questions about your concerns.  Some of the most important questions to ask when doing a Creative Brief are questions that will give you answers that describe the clients product fully.  Does the product give off a special feeling?  How does this product help or benefit the person that will be buying it.  I know these questions are more about the products themselves, but knowing this will help us later on in the concept step.

 

• Research: Now that we have a solid Creative Brief with all of the information we need that completely describes the company we can start our Research.  Some companies have a special research department while other don’t. Either way research needs to be done.  We have to look at the competitors and see what the market is looking like.  What are the competitors doing differently than the client.  Are they working? Failing?  This step is extremely important and the designer or design team should get out of their seat for a day or two and explore the outside.  Take a visit to the retail market place and see the other products in action.  Get a feel for all the brand touch points.  Take note of size, color, shape and price.  The list goes on and on.Taking the time to pay a visit in the real world will ultimately help you in speeding up the process of design.  You will get a better knowing and understanding of how the products function and hold their place in the market.

 

• Concept Development: This step is where the creative comes into action.  After you have all your information gathered on Research, Problem Issue and Creative Brief this step can begin.  This is where your going to go to the drawing board.  It is always recommended to start with a sketch book to generate ideas and concepts that can be then later transferred onto the computer where the design can be created.  This step makes the bigger picture more clear.  Usually the perfect number for different concepts and logo variations is 3.  Some dome more and some do less.  You should never fall below 3.

 

• Present & Conclude: The final step. Now is the time to present your concepts and ideas to the client.  The client will then follow through back with you on which one their company likes and/or dislikes.  When presenting the logo should be nearly done.  You obviously want the client to like it , so time and effort is a must.  After the sign off and approval of the logo the designer will create a Logo Standards Guide for the Identity.A Logo Standards Guide is a printed booklet with all the information about the logo.  It will include any fonts, swatches or PMS colors used in the design on the logo. The client will not be given the font itself, but rather just a printed page of the alphabet used for the font.  The guide will also include ways that are acceptable for use of the logo and ways you should not place your logo. For example, some logos you will never want to place on top of a image.  This can miscommunicate the message of the brand.

 

After these steps are perfected and the client signs off for the new or redesigned identity, the process of creating a marketing campaign will begin.

Possible Proposal For Casino

First things first here.  Cleveland , Ohio is finally in this day in age building a casino in the downtown district.  Since all the voters mostly voted for it our tax dollars will stay here and no longer be crossing the state boarders.  Well for most of us atleast.  But lets get to the point here.  I am going to make this a 2-3 part blog on a possible promotional piece for the Cleveland Casino.  There is no connection or relationship with the casino and Branding Effects.  But I thought hey wouldn;t this be real cool.

Obviously the casino in Cleveland and just like every casino in the world have promotional print materials for direct mail.  I am currently working on a small prototype to randomly send to the casino to see if they would perhaps like to use it for a opening day late 2012.

The promotional piece will be a 9″ x 6″ pop-up card promoting opening day.  Now here comes the real fun part.  When you open the card up you will see a 3D looking Black Jack Table and coming out of the table will pop out Ace Jack resulting in Black Jack.  Then at the bottom it will say the phrase ” you are a winner!”  The underneath the copy for the card will be a free $40 slot play card for those who attend on opening day only.  Also the slot play will be for only those who sign up for a frequent player card.

I will post the finished work here on Branding Effects when it is done.  Remember, Branding Effects has no relationship with the Cleveland Casino.  This is just a FUN idea and hopefully a possible proposal.  I mean come on. Who wouldn’t want one of these for their casino.  The idea is genius.  Not only do you get $40 in free slot play but who ever opens it “Should” feel excited when they get dealt Black Jack.  Well maybe its just me being creative and its fun for us.  But what the heck, it’ll end up being a great peice no matter what.  See ya’ll soon!

Ultimate Graphic Design Reason List.

By James Humphrey, for Branding Effects

Image via Wikipedia

Graphic design alot of times has been put down by many people in the past, current and for the future to come.  Alot of people think just because graphic design can be done on a computer that it is quick and easy work.  Well guess what, they are wrong. Graphic Design takes a great amount of skill and not everyone can do it.  Just because someone installed Photoshop on your computer does NOT make you a designer.  It may be a hobby for you, but at times when companies get a little gist of this it brings some designers down in the field.  Thus, resulting in a negative action towards designers.  The old saying comes right into play, ” You can quickly do that logo on your computer at home, here’s $10 dollars!”.  Well I personally take pride in my work and I will never let anyone say that to me ever again.  Well okay, they can say it, but don’t expect any work to get done with an attidude like that.  Branding Effects is a small independent company with a powerful punch.  I think a lot of free lance designers and other companies like Branding Effects are going to like this blog post.

1. Society needs Graphic Design.

Every company in the world has some sort of graphic design involved within their company.  Whether it is the brochure that your picking up from the store, the menu you look at when ordering dinner, or the post card you got in the mail promoting your casino free slot plays.  It is everywhere.  And all companies cannot live and function with out us.  It has been proven in the past that the more you advertise the more you get in return.  And it has also been proved that if you stop advertising no matter how big of a company you have or how well known your company is that you will slowly see a decrease in sales.

Seriously now, Graphic Design is the sole foundation of any company.  If you have a crock pot and looking to make a great meal you would need all the ingredients in order to achieve the “Great” meal.  For example, take your meats, vegetables, sauces and spices and mix all together and cook in the crock pot. Now lets replace these words with words that relate to a business. Take your business plan, marketing strategy, sales team and graphic materials ( logo, brochures, business cards, ads…pretty much everything visual of your company ) and mix them all together and cook.  Your end result should be a nice company with a solid structure.

2. Digging into a Logo.

The logo is the identity.  like human beings, our name is our identity.  This is crucial.  Brandin

g a company cannot be done with out Graphic Design.  Sure a company can have an inside marketing team, but this can only go so far. Brand Identity is what your consumer see’s you as.  Its very important to get this right, in the beginning.  You want your customers to visual know who you are and remember you with a positive and effective memorable feeling.  There are Graphic Designers in the today world that solely specialize in just this.

3. Layout.

Understanding the layout of design is so important.  You really have to know why and how you choose the layout your running with.  If your layout isn’t correctly understood, the read could totally miss the message and your advertising dollars just went down the drain.  One typical standard layout that has a huge proven impact is the “Z” layout.  The “Z” layout, for those that do not know, is a layout in which the structure is in the for of the letter Z.  Usually in this order: Headline, Photo, Caption, Copy, Signature.  If your layout follows this pattern on the page then you have correctly followed the “Z” layout.  By nature the human eye tends to follow this pattern when they look at an advertisement.  For more information on layouts and structures, one who has mastered layout structures is David Ogilvy and you can find him here.

Layouts usually end with a signature that informs the reader with a contact information section.  This in obvious reasoning allows them to find more information about your product or service and to follow through with action resulting in a lead.

4. Research.

Now a days this part of graphic design is usually over looked by free lancers.  Just because your project is small and maybe the compensation is not what you expected, research should still be done.  By researching the product, that means your going out of your way to find out what the competitors are doing.  I have information on this site all about research so I will not get into too much detail.  You can read that information here.

5. User Friendly.

This idea is really similair to layouts.  This also tends to be more towards web design more than anything.  Your layouts even if it is not a web site should be user friendly.  At no point in time should your customer feel like they are lost in any form.  Keep layouts user friendly and easy to read by following a pattern and not going off track.  Taking the time to create negative space within the structure.  Creating negative space could simply mean by adding more leading to your copy.  Avoid to many drop caps.  This can cause the reader to go to something first before following the pattern and then he is no longer on track and will skip the important catch.

Related articles

• Why Graphic Design Contests are so useful (cash-bandit.com)

New Organization On Its Way

Designing 4 Christ is a small organization with a passion for Jesus Christ.  This is going to be an extremely powerful outlet for Church, Church Members and other Non-Profits to come together online and get amazing graphics done for a huge discount.  The point behind this is not to flood the wallet with 100s and banking off the Church.  There are so many Christ based Churches across North America alone that I wouldn’t even know where to begin to give you a number.But for the sake of argument there is over 500,000.  Now within that number there is a large amount of Church’s that are just low on production and budget costs and can’t even afford to print their bulletins anymore at their services.  Not only bulletins, but there are so many thigns that a Church does today with Graphic Design.  Whether it be a poster for a Youth Ministry, or a power point presentation for the Sunday Message.  It could be anything.  With Designing 4 Christ, Pastors from all over can come now and get professional looking designs for a fraction of the going rate if they were to go somewhere else.

The same now applies for all Non-Profit Organizations that are looking for business cards, brochures, flyers, post cards and anything else that you can use a design for.  Stop waisting your time with high priced vendors and get what you deserve.  You can sign up with Designing 4 Christ for a low monthly fee and get access to beautiful graphics made by Christ followers and believers who have accepted Jesus as their Savior.

This is a wonderful idea, right?  Hi everyone, I’m James Humphrey and I stand tall and proud with Designing 4 Christ.  There is nothing better than giving back to the Lord.  If I can do it with making graphics and helping the Church out, then so be it.

Sign up today here at Branding Effects if your a Church or Non-Profit Organization and would like more information.  Its is more than worth it.  Your first month is FREE

Introduction to Redesign

Certain things need to take place in order to start the process of redesign. There comes a time and place when this should occur and you need to nail this on its head correctly. In the design world you can see different companies doing this all the time. One of the most recognizable is the Frito Lay company. They usually have one of their snack products on the market for a certain amount of time and when the design starts to wear off they usually spice things up a bit by taking the same exact product and redesigning the packaging. Hence the phrase, “New look! Same Great Taste” This is a great way going about trying to get into the consumers mind and re-introducing the product back into their every day lives. This puts the consumer on edge a bit and makes them think that they should be trying the product again.

Brand Identity and Web Design is where the most of Branding Effects business resides in. There are things to consider when looking into re-designing a web site.

• Is the web site user friendly?
  • Can the customer navigate throughout the entire web site with ease and find everything that they are looking for.
  • Are you products listed in a fashionable and exciting matter?
  • Do your products have detailed information on product description?
• Is the structure of the web site coded correctly?
  • Do all links work?
  • Links take you to correct pages?
  • Spelling errors?
  • Do graphics load properly?
  • Too much graphics?
  • META Data Keywords and Description relate properly to content?
• Safe and Secure
  • Secure checkout.

These are just a small fraction of what Branding Effects really dives into when performing a redesign on a web site.  Our clients sites meet all the criteria above.

Taking Advantage of Research.

When starting a new project research is the upmost important part of creating the design.  With out research we have nothing.  This article will help you understand how Branding Effects handles this situation in the real world.

Research: diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subjectin order to discover
or revise facts, theories, applications,etc.: recent research in medicine.a particular instance or piece of research.
( Dictionary.com )

Digging into the brand.