http://www.lindawildideas.co.uk
It was my youngest son’s 4th birthday party on Saturday, bouncy castle and sunshine and a kitchen BBQ – a great afternoon and “what a great party” – Poppy’s dad said.
My friend Linda, helped with the washing up and said “what’s this blog all about then?”
Well in answer to her, its just like a sneak peak into my life, an answer to the, “what have you been up to lately?” and “how’s the business going?” and “you’re a graphic designer, can you tell me about . . . . ” “you set up your own business – how did you do it”
So if any of you have any questions then put them in the feedback comments and I will do my best to answer in this blog”
To continue last weeks theme where I went right back to the beginning, I am going to talk about the development of my name and brand, and hopefully some of you budding entrepreneurs will pick up a few chunks of helpfulness along the way.
Maybe even develop a sense of point and reason (if you are struggling to “get it”). As, I have already said – “The truth is, most business owners do not understand the importance of good design”
As a graphic designer, I need to get all my marketing perfect. After all what people see of me is exactly what I am doing for them, so it needs to be the absolute best it can be.
But your business is important to you too – I hope I am not wrong! – so you should be making your brand the best it can be too. Don’t cut corners or take chances.
The name and logo you create for your company has to be the most important part when you are setting up your business.
Your brand is the identity that you present to the world. Your logo is a badge. The face of your brand. The one constant icon that has to be perfect!
Don’t under estimate the impact of getting these things wrong. They need to live with you for a long time in order for your brand to become an established and recognisable emblem. Think Nike, Apple, Volkswagen here.
So most company names are un-creatively titled after the owners who set them up. For me, having a name like Wild made it a bit easier to be a little more creative around that theme I guess.
And as a designer of course ideas are what I do, I apply my great creative thinking to come up with lots of wonderful ideas, some are a bit wild and out of the box so coming up with my company name was quite an easy one. Of course on it’s own its a bit open ended so needs the add on “original graphic design” for definite clarity
Yours could be that simple too. But take your time, try things out, ask others for feedback, get clever if you want, but not too complicated or cheesy (unless you’re selling cheese).
So now I needed do create my perfect timeless logo. My Nike, Apple, or Volkswagen.
I avoided sitting down in front of my computer until I had doodled a few ideas – as that is the way I normally work.
It needed to be perfect and I had a blank mind so sitting in front of a blank screen seemed rather pointless.
I sketched while sitting in front of the TV, while passengering in the car, on scraps of paper.
Wild plants growing into . . . . .
Flowers and leaves and swirls and letters and do you know what. I ended up with pages of nothing.
But its a good exercise, and some of my clients do this too.
It helps to put your ideas down on paper, and sometimes you come up with a brilliant sketch.
Show me and I can recognise a spark – some little starting point to work on. This is important to me because then it comes from you – your thoughts, my creative thinking, one wild idea, and bam a fantastic logo!
In the end though, with my own logo I did sit down in front of the computer, and I played around with type.
And the strangest thing happened – that perfect subtle but clever iconic emblem emerged before my eyes with the simplest manipulation of the initial letters of my company name.
Perfect perfect perfect.
And here’s a reconstruction of it:
http://www.screencast.com/t/t6QpaVjkFsp
So if you are setting up a business, and you are creative enough to do the above for yourself, and have the conviction to know when it’s right, then all credit to you. ( but even a little consultation advice from a professional would not go amiss).
But if you realise the importance of good professional design, ( then you have already acknowledged your weaknesses). And you value your business and want to invest in creating a brand that will carry you forward, then get in touch.
Just like Jacqui (and many others) did . . . . .
“I am delighted with the corporate identity that Wild Ideas created for me. I have a fabulous logo and associated images which are fresh and fun, and can be applied in many ways. Linda designed my logo some years ago and it has now grown into a recognisable brand” Jacqui Davis – Twistin Tots
http://www.lindawildideas.co.uk/contact-wild-ideas.php
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