The article, Starting a Company, deals with many issues surrounding the creation of a company, such as Logo Design, dealing with your designers, and registering your trademark. It includes helpful hints from someone who is currently employed at the successful Logobee.com design firm. During his tenure there, Tim has learned many clues that he feels can benefit young start-up companies that may miss some important elements to business creation.
As most good entrepreneurs know, starting a company can be a daunting task. As a Projects Manager at Logobee.com, I have dealt with hundreds of start up companies and have shared this stage of development with them. Logobee.com is a graphic design firm that specializes in Logo design. We offer a selection of high quality logos for the client to choose from at reasonable price. While there are many small details that go into starting up a company, let’s discuss one important detail: logo design, based on some of the experiences I have had.
“You are the professionals; I don’t want to box you in,” many of our clients say have said, along with: “Just use your artistic freedom in coming up with our logo.” The reality is that too much freedom can hinder the artistic process; a graphic designer needs some direction. A logo should reflect an organization’s values, beliefs, personality, and essence. Although the logo designer is a creative person, they still need you to think about the values of the organization; after all, it will be you who runs it. The more active you are in your project, the better the finished product, and more often then not, the faster the completed design.
Getting Started
First, sign up with a graphics company. A lot of people are very excited about their project, but do not have the slightest clue as to what they want the logo to look like, or even how to begin.
The best place to start is by taking notice of all the logos that you like, and why you like them. Look at logos of other companies in your field that you like, and assess how it portrays its values. Think about what it is that you like about them and what elements you would like to see integrated into your project.
Now, it is important to note that if it is a Logo such as Nike’s that recommended and you are a funeral home director looking for something conservative – then do not offer such information. Some things to concepts to explore include: abstract, identifiable image, brush stroke, or even font based with an image integrated into it. `
How you can help your designer
Often we hit roadblocks when the designs do not meet the exact vision of the client. Rather than expecting the perfect logo on the first, second or even third time, look for elements of each sample that you like. Such elements can be fonts, color schemes, layouts, graphic elements. From there, you can make a note of each element that you like. (For example, the font in sample #3 with the color scheme of sample #8 and the layout in sample #4 ect….) The beauty of graphic design is that we can mix, match and change something fast.
Patience IS a virtue J
When working on your project, it is important to consider that your logo will, more often then not, take time. Logo design is a creative venture and it is important to remember that. Personally, I have dealt with impatient and patient clients, and I have found that trying to rush the process often ends with the client not getting exactly what they asked for.
Registering your Trademark
So you now have your Logo design completed and are ready to trademark it. For many small business owners, registering a trademark does not seem as a pressing matter – when faced with other important issues such as finding a locale, hiring employees, creating/modifying a business plan, and looking for funding, it often gets put to the bottom of the “to-do” list. What isn’t taken into account is the time factor. Registering your Trademark is a very time sensitive task and the filing date assigned to your trademark registration application can potentially determine:
In a word: get on it!
It is important to not get overwhelmed by all of this and to stay positive. Stay focused, organized, and attentive to the details, and most important: have fun!
Good Luck!
