5 Cliché Logo Designs to Avoid

We've said it before and we'll say it again, your logo is the 24/7 visual representative of your brand. Thus, having a logo that is not unique and uninspiring not only means poor top of mind awareness for your brand but also poor reach. As a professional graphic designer, this is a major thing to remember when designing a logo for a brand.

Your logo is the face of your company and should speak about who your brand is. A sure-fire way to get your brand to be lost in the crowd is to fall to one of these cliché design trends.

1. Putting an arc on top. This is a wildly over-used trend. Sure, putting an arc over the top of the company name for a logo looked cool but not so much anymore. 
2. Use helvetica in the logo. We get it, it can be a simple, nice font and sometimes when you type a company name in Helvetica, it can look appealing. However, just because something looks appealing doesn't mean it makes for a great logo. It is a great font for certain things, just not a logo. 
3. Using comic-sans or papyrus font in a logo. These fonts can not only be cliché in a logo but also scream "amateur!" 
4. Random shapes. The most popular option for this is to have random dots around the brand name but other shapes have happened too. 
5. Having two letters overlap. This is especially common when the company is someone's name and both parts start with the same letter. 

There are some designs that people use in logos and they can be really cool, don't get us wrong. However, when you have a logo that is easily replicable and forgettable, then so is your company. Hire a graphic designer that can make a you a custom logo that speaks truth about your brand; hire Integraphix, we are a Chicago graphic design firm that specializes in logo design. 

Logo Design Trend Predictions for 2015

So many changes happen in the creative industry that if you step away for more than a minute, you'll have some catching up to do. When it comes to graphic design trends, they change constantly. The "cool" way to design something last year might not be so cool today. That being said, we are already thinking about the trends that graphic designers will fly to in 2015 (I know, it's crazy that we're already thinking about 2015).

The graphic design trends for logos in 2015 will be **drum roll**

The typography based logo
The typography based logo one that is entirely written. These logos exist already but it is predicted that they will flourish next year.





The incomplete logo
This one will make you think, "Is that the whole thing?" Yes, yes it is. It is as if the company made a logo, put it on a cutting board, then chopped part of it off.


Hand-drawn logos 

These look like they are hand-drawn, whether they actually are or not. Why this style? It is original and separate from things we have really seen before. These logos exist already but are not very common.





Letter stack logos
Instead of say the company name in one, horizontal line, the logos will separate the name into sections and then stack it all up. This one looks nice but can create difficulties saying the brand name if you have never seen it before.







Recurring patterns in the design 
This one is actually pretty cool. The logo will feature a design and then have it repeat; often times, the repetition of the design flows together so no part of the
repetition stands alone. As a Chicago graphic designer, this one is one of my favorites.





Transparent overlays

Typically done with shapes, each shape will look transparent and be influenced by the other sections of the logo. Example, having a red box and a blue box with the overlay in the middle being purple so it looks like each box is transparent. The same thing with circles, hexagons, etc.





Bright colors
Expect to see yellows, oranges, reds, and other bright colors be the norm.







Crests
They look preppy and edgy.







Geometric shapes
Using triangles, squares, and other geometric shapes will be a hit because we all like shapes, right?






Double meaning symbols
These are actually really cool; it is when the logo will incorporate something from the company into the logo and have it double as a letter, object, etc. Example: a sushi place using three chopsticks as the H in "SUSHI". Get it? This one can be done in a really sleek way if you find the right Chicago graphic design firm.



The negative space logo
Negative space is white space. Expect to see logos using white as the main color.

Choosing the Right Graphic Design Firm is Critical

Chicago Graphic Design

Most businesses start out with a business idea with the very best intentions. They have a great idea do a lot of research, they get the necessary funding but when it comes to choosing the right graphic design company they do not do their homework. This can lead to some big problems later on down the road.

We're going to use a real life example to best convey this example. Take a new law firm starting up in the city of Chicago. They chose a location, and got the best design minds working on their offices. But, when it comes to the image that they want to portray to the public, they are quite blaze about this subject and will often let their new logo design and branding be designed by either themselves, or a friend of a friend. This logo and branding will then go on their marketing materials that are seen by clients and prospective clients.

From letterheads, business cards, email footers, all the way to their website, this unprofessional branding will be implemented with no thought or understanding of the business or what the business and owners are trying to communicate.

Because people do not really undersatnd the benefits of strong graphic design and they think that creating a logo design or brand identity solution is extremely easy they are not willing to pay a good price to get this done. If they had hired an established design comapny in the first place to create a brand for their company; a brand that will last a life time, as the company grows and expands it wouldn't have to face the issue of an identity crisis and be forced to re-design their logo all over again.

So lesson being: Your branding and logo design are just as important as your office location, the chairs in your reception area and the services you provide.

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Chicago Graphic Design: Is your logo design killing your business branding

Chicago Graphic Design 

Exceptional Brand Identity Solutions: Chicago Graphic Design

Most businesses have a logo, but the vast majority of businesses have not used that logo to its full potential, or have even left their logo design and branding to an amateur designer or even having one of their staff make up a logo using clip art (gasp!). This is done without any real research into how a logo effects consumer perception, and is done without thinking about the entire branding concept. This is killing your business online and in person.

When was the last time you got someones business card and saw a little clip-art dude that you can get free on Microsoft's website? Probably not too often. Then why are YOU doing it? Take a little time to read through this post to see exactly how your logo effects your business, your target market, and what a proper logo design and branding solution could do for your company for years and years and years...

Logo Design:
Logos and trademarks make up the most creative international language in the world. An excellent logo can cross barriers and provide your organization with an avenue to deliver your services and products to customers in a uniform way. Without this, you’re effectively flushing your business down the drain.

Every successful company has a distinct personality, just like humans, and a successful brand and logo design are essential to attracting multiple types of personalities and markets. If you’re business doesn’t have these things, it’s time to invest in them. When you embark on this journey into branding, company identity, and logo design, you should be aware of several points of interest:

1. Your logo and branding needs to IDENTIFY your company/product/service.

2. Your logo and branding must DIFFERENTIATE you from the masses.

3. Your logo and branding must COMMUNICATE the value of your services and products.

4. Your logo and branding should ADD VALUE to your company by creating a benchmark for quality and reputation.

5. Your logo and branding must REPRESENT your products and services as valuable things. If your logo isn’t doing these things, choose to update and seek advice from a professional graphic design firm.

Brand Identity:

Branding can be technically defined as a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of these things intended to identify one particular seller or a group of sellers and to differentiate them from others. This sounds important right? Well it most definitely is. One thing to note is that branding is NOT about getting your target market to choose you over your competition…it’s getting them to see you as the only solution to their needs and problems.

A good brand has the following:
1. The ability to deliver your message clearly
2. Give your company credibility and strength
3. An emotional connection to your target market
4. The ability to motivate buyers and consumers
5. A distinct knack for keeping your target market loyal to your services or product

To succeed in this, you need to understand your target market, your customer’s wants and needs, and the ability to project what they’ll want and need in the future. You can do this by integrating brand strategies through your company at every public contact point.

A strong brand is as valuable as gold as the battle for loyal customers gets more and more intense. It’s important to spend time investing in research, and an effective Creative Firm to help your marketing communications strategies be the best they can be. Your brand and logo are the foundation of your company.

So the next time you even think about making a Microsoft Word clip-art image your logo...STOP.

Contact a real Chicago Graphic Design Company and schedule a meeting.

/// Integraphix, a Creative Agency in Chicago, Illinois

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Chicago Graphic Design: What is the cost of Logo Design?

Blue Fish Logo Design

For the Logo Design clients out there, here's a question: have you ever been frustrated when a graphic designer doesn’t tell you a project cost up-front?

Perhaps you think they’re stalling, trying to figure out how much you can afford, but when you think about it, what good would that do? The designer is not guaranteed your business, so it makes a lot more sense to present a design quote as soon as possible.

Here is the issue:
No logo design or brand identity project is the same, and every design client differs. A designer can’t provide an accurate quote until s/he knows exactly what the client needs. Because of which, those logo designers who offer a pre-defined “price list” can do so because of one or more of these factors:

• They’ll neglect important research into your business
• They’ll fall short on the brainstorming/sketching stage and show you the first thing they design instead of developing a successful logo design or brand solution
• They’re setting a fixed time limit on how much work they do, when the reality is that it’s impossible to tell just how many hours/days/weeks/months a design project will take to complete

A client should always expect a designer to ask a wide variety of questions about specific design needs before an accurate quote can be given. So if you're thinking about going with the design student who can give you a logo for $100, think about this. Is your business worth more than $100 of design time, or are you willing to invest a little more (think $700-1000) for a solid, marketable and effective logo design and brand identity that can carry you through the decades and not look like a student designed it.

Think about it.

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Integraphix, a Creative Design Agency in Chicago, IL

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