The Logo Creator – Getting Yourself Into Retail
I\’ve always had the \’entrepreneurial\’ spirit. I remember, being 9 years old, going down to the local pottery shop and buying a dozen un-kilned coffee mugs. I drew cartoons on them (I was a wanna-be cartoonist back in the day) and brought them back to the pottery shop to have them Kilned (baked).
I then took them to the local fire department and my school and tried to sell them. I did sell a few of them … but I never made enough to compensate for the cost of the cups, kilning and paints! This is the SAME problem I have with the retail world when trying to sell my logo design software. I\’ve been selling The Logo Creator, in large retail stores like CompUSA, Fry\’s Electronics and Office Max since 2004.
The software boxes cost about $3.00 to build. This includes the box, the CD and it\’s sleeve, and the burning of the CD disk. There\’s also a \’filler\’ that the retailers want you to include (this makes the box appear stronger on the shelf).
To design the box\’s artwork, You can find a professional graphics person. If you\’re brave, and don\’t have to meet face to face, you can hire a designer from a company like eLance.com (eLance allows you to choose designers who \”bid\” on your project). A graphic designer may charge somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,500 to $7,500 to create the artwork for the box! Something to remember: it\’ll cost, in the end, about $3,000 for 1000 boxes.
The least amount that the printshops will let you print is about 1,000 units. It may sound small, but the cost can really add up when a chain like OfficeMax has 1200 stores with each store ordering a minimum of 5 boxes. That\’s 6,000 boxes! It adds up quick.
Then, you have something called \”Shelf Space\” to deal with.
Not all, but some retail chains won\’t just take a product and put it onto their shelves. They need cash for this \”shelf space\” first.
Sometimes, shelf space can go as high as $5,000 for one product! You need to sell a boat load of software to make up this 5k. Then, the retail chain takes it\’s cut. Sometimes up to 10% …It can all get a bit nutts.
Why the internet is better
This is why the internet is so great. There\’s very little overhead other than your own time and talents. I even use an external eCommerce company to handle my transactions. They take 17% of my monthly sales. …but it\’s WELL worth it.
This is the beauty of downloadable software – or anything you can create once and have others purchase multiple times. An eBook for example. Retail used to be king, but I\’ll put my money into Net any time.
It may be a bit more difficult to market yourself online with so much more competition, but that\’s where your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and eMail campaigns come into play …but that\’s a topic for another article.
Marc Sylvester – CEO of Laughingbird Software. Home to the Logo Creator, logo design software for Mac and Windows. Visit http://www.thelogocreator.com for more details!
Use Software To Create Your Own Logo Design Studio
Every once in awhile, you want new graphics for your Web site, or newsletter. I know I do. When I go out looking for a new image from a designer or company, I\’m always shocked by cost. Designers just don\’t want to create one small graphic for one small price. I simply want a small header graphics that I could post onto my website and newsletter.
I looked around the internet checking out many design companies …but never found much that I liked. The images that are included with products like MS Word or Publisher just don\’t look all that terrific. Lot\’s of clip art.
What I found, however, was the realization that I could technically be my OWN design studio …with the help of a 3 or four different software products! I could download products like a logo design creator, a business card tool and perhaps some animated logo creation software. And I found the cost to be FAR less than what a designer would charge me.
With the help of these tools, I was able to produce what I needed in about 90 minutes and I was able to get back to work on my newsletter.
Each of these tools (and there are a ton of them on the net, just GOOGLE \’em! – offer a distinct \”look,\” to the graphics, such as bright colorful curves and large orbs to smaller, subtle images like alphabet letters combined with a unique font. With most of them, you select a template as a starting point, then experiment with color or fonts, and move or resize the objects as much as you like. You can replace the existing text placeholders (your company name and a separate tag line, in most templates) or add your own text.
Sometimes, I actually do use a Word template to get my ideas on paper. But when it comes to a blank PhotoShop canvas I glaze over. Software like The Logo Creator is perfect. I get a \”jump off\” point to get my brain working.
When you\’re ready to export your graphics, most of these software products can create JPGs, GIFs and even PDF files.
The software is usually inexpensive, (when compared to what a professional designer may charge you), and the results are terrific. Most of the products are easy to use. You may find that experimenting with these tools gets addictive. The templates offer a great variety of ideas and designs. There\’s also enough flexibility to let you create logos for clients! Start your own logo design service.
I\’m enthusiastic about these programs, and I\’d encourage you to download them and play around with some of the features. Creating quick graphics for your newsletter or blog is SO easy. Doing it yourself is quicker, you have more control, and it\’s far less expensive when you simply need a page header or a blog image.
Learn more about these logo design studiotools and find out how you can benefit with your own logo design studio.
Corporate Logo Design: Why You Should Do A Pro Logo Design – Some Tips
It is a difficult task to design a great logo for a business, which projects the image of the brand in an easy to understand manner. Another key need which makes the designing of a corporate logo even tougher is to create a design such that it is catchy and slick.
A pro logo designer’s expertise lies in communicating the uniqueness of the brand through a compact graphic. He has the training and experience to create a logo which will project what it intends to project clearly. This is the reason why when it comes to creating a logo, nothing less than a professional logo designer is advisable.
Logo design is one of the important fields of graphic design, which is reliant on many elements such as special typography, colors and different types of shaping. It is therefore a very technical and creative activity, which requires professional involvement. Logo designers can create logos which are distinctive and appealing – in a short period of time. For example, they know that a logo for a courier service company has to communicate movement and speed, and can design an appropriate logo accordingly in a short time frame.
Graphic design software is usually needed for this job and a pro logo designer should be well conversant with it. All the details of the job of coming up with a logo design is well taken care of by pro logo designers as they have been trained to think creatively and to develop unique designs in short durations. With a support team of trained in-house graphic designers and software professionals, a logo designer can develop logos in any style that you may have chosen.
Getting an appropriate corporate logo designed is a significant part of the process of promoting the brand, and hence it is crucial to be careful while choosing a logo designer to achieve the best possible results.
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How To Make Sure Your Logo Design Will Create An Impact
Whether it is an international company or a small business, every company has to get a smart logo created which would reflect its philosophy. The logo should develop instant brand recall and powerful visual connect with the customer, for which it is always a good idea to hire an expert logo designer.
Since logo design will go on to decide the brand image of the firm, it is essential to make a detailed background check while selecting a logo designer. He must have previous experience of designing challenging logos and should have immense potential for creativity. He must also be competent in handling deadlines and accommodate your original recommendations in the logo.
There are some key aspects that define a good logo. It must use components like colours, pictures, and fonts in a coherent manner, resulting in an eye catching yet soothing effect. The logo must be unique to enable the firm stand out from the crowd of other brands flooding the market.
The logo design should make an attempt to reflect the main business of your firm in a meaningful way, so that the customers know by looking at it what your firm represents. Moreover, it should have permanence so that you don’t have to think of getting a new logo designed after a short span of time.
It is difficult to gauge the effectiveness of logo design. The new logo may take a while to find acceptance and recognition among customers, so any increase in revenues of products or market share, that is, its impact will be realised only after that.
But this does not mean that you can never tell how the new logo will perform in the market. You can figure out the consumers’ likely response to the new logo design by doing market research. One way, which is often quite effective, is to make use of the concept of a test market.
In this method, you can show the new logo to customers comprising a small group from the entire market, and then proceed to investigate and do analysis of their reaction to it. By aggressively promoting the new logo in the test market you can ensure that you will not have to wait for months for people to begin recognizing it.
With this you can assess if there has been an increase in revenues of your product in the test market, and if the opinions of people about your firm have altered since you started promoting your new logo. If you achieve favourable outcomes, you can be reasonably certain that your logo will do well in the larger market as well.
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Things To Remember When Choosing A Web Design Company
Web design is all about displaying the content of a website in an attractive format for the visitors. Aspects like creating visuals, and developing layouts and navigation schemes are all incorporated in web design.
How the site is designed is essential, as serious and committed visitors prefer sites with impressive designs. Hence a professional web design company has to be chosen, and given below are a few considerations that must precede your final selection.
First and foremost, don’t think local. The entire concept of the internet is to erase boundaries, which implies that you can easily engage a firm which is based in a different city or even in a different country, if it suits your requirements.
A quick web research will give you names of many good web design firms. There will be several blogs that will compare the advantages and disadvantages of some of these leading firms and you can make good use of them. You can also try to find out who created that wonderful website that you might have suddenly come across while surfing the net.
Once you have a final list of 3 to 4 firms to pick from, contact all of them and tell them to provide information about their past assignments. Study the web designs of these sites and check if they are in tune with your requirements, and if they are user friendly and visually attractive at the same time.
Among the technologies used to create attractive web designs, Flash, JavaScript, and HTML are the most popular. Therefore it is important that the company must be good at all these technologies. You can easily confirm their credentials by asking a technical person to observe the websites they have created in the past.
The next thing to consider is whether the web design company will be able to meet the targets and time limits that you give them. It is obviously hard to find that out, but you can get some indicators from the attitude of the people you communicate with, and whether they are quick and smart in responding to your queries.
Last but not the least, you need to check how much the whole web design process will cost you. Comparing the rates of different firms will give you knowledge of what the typical prices are, but keep in mind that as the industry is quite competitive, there is always some scope for negotiation.
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