Logo – Blue Lily Studios

29/09/201702/10/2017

Logo Design

The best logos are both timeless and current but in order to create a great logo — one that’s distinctive, memorable and capable of communicating brand values — it’s important to study design movements, like the ones listed here, and adapt them to fit your business’s unique image and voice.
What are the three most most prominent trends that we can identify when we review some of this year’s new company logos.

Simple Designs
Logos needs to work well across the board — not only in print, but also on promotional items, a website, mobile devices and social media. Businesses are promoting their brands on multiple channels every day. Simple, minimal design works best because it will display correctly everywhere it’s used.
One of the reasons businesses have taken the step to create or redesign their logos to fit this “simple and minimalist” trend is social media. Profile images are tiny on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, which means that a logo needs to be legible when it’s small.
In the past company logos needed to look great. Today clients need logos to work great.
Half & Half
Half and half is the two-dimensional result of splitting a symmetrical image into two colors or tones. These divided designs offer a bit more depth and visual interest to a classic flat design, and may be used symbolically to hint at a company’s dual function or mission.
Optimized negative space
This technique, used by both Pinterest and Instagram, can provide a memorable way of calling attention to a company’s attributes. Sometimes it’s utilised to incorporate slightly hidden meanings or symbolism. A recent Lifebuzz.com article discusses how the Toyota logo includes three ellipses that represent the heart of the customer, the heart of the product and the heart of the technology progress, while the latest Pepsi emblem featuring a white swoosh in the middle supposedly draws on FengShui, the Renaissance, the theory of relativity and other themes.

28/09/2017

Logo Design Brisbane

As an establish graphic design studio Blue Lily Studios have developed logos for many clients, large and small. For creative people who are passionate about company and product branding and not just logo design Brisbane offers
us a rich mix of customers and an extraordinary array of challenges.
Designing a logo should be always be considered as one aspect of a brand strategy, albeit a very important aspect. Without being considered a part of a larger branding strategy, a logo can become no more than a pretty picture on a business card or website.

Whether designing a new or replacing an existing logo for your business, the first step is to meet face to face. This is the exploratory phase, where we get to know as much as we an about you, your company, your product and services and what you ultimately want to achieve.
During this exploratory will try to find out what design elements you like and dislike, are their colours you prefer, what logos have you seen that inspire you. The objective is to define a visual platform to begin work from.
Often the designers will listen intently to your brief to find adjectives that come up and then create a word map with links between each to see if we can find concepts to inspire the design process.

Based on your brief our designers will go away and sketch up a number of possibilities, something in freehand form, often directly onto their computers. After the initial designs are completed, our team of designers share their designs in a round table discussion. Each design is critically reviewed so we can establish what works and what doesn’t.

At our next meeting we present you with our preferred 3 to 5 logo designs. One set will be in black and white so you can get an intuitive feel for each logo. We also provide coloured versions of each based on the colour options we established during the initial meeting.
Once reviewed, we’ll go back to the drawing board to tailor the designs to your feedback. In rare instances we might have to revisit the brief, however this will only happen if we entire missed interpreted the brief. This entire process is collaborative. You have the opportunity to direct the creative group, however we are confident that if we understand your business, your brand we will deliver you a suite of options that you will feel proud to represent your company, brand and products.

28/09/201702/10/2017

Graphic Design Brisbane

We work with some of the largest companies and organisations in Brisbane. But, we also work with some many new and emerging smaller businesses. Regardless of size, we treat every client with the same excellent care and attention to detail.
Why is that important, shouldn’t all graphic designers in Brisbane work this way. The answer is no. Many of the larger firms can not afford to work with smaller businesses with limited budget. Their resources are dedicated to servicing larger clients who provide a guaranteed level of income. At Blue Lily Studios we make sure every client is afforded the same level of attention and dedication as our largest customer.

Working with a mix of larger and some smaller start up groups has advantages for both these customer bases. Smaller companies working with tighter budgets often give us permission to explore options that larger, risk averse organisations can not. These projects keep us fresh which in turn allows us to consider bolder options for our larger clients when the prospect arises.
On the other hand, working with the larger organisations with their established systems allows us to introduce that discipline to smaller clients.

As a graphic designers Brisbane offers our team of creatives the opportunity to share our branding and design skills to an incredibly diverse customer base. Over many years we’ve worked with photographers, retailers, real estate agents, property developers, musicians, artists, ad agencies, restaurants, accountants, business consultants, security firms, fitness, financial planners across Brisbane, Queensland and Inter State.

Our passion is for delivering real world outcomes that make a positive difference for our customers. We pride ourselves on treating our customers business like our own. If your business succeeds we like to believe we have contributed in some way to that success.

Call us today. Find out how we can help your business reach it’s full potential.

27/09/201702/10/2017

Is Company Branding Important to Logo Design?

Logo Design & Company Branding are not the same. Logos are shapes that businesses use to identify their company. Obvious examples here in Australia are those associated with the big four banks.

But what is branding exactly? While a logo is instantly recognisable, the branding represents how a business is presented and perceived by their customers.

An example of an Australian logo that is recognised throughout the world is the Kangaroo associated with Qantas. It’s instantly associated with Australia and flying. Whilst the Qantas logo has evolved over many years, the Kangaroo shape or icon has been the one consistent element.

However there is more to Qantas’ branding that the Kangaroo. It’s branding is made up of a host of different elements that come together in TV commercials, Sporting Sponships, Print Ads, Websites, Airport Counters, In house Products, Commercial Building. Everywhere Qantas goes the brand ensures that the way it is perceived by customers is consistent.

It’s for this reason that when customers ask us for a new logo, we sit down with them and look at every aspect of their business and supplier so we understand what they want to achieve with a new logo and how that logo will fit into every other piece of marketing collateral. Our goal is to create a logo that will not only help the customer identify the business, but also associate the business with the products, services and expectations of that industry.

This extended design & conceptual process can sometimes confuse our clients, who see the logo as a separate element. In their mind it is something for a business card or the side of a car. They fail to see that the logo on it’s own will not create enough emotion to cause customers to buy.

Generally the client will request a new logo, look at some concepts and fall in love with the one they think tells customers what the business does and that they do it well. An example might be a meat pie supplier selecting a stylised icon of a meat pie on a fancy plate or a surf board manufacturer showing a surfer on a wave.

But happens if the customer see the new logo concepts has no immediate connection and are not engaged by any.
They are might to assume that the logos are no good.

Logos are a trigger.
They help customers engage with a brand. The logo might cause them to associate a product with a happy memory, in the instance of a meat pie, it might be a day at the football with family & friends.

That logo might be on product packaging or a billboard at a time the client is hungry, this triggers to memory of the event, which in turn conjures an emotion that recalls the quality of the meat pie and how they felt on one occasion they had it and it is this emotion that most often causes them to make the decision to buy.

Identifying with the logo might have started the process, but it may only have initiated a sequence of reactions and subliminal memories that the over brand reflects. It was the brand association that caused the sale. The client didn’t see the logo and decide to buy. The client saw the logo, associated the product with an experience that is wrapped up with the brand and made the decision to buy.

Often when clients ask designers to design a new logo they expect to have an instance reaction to one of them. There is a real possibility that each of the logo concepts they saw might have been a good fit for the business, but because the owner didn’t feel the connection, they assume the logo are no good.

For start up businesses this can be a real challenge. The owners are often unaware that you can’t create strong emotional attachments to logos that have very no branding around them. Where are the triggers for them. They didn’t buy a pie at the footy, they haven’t seen the packaging on displays in shops.

That is why we spend time with clients helping them to understand the importance of branding. We walk them through the process of deciding the most appropriate fonts, colour templates, logo usage etc… We develop a complete style guide that articulates how the logo should be used and how messages should be presented.

Our goal is to create an identifiable logo that supports a completely branded user or customer experience. Eements of the branding experience might include website, stationary, product packaging, store frontage, uniforms etc…

This design process is far more time consuming. It requires a buy-in from the client. The client needs to see the value in the design journey and be prepared to be engaged in the process. With this process comes more time, expertise, experience on our behalf and more value to the customer at their end.

After talking to our customers about our design approach we ask are often told that they simply want a logo. When we get to this point we respectfully suggest to the client that they consider an online service such as Fiverr who will create $5 logos. If you buy 100 logos at a cost of $500 you may find one that “will do”.
However by themselves, these logos are little more than pretty pictures that take up space next to a phone number.

If you are the customer that values the expansive branding approach that will contribute to the success of your business, then I encourage you to call us TODAY… Don’t wait. If you read this far you’re interested enough and ready to make the step.