Life isn't bad here....TMG was based in the Sunshine State this past week. That's the cool thing about working for yourself....in some cases you can take your work with you. The other half had a business trip to Orlando, all expenses paid, staying at the Waldorf Astoria, sooooo why not?! I packed up the laptop and off we went. I found a nice place to set up office, and pretty much did what I'd do from CT, calls, emails, design work! Pretty sweet!
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| My Office Last Week! |
It was definitely a little piece of "the dream" to be able to work under the palm trees. But that doesn't mean its all fun and games, I had a lot to do! Running the biz is a lot more than just design! But a lot of people wonder, why is design important in the first place? Why even bother hiring a designer? I mean, most people have Publisher. Isn't that just as good? Well.....no. Not quite.
Say you have this crazy dream like mine. You wanna be your own boss, and you want to do it in real estate. You're all licenced up, you're set to go. I don't know much about real estate, but I do know that people dream of starting and running real estate companies. So you might be one of them, you're starting up. If you're like me, you aren't made of money. And start up gets pricey. You have legal mumbo jumbo, probably a building, office equipment to buy. You're going crazy putting all the "important stuff" together to start up. Then you realize you probably should have some kind of logo. But that's easy, who cares, you can do that later, you have Publisher.
Later comes pretty freaking soon, and you crack open Publisher. Your last name is Swan. You'll call your venture "Swan Real Estate". You bang out a logo. Good enough. You have so much else to do still!
Here's what you come up with: (NOTE!: These are REAL LOGOS that I pulled off of Google by looking up "swan real estate". I didn't alter anything, and I DID NOT CREATE EITHER OF THESE EXAMPLES! These are real world examples!)
Hmmmm. How does that look? It's pretty simple. Self explanatory. Anddd totally obviously done in Publisher! Now this example seems pretty extreme, most logos aren't THIS bad.....but we can all think of some that ARE, seriously. This logo kind of says, you rushed. You didn't want to invest any of your start up capital into logo design, it wasn't really top priority. It looks thrown together. It looks hurried. It looks careless. It looks elementary. I could go on and on. Simply put, it looks bad. And you know what? Its the first thing people are going to see when they "meet" your business.
We all judge. Instantly. "Oh that lady is a lazy slob because her hair is frizzy and her pants are wrinkled." "Oh that man must be a real stuck up ahole, hes standing there in dockers and a cardigan sweater with a side part in his hair." "Oh that guy/girl is on steroids, he has muscles" (a personal fave ;) )
We all do it. Let's just not even try to deny it. Its the same thing with your new business. All those things I said above about this logo? Hurried, rushed, cheap, careless, elementary. THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE SAYING ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS. I don't care if you are the best businessperson on earth. I don't care if your plan is perfect. Your office spotless. You have every licence under the sun. I don't respect you. I don't respect you, because your logo sucks. Its like those judgements. It doesn't matter if slob lady is a millionaire and the nicest person you ever met. Looking at her, because she presents herself poorly, you assume shes about as lazy and smart as a log. Is it right? No. But it's true.
Now lets say, you understood all that already. You understood that your new business was going to need a seriously awesome logo. You know that it's the face of your organization, its going to speak to thousands of people for you before you ever open your mouth with any kind of pitch. You know people are judging EVERYTHING YOU DO based on that one logo. My gosh, it's even more important than having an office.
Because you see that creating your public persona comes first, you invest in a designer. You leave Publisher closed. You know that this logo will go on everything you do. FOR YEARS. Even if you change it, this one will always be out there. People will remember it and associate it with you. They forgot your name in three seconds.....but that logo, they see it every time they pass your building or see your ads or someone wearing it. And it sticks. We are visual creatures. Everyone knows swoosh means Nike. Everyone knows that dinky yellow flower thing means Wal-Mart.
So anyhow, you pay a graphic designer to create a logo for you. After a few rounds of revisions, you end up with this: (AGAIN pulled off Google when looking up simply "swan real estate" as a fun experiment!)
When I see this one, it doesn't take long for me to notice that this one wasn't whipped up in ten minutes. Thought went into it. And I KNOW hours and hours of thought went into your new business. This one isn't overly crazy or busy, but its clean. It's got a couple catch phrases to show what you do, and make you stand out from the 4950 other companies like yours. Its got a sophisticated aire to it, just like the image you want to project for your company. You can pull the catchphrases out for a simpler look for some publications if you want to. It has options. It looks professional.
Now YOU look professional. So what if I walk into your office, and theres papers everywhere, a day old ham sandwich between files with mayo adhering your invoices together. So what if you don't even HAVE your real estate licence?! (Please don't be that stupid......!) Point is, your logo speaks to me before I know whats underneath. And it's telling me you put time and a little coin into it. You made an investment. You care. You think things out. You're professional. You will do all those things for me, if I become your client. I go with you. I trust you. Yup. TRUST. That's the main point here is to build that impression, build that trust.
It's so easy to get so lost in what you think is important when you start (or even continue!) your business. It probably IS all important stuff. But you hate to be judged for your look, your clothes, your "impression". I know you do. I do. So why let your business be judged poorly for its logo? Your logo is your business or organization's "clothes". Dress up!!
It's like the fancy Waldorf Astoria. Their cucumber water and fake smiley people are trying to impress me. And it does. Granted, its over the top. Maybe a nice Hilton would hit me just right. But let me tell you, Joe's Motel with the front gutter hanging upside down and rust stains and peeling paint isn't going to give me a lot of confidence that I can sleep there in comfort......Or without catching crabs.
So, as a designer, that's what I do. I make Joe's Motel a place you want to stay. Because even if he hasn't washed the bedsheets since Clinton was in office and the only cucumbers on the property are in the form of Vlasic jarred pickles, hes gonna have a damn good logo on the front of that thing. And that just might be enough to make you check on in, and fork over some green for a 48 year old mattress and a couple stray crabs.
If you want to revamp YOUR existing logo, (weather you made it in Publisher or worse....Paint!) I'm always available to help! Visit me at www.tamaramorrisongraphics.com or email me at tamaramorrisongraphics@gmail.com for a free consult!!
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