Whether your company is a start-up, medium-sized, or a large corporation, you will eventually confront the issue of your company's self-image. How are you perceived by your customers? How are you perceived by the general public? How does your company come across to potential customers? How do you compare to your competition? The answer lies within any marketing communication material that represents your company, ranging from your business cards to a promotional brochure, to a nationally broadcast commercial. Above all, you might need a logo with sophistication, elegance, and impact. A graphic designer can help you with a solution for your logo.

Essentially, all logos can be organized in four separate categories: glyph, alpha-glyph, alphanumeric or a combination thereof. What exactly the logo will be for you depends upon a myriad of factors too numerous to list them all here. Again, a professional designer who is experienced should be hired for the logo design process.

Glyphs: A glyph, or symbol, icon, pictograph, etc., is a graphic representation of your company, such as logos for Shell, Apple, and American Greetings (the rose). These are most widely used not for company marks, but for secondary communication devices, such as the recycle logo, all Olympic event icons, and instructional devices, like a broken wine glass on a box to signify the contents in the box is fragile. Glyphs, by themselves, are the least used types of logos, but, if done correctly, can provide the most impact and establish a sophisticated, intellectual corporate identity. Creating a glyph for a logo requires experience and talent and, if done by a non-professional, might look amateurish, unattractive and may even take away from your company's credibility. BEWARE!!!!

Alpha-Glyphs: An alpha-glyph is similar to a glyph, but uses a letter or letters from the name of a company in a graphical way to convey what the company does, but sometimes a letter designed in a particular style may be sufficient. Many auto makers use these types of logos, such as Honda, Accura, Mazda, and Hyundai. One of the most popular and recognized logos in the history of the 20th century is this type of logo: IBM. Other examples of this type include GM, Adobe Systems, Moen, and America On-Line. This type of logo is the second least-used logo, that, as with a glyph, if done correctly, can greatly raise the taste level of your company. However, it also shares a glyph's downfall where, if done haphazardly, can appear unprofessional and might provoke laughter rather than sales.

Alphanumeric: This type of mark is the most widely-used logo and we are bombarded with them where ever we go in practically whatever we see. An alphanumeric logo is the name of your company or brand spelled out, literally, but the treatment of the typography is usually unique unto the name itself and can therefore be trademarked and be treated as a logo. To name a mere fraction of all the examples that exist in the world: Kellogg's, FedEx, Microsoft, Sony, Ford, and the list goes on and on. This is the "safe" logo and the easiest to create (by an amateur's standards). A designer, though, will spend as much time tweaking an alphanumeric logo as he or she will with a glyph or alphaglyph. Letter-spacing, color, font choice, word relationships and other factors play into the creation of an alphanumeric logo.

The final type of logo is a combination of the aforementioned types. Most common is a glyph or alphaglyph with the name of the company, in a particular alphanumeric style, placed on the side, top or bottom of the icon. It's the arrangement itself for this type of logo that is important, for how it appears on all marketing materials should be consistent with every piece created thereafter including business cards, brochures, and catalogs, to name a few. This is where the "identity" portion of one's company comes into play, where not only will a particular logo be recognizable, but all materials which represent your company are unique and recognizable as well. Examples of combination logos are also numerous and vast, but, to name a few are Ameritech, United States Postal Service, Acco, and Logovations (I couldn't help it!). Good examples of identity programs are Apple, FedEx, Adobe Systems, and Sony Corp.

Do you need a logo? Not everyone does. Sure, one can put one's company in bold-faced type, all capitals and be done with it. But if you do that, ask yourself:

- Does this logo set myself apart from my competition?
- Is it memorable?
- Does it convey a sense of style and intelligence?
- Do I need to stand out or can I rely on new business purely on word-of-mouth?

Some questions I ask a client are:

- Who is your market?
- Who is your competition?
- How do you market yourself now?
- How do you intend to market yourself in the future?
- Do you plan to grow as a business?

These are questions you should also ask yourself, not only when considering a new logo, but when creating anything related to your business, whether it is your business plan or a capabilities brochure.

So, as you can see, logos and marketing materials are an integral part of your business, and their focus should not be any different than your overall business and marketing strategy. Bottom line, if you have a niche market, a logo may not be necessary, but if your competition is fierce, such as being in a retail market, a good logo and identity strategy may make or break your product. Even if you run a one-person operation, your image can APPEAR to be a 100 or 1000 person company if your identity strategy is consistent and on-target.

Image is credibility. Image is customer relationships. Image is perception, opinion and environment. Image is respect. Image is power. Image is everything.

Author: Michael Lambert
Website Acquired: www.tidalworks.com