Once you have your logo, you'll need to start thinking of all of the ways you plan to use it to get your brand recognized. Here are some points to consider.
Where are you going to use the logo?
Printed collateral- This is used for your official business documents; items such as business cards, letterhead, envelopes, press releases, media kits, posters, etc.
Branded merchandise- Branded apparel is a great way to spread your logo around! Consider creating clothing for sale or to be used for employee uniforms. Don't forget other useful smaller merchandise such as mugs, decals, keychains, pens, etc.
Advertising- All of your advertising should be consistent with your brand message... Visual advertising (print, digital web-based, videos, online streaming, etc.) should feature your logo or brand mark.
What about social media?
You'll need a profile picture... Consider including a brand mark in your design package. It is essentially a smaller, yet still recognizable logo. Most profile photos/avatars on social media are fairly small, and a complex logo can lose its legibility if reduced to a tiny size. (Examples: The bulls eye graphic used by Target, the little yellow sunburst used by Walmart, the swish used by Nike; all simple, small and recognizable even without the company name included.)
You'll also want to use your cover space effectively... The cover or header image can usually be quite a bit bigger. Use this space for special photos, or for featuring your full brand logo.
Bonus! Some social media sites allow for video profile or cover content.
Do you create videos for YouTube? Instagram? Vimeo? Consider a short (10-15 second) lead-in or fade-out built around your brand to ensure that all of your videos share a consistent feel.
Let's talk about file types
Your logo design package will contain a full set of file types for your logo and brand mark, in an array of color variations, usually black, white, grayscale, and full color.
.jpg files are image files based on pixels, often photographs. You can enlarge them, but only to a certain degree. As you make them larger, they become distorted, grainy (pixelated.) They can be sized down with better results, so take your photographs at the highest resolution possible to ensure the most flexibility for your use. Screen resolution for computers is usually 72 dpi (dots per inch) and print resolution should be 300 dpi or larger. More dots = higher quality = bigger file size. Consider sizing down the dimensions and resolution of your images for web based use to ensure fast load times on your web pages.
.png files are also image files based on pixels, but more often used for clip art, logos, and other illustrated pieces. The nice part about using a .png is that it can have a transparent background. Consider a circular logo placed onto a colored background on a website... If the area around the circle is transparent, the logo will retain it's appearance. Alternatively, using a .jpg file of that circular logo is not going to be effective, as .jpg files can't support transparency. The logo would have a white (or other colored) background and appear square or rectangular.
vector files are image files based on mathematical ratios, so they can be enlarged to massive sizes. Vector graphics are used on vehicle wraps, tractor trailer artwork, billboards, and banners because they can be stretched to those over-sized formats without losing resolution - they remain crisp and clean!
Need more guidance?
You'll receive a detailed, printable logo usage guide in your final logo package that will outline the proper use of your logo going forward to ensure that you brand message remains consistent.
let's talk!
Reach out and connect anytime to discuss your needs.