Corporate Identity Design

I've just become an uncle, to a fantastic little girl, with a mane of curly black hair and, I'm not going to lie to you, the funniest little nose I have ever seen. My brother, the lucky father, and his partner named her Dante. Maybe it's a bit masculine for the charming little lass, but all in all I'm quite happy with their choice.

A name dictates a lot about a child's personality, its identity if you will. The child will respond to the historical nature of the name and slowly define his/herself by that. This child then creates a definite look or physical reality, to which the child will ascribe.

This look will then define all future interactions. What friends the child will surround herself with, what music, what clothes and what emotional connections she will develop.

You are probably staring at the screen wondering what the hell is this Lexx person is getting at.

Defining a corporate name should be the most amazing awe-inspiring period of a company's creation. This will define the way forward for an identity, a personality that will in turn define its relationship with consumers.

It will also allow your visual artist to creatively represent your company graphically, in an attractive, logical manner.

Here I will need to digress (Again, I hear you shout), as a businessperson you have studied your market and product. You have studied the numbers, researched the geographical footprint. You understand that the figures in the right need to be larger than the numbers in the left (I do hope I got that correct), and the smaller the overheads the greater the profit will be. You have also looked at the potential of your representatives, your staff, if that seemed a bit cryptic.

This is the time when you need to choose another type of representative. A representative, who will have funny hair, probably too many facial piercings and who many even refer to you as dude. Whether you male or female . it makes really no difference to them!

This representative I refer to is your graphic artist. This is probably the most important decision you will ever make. There are a million 'designers' out there! Many of them have a 6-month diploma in pictures, and making things look pretty!

Corporate identity design should strive to be attractive, but should not ever, and I mean EVER, substitute effective communication and professionalism with pretty.

Pretty is hopefully what Dante is going to grow up to be. Your corporate identity should be dynamic, succinct, simple, creative, cost effective to execute, and repeatable across all mediums.

I mentioned earlier that hiring this representative is the most important decision you make. This is really a slightly underhanded way of saying, "stay out of the creative process!" As the founder and owner please interview 30 designers, work your way through this process, look at portfolios, ask about the their understanding of corporate identities and colour differentiation.

Simply put, are they able to take a textual idea, look at the competitors, the consumers, the environment and most importantly something you have spent many a waking hour, and will have to in the future, spend an even greater time, working with.

Will this graphic ideal, represent my life, my personality, my product and me.

Once you have hired this person, you need to have a workshop with the graphic designer. Personally I would rather look to hire a person who has art director skills, and a strong technical background. Talk to them; describe in a million words or more what you have floating in your head. Find examples of logos you find effective, screen-print web pages you repeatedly go back to; to just stare at. Keep brochures, traffic light flyers, packages and anything else I have failed to mention here.

I wish I could impress upon you all; the importance of a good considerate brief. This should be the first, and last piece of interference you have in the process. If you do not trust your graphic artist, or feel they place too much stock in pretty and not enough in communication, please for all your sakes release them from the contract and carry on looking for a representative.

Your 'designer' (I honestly loathe the word) should then go away and start the alchemist process required for a great foundation.

Please at this juncture keep in mind the idea of: time vs execution. If there is insufficient time the product will suck. Alternatively if there is too much time, the artist will again produce crap.

A certain level of stress is good for the creative process, too much and you'll find the artist sitting in the pub trying to drink pressure under the table and loosing. Importantly, a time frame or delivery time structure needs to be supplied prior to the commencement of work.

Step 2 : Pay a deposit! You will be amazed how greenbacks inspire creativity.

Step 3 : Your designer should return with as many as 5 different ideas to then cull and tailor to suit you; the client. Try and work in one colour, namely black and please for the love of God, refuse to accept any logos that utilize bevels, gradients or shadows.

Designers who are unable to design use these filters, and they are utilized to make ordinary designs look pretty. And we all know what pretty is!

We now also now need to discuss iconography and signature logos. As is the current trend in logo design, majority of identities consist of an icon and a signature. The icon is the little picture that represents the company. And the signature is the typographical structure of the name.

As a corporate, I suggest that all identities utilize these both with no preference being placed on either. They need to be independent but symbiotic.

The signature is oft times overlooked during the design process. Hours and hours are spent working on an icon and all in all, the designer types the name out, decides on a font and sticks it under the icon and that's it. Well actually it isn't. A company signature as with your personal signature is unique and distinctive. So should your typography. Change the spacing, the sizing, the shape of individual letters, it does not need to be extravagant, actually I would dissuade a crazy execution, and settle for something simple, controlled and subtle.

We have finally finished the hard stuff . we have just to worry about the colour differentiation. Look at your competitors first. If your top 5 competitors are blue to purple, look at trying a colour that will be recognizable from the pack.

I have to interject here and also point to the psychology of colour. Certain colours reflect certain traits. The darker colours especially blue reflect a more conservative mind set whereas more contemporary colours, lime green for instance are perceived as 'funky'. Please keep in mind that as with people these personality types cross between boundaries and moods. Green is also a great colour to convey health or calmness. Lime green would then be a great colour for a younger more contemporary health service of health food store.

Thus you can look to differentiate your company with colour, yet still maintain a golden thread or connection to the industry you are related to.

On a personal note, try and keep your logo to as few colours as possible, it will in the long run save you money and create a more consistent execution across more communication mediums. Ask your designer to supply you a Pantone® colour, an RGB and a CMYK colour breakdown. These might vary between 5 and 10% but will and do, define your communications as consistent and thus authentic.

Understand that your graphic artist is the one person who can create a simple communication method that shows your company to the world, and the more often you change designers the more fragmented it will become. Every designer wants to own the work or process, work with him or her and they can save you a small fortune on communication costs.

I live by a decree, "Encourage talent and reward ability, Trust experts, but keep yourself informed."

This simply means : I go to a doctor to get professional advise. As I do graphics, or sound, or AV edit. I try my best to surround myself with people who are informed and professional, and to the best of any man's ability do not second guess them and run their ability down. They want the same as everyone else, the chance to do the best job ever and to lay claim to a small piece of the 'creative process' pie.

Back to the task at hand .

The final step in the process is to print the logo on an A1 sheet, hang it on your fridge, and spend at least 2 weeks staring at it. This is going to be your identity for at least 5 years. Make sure you are completely happy with it.

Once you have accepted this identity into your life, take a bit of time to work on the letterheads and business cards. Try and keep them simple yet visually attractive. Remember that your card will at most times be the primary point of reference for an interested consumer, a constant reminder stuck away in a wallet or filofax. Have fun with it colours, pictures adorn the front with simple communication on the reverse. The time of the white boring business card is over, grab their attention and hold on to it for life.

The rest of the stationary is simple to execute. Create a golden thread through the rest keeping in mind simplicity. Another element to keep in mind is the filing methods of people, the logo should be in a place that is easy to find once packed away in a rather stuffy filing system.

Phone number, mobile number, email, Skype, MSN. Make them easy to recognize. Your stationary should show your commitment to making your consumers life as simple as possible. They should be able to find you instantly. Stand out from the rest. It's really very easy!