Products work the same way. You can offer footwear for athletes who will wear out a pair on the court or collectors who won't wear them at all. You can create custom tailored jeans for a single individual or manufacture jeans in massive quantities for wide distribution. The products may be very similar, but the psychological needs of each audience are completely different, and the offering reflects that.
Read moreLogo Case Study: Cutting-Edge Engineering
A logo concept for an embedded electronic engineering firm, visually describing the need for attention to detail required in the development of technologically sophisticated devices.
Read moreLogo Case Study: A Window On A Special Community
A logo concept for a working farm and ranch that's home to people with and without intellectual disabilities, illustrating the profound place this community holds in the hearts of the thousands who support it.
Read moreOne Function, Many Forms: Understanding Graphic Files and Their Uses
Your logo will have many functions over the life of your business. It will appear in your documents, web site, brochures and business cards. It may be used on signs, shirts and commercials. Therefore, it's important to know a little about the types of computer files used to create these items, and how to supply a logo for any situation and any vendor.
Read moreFrom Concept to Completion: Executing the Logo
Logos are everywhere. They are hung on the sides of buildings, pressed into plastic products, sewn into clothing and emblazoned on the tails of airplanes. As the logo is developed, the designer must present the logo in a wide range of permutations to anticipate an almost unlimited number of uses. When working with a designer, make sure that she provides the final product in a wide range of colors, sizes, ratios and formats.
Read moreThe Parts of a Logo: The Context
Every logo is interpreted by the audience that sees it. Understanding the social context that surrounds a design is a critical part of the creation process; it must respond to the cultural cues that already exist. A logo must also respond to the history of the marketplace. How have similar products been presented? Finally, the company itself — its past, present and future — must be assimilated into the logo concept.
Read moreThe Parts of a Logo: The Aesthetic
The aesthetic of a logo is part of how both the message and the personality are conveyed. Symbols, colors, styles and fonts all contribute a piece of the aesthetic puzzle. Blended together in the right way, these elements reflect existing social constructs and connect the viewer with a central idea. These considerations shouldn’t be approached until that idea has been clearly established.
Read moreThe Parts of a Logo: The Personality
Each entrepreneur must decide how she wants her company to be understood by the public. She must choose a path that appeals to customers and feels appropriate to her. These decisions are conveyed through the personality of the brand, captured in the logo. It can be a tricky thing. When you develop a logo, understanding how to define personality is a critical part of the process. This is a unique form of creative alchemy: a good logo design is a distillation of the mission, offering and personality of a company.
Read moreThe Parts of A Logo: The Message
All of these aspects must be taken into consideration when a logo, slogan and company name are being developed. If a business wants to create an offering that's fun or useful or independent, that message must come through. If the organization creates an offering that is serious and formal and sophisticated, that must also be revealed. Form follows function; knowing what you want to say about your company is the first step in developing a way to convey that information.
Read moreForm Follows Function: Three Things You Must Do Before You Create A Logo
In terms of brand recognition, logo applications have a much higher return on investment than marketing — you can add a logo to almost anything for far less than you can produce and distribute an advertisement. In many cases, the logo will be seen far more often than any piece of marketing — just open your refrigerator to see this dynamic in action. Therefore, logo design is a vital first step in the marketing process. It pays to do it well.
Read moreThe Seed From Which It Grows: A Logo Contains the DNA of a Brand
The words and symbols created by logo artists have become another part of our language. Done well, they can contain a wealth of meaning, and provide a flag for us to follow. Whether for a political candidate, a non-profit organization, a social movement or a for-profit company, a logo can become the symbol on which we hang everything we know, hope and believe about a brand.
Read moreEngage the Mind: Creating Cognitive Value
We are creatures of curiosity. We want to know, to learn and to figure out. Entrepreneurs who satisfy our desire for knowledge can create new and wonderful offerings that create deep relationships with their customers., engaging them in new ways while securing a focused, attentive audience. In addition, those entrepreneurs who provide information can be seen as more trustworthy, more knowledgeable and more proficient. If your business offers useful tips, describes novel uses for your products or creates opportunities for people to engage their minds, you further differentiate yourself from your competition.
Read morePhysical Pleasure: Creating Value From Physical Sensation
Every human physical experience has been elevated through entrepreneurial effort. Everything we eat and drink — from filet mignon to water — has been transformed by intentionally engaging the senses. Our homes have become retreats for rest and rejuvenation. We sleep in more comfortable surroundings than at any time in history. Bathing has become a way to refresh the spirit and cleanse the body. Even the treatments we employ to recuperate from illness have benefited from the addition of appeals to our senses. We understand the world through our senses, so it makes sense that entrepreneurs would utilize these approaches to deeply engage customers with the offering and improve the brand. How can your brand encourage a deeper sensory connection?
Read moreTime, Money, Labor, Stress: Creating Value With Conservation
A small business that creates value through conservation can attract a wide audience and form new consumer habits, developing a dedicated customer base in the process. What can your business do to create value through conservation? What processes can be automated? What products can be delivered or replenished automatically? What needs do your customers have that are not being met? With a little creativity, your business can differentiate itself by using the skill of empathy to free customers from chores, save them money or decrease demands on their time.
Read moreBeauty for Every Beholder: Creating Aesthetic Value
Creating aesthetic value can be difficult – every individual has their own interpretation of what is beautiful and what isn’t. Large corporations frequently have to develop a series of the same product in order to please a wide range of customer tastes. Mass market products simply can’t be tailored to the individual tastes of each customer.
People want to live in a beautiful world, and many are willing to pay top dollar for aesthetic appeal. Small business owners should examine the aesthetic component of their products and services to see if they can find a way to differentiate their beautiful business from the rest of the pack.
Read moreBeyond the Velvet Rope: Creating Value for a Select Group
We want to feel special. We want to belong. Entrepreneurs of all stripes have used this knowledge to create high value options for products and services. From first-class accommodations to red carpet runways, we celebrate those who want to engage with our brands on a deeper level. We create VIP programs and encourage customers to take steps that move them to ever-higher levels of status. One benefit to this approach is the development of habit — when you've asked a customer to work for the privilege of attaining special status, your brand becomes far more deeply ingrained in her mind.
Read moreCreate Emotional Value: Make Customers Feel the Way They Want To Feel
We value emotion. Most of the choices we make are based on how we feel. When an entrepreneur recognizes the need to feel a certain way about a certain thing, she can use that understanding to guide the development of her products and services. How do your customers want to feel? What feelings do they have that they don’t want? This kind of psychological investigation can create a valuable business.
Read moreHow To Create Unique Value: Make An Offer No One Else Can Make
Today, almost everything can be bought anywhere at any time. But if you can find a way to make your products or services unique you will be able to create value in the mind that will appeal to a specific audience. Even the oldest of product and service categories, like produce or news media, can be altered in a way that separates it from the rest of the marketplace. In a world saturated with offerings, it's the one-of-a-kind that will attract consumers' attention.
Read moreThe Chemistry Behind Creating Value: How To Turn Typical Products And Services Into A Valuable Business
Value no longer comes primarily from the product itself — it comes from the value added to the product by entrepreneurs. When a coffee shop creates a relaxing atmosphere or a pastry chef turns dessert into sculpture, the added value becomes how customers distinguish one business from another. This added value can be traded for money; it is the fundamental dynamic on which small businesses grow and prosper. There are many, many ways for entrepreneurs to add value to their products and services — today's post provides an overview.
Read moreWhat Do I Value Right Now? Value Changes from Moment to Moment
If the power goes out in a large area for more than a few weeks, the agreement you have with every store owner and credit card company may change fundamentally, and the plastic card you use to make purchases may become worthless. Those things that you value today may not be worth much tomorrow. The popularity of brands comes and goes. Trends emerge and fade. Some of the newest technologies may be completely obsolete in just a few years. Value changes from moment to moment. As an entrepreneur, you must be able to respond to how your customers' perceptions of value change over time.
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