The Process of Design

Hello Designer! Let’s task our brains by thinking about this. A big company contacts you today for a logo. You know if you are able to come up with something spectacular, then, you have made a hit. Would you do all you can to make it spectacular? Or, would you feel too lazy to do much and accept the outcome. You can’t create something spectacular without doing the right things, following the right process. Well it’s a different thing if you know and don’t do it and it’s a different thing if you don’t even know at all. What am I talking about that you should know? The PROCESS OF DESIGN. These involve what you should do before starting out on a logo design. Wait, what are you thinking? That you should just go on and start as the inspiration is coming? Bros, calm down. These things will help with more inspiration.

A lot of us get introduced by someone who knows us to someone who wants to give us jobs. This means there is likely to be a third party in the conversation, the middle man. Let’s even assume it was the third party that told you about the job, and of course you have accepted it, Number one thing to do before going further even before prices is to GET RID OF THE MIDDLE MAN. Hold up! I am not saying to hurt the person o… I am only saying to make sure you get to talk with the person in charge directly. Let’s look at this. I got called up by his friend some time ago, the company he works with needed a new logo, I mean a re-branding. I was enthusiastic, very enthusiastic I must say. As at then, I would ask what the company represented to its audience, if they had a colour already blah blah blah. I asked all those questions and of course I got my response from my friend. Take note not from the company owner. How in the world did I expect my friend was going to know details about the company?  In my mind…I was ready to blow their minds. If I had gotten rid of the middle man although he is my friend but this is business you know, I would have gotten a better outcome from the whole relationship.

When you don’t get rid of the middle man, let me outline things that can possibly happen.

a.      Do you remember what they say about words going from one person to the other? By the time it gets to the final person on the receiving end, it’s a completely different thing that is gonna be said. A company worker cannot answer your questions like the company owner would. You are very likely to get half-baked answers…you don’t want to work based on that kind of answers.

b.      A company worker cannot pass information to the company owner from you the same way you would have passed it. He can’t sell you or your product to the buyer the same way you would have.

 

So, you see? You really need to get rid of the middle man. Yes, let me tell you the rounded-up conclusion of my story, I set to work, and I created something nice, people saw it and were like ‘Wow’. But you can imagine a job which the owner is not saying wow to. I never got paid for the job till today. The friend told me they decided to hold up on the job, they wanted to put some things in place, after I have created logo…can you imagine!? There was no way I could convince them to pay me. That was what allowing a middle man be in between my relationship with my client cost me.

 

Now that we have dealt with the middle man, we have asked the middle man to take you directly to the company owner, set up a professional meeting and start asking questions. Must it be the company owner you ask? Well no, just make sure you meet with the person or committee that is going to make the decision of accepting and using the logo or not. You get right? You may not likely get a lot of time to talk and get all your answers, then let your questions be in your DESIGN BRIEF. A design brief is like a road map, it defines everything about the client, the company, the goals and objectives, the job, the reason for the job and so on. Don’t allow to be directed to the company website because it can’t answer all your questions. Make sure your design brief is filled properly because that is the basis of your research.

Now you have got the brief to the company owner or the decision makers, GIVE THEM TIME AND SPACE. You can’t expect them to fill it within hours of you giving them, they need time to fill and space to think before putting the right answers down. After getting your design brief filled correctly, it is time to DO YOUR HOMEWORK. What is your homework? It is research making. Check the history of the company, what people think about its current brand and its effect on the market, check for its competitors’ brand, check out their brand weaknesses, brand identities used in the past. You need to know all these to know what kind of logo you will churn out. Are you wondering why all this research? Consider this, if its re-branding, what if their previous logo in history was the one that consumers reacted positively to the most? What if the competitors are only not doing one thing that people say they want to see in their logo? What if the company’s previous logo(s) have been passing the wrong message to consumers? You see why you should know these?

The design brief is good to be documented, so that you can go back to it. There will be times during the creation that you will need to remind yourself about the company, that is the essence of the design brief, to be able to go back to it and avoid asking the same questions all over again.

After all these have been done, you can now start to draw inspiration and create your client’s logo. In creation, don’t forget to portray the adjectives supplied by the client; the adjectives describing what the company should be to it’s consumers. Don’t forget to take note of the elements of an iconic logo, you don’t want to use all your research to create a logo that won’t be perfect. I talked about it last post and you can read it up . And yes, I kept talking about the Design Brief without saying fully what it is about, check out my next post where we will talk fully on THE DESIGN BRIEF.

Thank you for always reading. To my subscribers, a big shout out to you. Don’t forget to send in your questions and also topics on your mind for discussion here to me on olamipoada2@gmail.com. Please drop a comment, I look forward to hearing from you.

See ya!

 

New Things I learnt recently about Design: Elements of an Iconic logo

Has this ever happened to you before? That you started a book to pass time and you ended up reading the book in 4 hours and have also written up to 8 pages in your journal. That was exactly what happened to me. So, since I learnt a lot from the book, I will like to share with us same things that I have learnt. Or maybe I should call it mistakes I realized too late. It’s just both. Don’t worry, I will definitely tell you the name of the book so you can get for yourself. I can also give it out if you reach me privately for it. So, let’s move.

1.   Keep it simple

Hello 'Brander', when creating a logo, one of the things that should be ringing in your head is that it should be simple. Or why do something that when people see it, even at a glance, they will find hard to remember. Always use the two seconds rule, the time to make an impression. What is it about? Let me tell you. Remember when you are driving on a road and you are looking at billboards. Do you take your time? Well I don’t, I don’t think you will too. Are there things you remember on some billboards after you have passed through? Yes, and there some not simple enough to remember. I have had to practice that thing especially when I am taken to pass through a new road. I have to make sure there are signages that are simple that I can recognize as we drive through.

Now imagine it is a potential customer, you want to have had an impression, want him to remember so that your logo can pop up in his mind when he needs your product. FedEx’s logo is one of the simplest logo I have seen. Check it out with me. Look at NHS too, very simple.

 

2. Make it relevant

Do you know that it is not every time that you create a logo that it has to show what the company is about? Okay let’s take some examples for better understanding.  Apple’s apple, does it show that apple is all about laptops? No. BMW’s logo is also not a car remember? But they are definitely relevant. A lot of logos are like that, while some are not. Please note that if the logo you created is not going to show what the company is about, it shouldn’t show what the company is not about, that will be complete misrepresentation and murder of the company.

 

3.      Strive for the best

The toughest person to please by your work should be you, the one who creates the mark. This will help you not to settle for less. You can’t afford to have done the job well and your client will insist that it’s a no. Strive for excellence, look for ways the logo can be better, more representative, more easily remembered, simpler and still passing the right information.

 

4.      Aim for distinction

Do you know your logo can be distinctive in white and black? You don’t have to use multiple colours to make your logo distinctive. Do you know that the shape or outline of your logo design is more important than the colour? This is why you should focus on it as much as possible and ignore the colour. Ever heard of this company, Talkmore? Let’s look at their logo. Mostly black…makes it easy to remember, yeah?

                             

5.      Think small!

I think I need to scream this more, Think small!!! What do I mean you ask? Not all logo you create is meant for billboards alone. Not everything is meant for only websites. Some of your clients might have to go as big as billboards and as small as the smallest surface you can think of, I can think of a zipper. The logo you created have to be able to stay on that surface without you distorting it. That’s why you need to think small.

6.  Focus on one thing

We have said that the logos you create should be simple. But even with simplicity, it should still be distinctive. You wouldn’t want your logo to come out looking like someone else’s own. You don’t want to give your client a logo that looks similar to another company’s own. This is why you have to focus on one thing to make it personal. One thing to make it different, one thing to make it your creation. Don’t make it two, then it will stop being simple. Just one thing, a tweak in a text, an adjustment in position, anything. This will make your logo personal.

 

So, these 6 things are what we will learn today, about Elements of an iconic logo. Remember I said I learnt them from a book, and this is just page 1 out of 8 from my journal. So, watch out for more. And please note that, all I wrote is based on my understanding.

 

Do you have questions? Sure! You can ask them. Comments? Please…I will love to hear/read them. Topics you wanna learn about?  Send me a mail here! My mail notification is on #winks

 

See ya!

 

 

 

 

Story time: The Idea behind the Movement

Light Designs and Prints was founded in September 2017 with the name Light Designs. We later changed to Light Designs and Prints in February 2020 and was re-branded in April 2020. Why you ask right? Well there are quite a lot of businesses named Light Designs. Our tagline is We labor to satisfy you. The Creative Director and Founder, will be answering some questions about the company today…read and enjoy.  

Please introduce yourself and tell us how you got the idea of the company

Hi, my name is Olamiposi Adameji. I am a B.Sc. Holder from the Department of Microbiology of the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. I am majorly a graphic designer and in the process of being a UI/UX Designer. I have also equipped myself with knowledge to run a business alone, marketing, customer care and so on. I was forced to learn graphic designing in 2016 by my then mentor, Tolulope Ajayi. We had to stay in school during a holiday with nothing to do, so that was his definition of being productive with our holiday which I really appreciate. As time went on, I found interest in it and the passion. I had always had interest in art – I used to draw, I think that’s one of the reasons why I love cartoons till date. I loved good designs too and I realized in my research that there were few designers as opposed to people who sell shoes and bags. I wanted to do something different and unique. I wanted to provide more worth than people’s money for them. I wanted to impact knowledge as I went on too. So, I decided to go into Graphic designing full time. And I loved the idea of being a lady, it was rare.

Why the name Light Designs and not Posi Designs?

 The name Light came from James 1:17. We want to be a light to the graphic design world and at large, we want to be pioneers, we want people to see how things can be done differently. And we can’t do that without teaching.

So how did you start?

Well I mentioned earlier that I started learning in 2016, I didn’t monetize until a year after which was September 2017. I started telling people about it though I still had little knowledge. I started with my old version Toshiba laptop then.

Challenges so far?

Uhmm…there has been a whole lot but we keep moving. A lot of times when I still had little expertise, I would do jobs, and they won’t be used. My first job was for my department, I was paid though they didn’t use it, it was very painful, because the money was not the goal. There were times when people feel that ‘shebi it’s just to design,’ that my charges as at that time was too much…as if they can do it. There was a time when I had an encounter with a PhD student in my department who refused to pay me after I delivered. He said he was using it to encourage me, I was like what the…? He told me that a colleague of mine who was into web development created a website for them for free…so I also should be able to follow that kind of example and do the design for free. Mind you we agreed on payment before I did the job o. A whole lot of people like that. I have had issues with printers and finishers too, there is a particular notepad that I had big issues with that caused a tie down of a large sum of borrowed money. The persons to do the finishing did complete rubbish, the book was not neat so people are not buying. It’s been in the market for over a year that I have just forgotten it there. No idea of what to do with it. Let me even say this, if you have an idea of what I can do, suggestions are very welcome. I have had challenges with getting jobs too. You can imagine when you reach out to 20 people and they all give you the same answers of they already booked somewhere else. It can be very discouraging.

 

What have you learnt?

Well, one major thing that I have gotten to learn is that challenges will always come and I have to decide what to make do of it. Graphic design is my passion, so I have to hold on strongly to what I love doing despite all odds. And when challenges push me one step backwards, I push two steps forward against all odds.

It’s almost 3 years. Why is Light Designs and Prints still a one-man company?

I have always had a wrong mindset as regard employment, all thanks to a new friend Kehinde Odeyemi, the founder of Echo Digital that made me realize some things. Let me tell you about the wrong mindset I had. I always thought I can’t employ until I have an office space and I can’t have an office space until I have done a lot of jobs that have brought in enough money to get an office space and to pay the workers. Now see that kind of limitation that was on my mind. But now I have realized that I don’t need an office space before I employ and paying team members does not have to be from big money made from jobs. And of course, I can’t build my brand alone. I need help of creative minds. So now that that the limitation has been broken, we should be employing very soon, say July.

Can you break down what the company is doing at the moment?

I mentioned earlier that one of the things I had in mind before starting out was to be a pioneer, a light shining to others. I can’t shine light without teaching. So, we started a blog named Creatives’ Corner in May 2020. We have had 7 posts so far and we will definitely have more. Creatives’ Corner is majorly for creatives to learn and ask questions. I write it and will still keep writing it even when the company is a very big one, my sources of knowledge are books by creative writers, classes and webinars -I enjoy writing.

We are also into Branding. I mean the creation of Logos, Websites, brochures, ID Cards, Business cards, flyers and so on. Light designs and Prints is the brand designer of two fast growing businesses and one ministry as we speak, Dew Farm Foods who is into chicken cultivation and processing, YouDefine Tech who is majorly into Website Development, and Poise and Priceless, a ministry for children, teenage girls and young wives (We are even working on a big children flashcards project for them at the moment)

Light Designs and Prints is also into creation of souvenirs for events which include notepads, calendar, paper bags and mugs.

We also sell custom made notepads -Light Notepad – for students. It’s available in OAU Bookshop as we speak.

We are also starting out fully with UI/UX designing, known as Web designing very soon.

Remember we are a ONE STOP SHOP.

In partnership?

Yes, Light Designs and Prints is in partnership with YouDefine Tech. They are the website development arm of Light Designs and Prints and we are the graphic, branding and printing arm of YouDefine Tech. YouDefine Tech which is founded by Ogijo Oluwatobi Omodara in September 2018 is based in Ibadan, Oyo State. Partnership commenced fully in May 2020.

Where will Light Designs and Prints be in 10 years?

The peak of Light Designs and Prints is teaching in every possible way which include schools. In 10 years, our goal is to have been established in all that we do now and also add more things which include, Brand development, Social Media Account Management and full-fledged Website designing (UI/UX). Then we are looking to carry the gospel of graphic designing and web development to secondary schools and also to the company Design institute.

Wow! It’s been a journey. Who are your role models and sources of motivation?

Yes, it has. I don’t really know big people in the design world, looking to do though. But one person who has always been a role model to me is a friend, his name is Adebayo Yomi, Founder of Yomrond Muiltimedia. I know quite a lot of graphic designers, both good and great because I always want to learn so I love meeting them. Each person has been a source of motivation at one time or the other. I also know some business owners in the tech world who are not even into graphics but they have all motivated me in one way or the other.

Now to my major motivators, my parents since when I started out, mum was always advocating for a new laptop for me then. She didn’t rest until they got it. Dad lent me almost all he had to do a job at a time. Such love and support. My sister, Mrs Oluwapelumi Boluwaji, founder of Poise and Priceless. I can’t afford to complain to her that ‘I don’t have jobs for now’ because she is always having an idea that will need a design. And my loving King-to-be, the one I plan saying ‘I do’ to, Oluwadamilola Daodu, always pushing me to be a better version of myself. These people in my life and many more have helped me with God in them to get me to where I am right now, to not give up.

Wow! Wow!! Wow!!!....this is such an amazing and inspiring story. The Idea behind the Movement.

Do you still have questions you will want to ask? Why not the floor is always open. You can drop it in the comments session. You want to be anonymous? Why not send a mail to olamipoada2@gmail.com now. I know you have gotten a new light about us now, I know you enjoyed reading too. Light Designs is a force and you should watch out for her. Every day will not be story time, but I can tell you that you will always learn something new from each post. God help us.

See ya!!

 

 

The Process called Recruitment

I made a promise but couldn’t fulfill it. These past days since Thursday 21^st May have not been very palatable. Being offline unavoidably is a lot of sacrifice, that kind of sacrifice that you have no choice but to pay. Still tendering my sincere apologies. Working towards being back online fully. And I must say, I missed you, I know you missed me too #coversface.

So, we talked about branding in my last two posts and I believe we all get it, Branding is broad, therefore, we will definitely revisit it.

In my last post, I mentioned that to build a successful brand, you will need people do build it with you. You as the brand owner can actually not do it alone. I will love to learn about recruitment so why not let’s learn it together. So, what is Recruitment? According to Google, Recruitment is the overall process of attracting, shortlisting, selecting and appointing suitable candidates for jobs within an organization.  In simple terms I would say, Recruitment is a PROCESS, not a one-time thing. Okay, so let’s look at the steps involved in the process.

 

1.      Recruitment Planning:

This is the first step in the process of recruitment. Here, you have to know what you need someone for. You have to outline all the responsibilities attached to the job, the job specifications, the skills needed, the qualifications and experience needed, level of pay that you can afford, starting date, if the position is temporary or permanent, if there are special conditions attached. If you don’t know all these things, you can’t successfully recruit someone.

So, let’s see this example, Light Designs and Prints want to employ a Digital Marketer, what do we need to outline? We need someone who will understand the company’s promise to customers, carry it on his/her head and relay it perfectly to the customers. So now, in relaying it to customers, not that they should just hear and go, they hear and patronise. For qualifications, we don’t mind as long as he/she is a B.Sc. holder. And well, for conditions, pay is on commission basis. So now that we have outlined, what we want, we can easily communicate it. Remember, you cannot communicate what you don’t know.

 

2.      Strategy Development

Now that you know what you want to get from your new member of staff, you can decide what strategy to use to get them. You either train them, from the people you have on ground or you bring in new set of people who are trained already. You decide what geographical area you want to consider for candidates and what sequence of activities you want to follow, is it exam, is it a project, is it an interview? Make your decision.

 

3.      Searching

Now we go about attracting job seekers. There are two sources as I mentioned earlier, is it internal? Your people, or is it external? New people. What method would you prefer using, do you want to pay for advertisement? Do you just want to tell people around you?  Do you just want to involve only your customers? Use the methods you prefer and search for people that are eligible for the position.

 

4.      Screening

In screening, you select applicants qualified for the position based on the job specifications. Screening happens in a lot of stages here, from the general when you eliminate some applicants, the ones left are invited to interview, screening happens again before the final selection. The job specifications like qualification, knowledge, skills, abilities, interest and experience which you have outlined at the beginning will help you in the screening process.

 

5.      Evaluation and Control

Here, you need to sit down and think, is the recruitment process appropriate, valid and effective? Are you spending too much to recruit and you are not getting the right person over a long period of time? Ways by which you may incur costs during recruitment process can be through the Salary of recruiters; Cost of time spent for preparing job analysis, advertisement; Administrative expenses; Cost of outsourcing or overtime while vacancies remain unfilled; Cost incurred in recruiting unsuitable candidates. If the method of recruiting is not effective, evaluation makes you realise fast so as to be able to control it, i.e. change it.

 

With these 5 steps above, I believe, recruitment should be easy to carry out. Now after recruitment, it is important to carry out proper orientation for the new employee(s), this is because in building your brand, everything about the company must be saying one thing which is your promise to your customers, everything including your staff members.

 

Thank you for reading always! Apologies once again for being away for a while. Don’t forget to subscribe to get notifications for new posts. Also send in your topic requests to me on olamipoada2@gmail.com I would love to hear from you again.

 

 

 

How to build a Successful Brand

If I write, and you don’t read, I wouldn’t be impacting, neither will I want to do more. But your constant following has made me want to do more and I am really grateful for that. Thank you for reading always and also for telling people about Creative’s Corner. My sincere apologies for not posting yesterday, it was due to a situation which came up and was beyond my control. As compensation, I will drop two more posts after this before the end of this week, so help me God. #winks.

So, in my previous post, you can check it out here, I talked about Brand: What it is and what it is not. A lot of people were able to see what their brand is not but not what their brand is. This is why I will mention it again here and then we will look at how to build a successful brand.

Let me start with some examples for better understanding. Take a minute and think about GoTV, they have a lot of stations. So now, think about African Magic, what do you associate it with? Movies (Sincerely, I don’t associate them with News, they don’t even say news). Now think about NTA, what do you associate it with? News, it’s just imbedded in our hearts to the extent that you don’t even think that they show movies there. Let us look at another example, when you want to buy a new and nice phone, you most times think of Tecno. But when you want to get a new and nice laptop, you most likely think of HP (Hewlett Packard). Now all those feelings of security and trust that you have in these brands, they came because you have experienced it before, or you have someone that told you about it, then you are not scared that they will give you low quality things, that is their brand that they have built in you.

Let us go to drinks which is common to us all. Follow me. You are coming from work on a hot afternoon, you had a long though short and tiring day. The sun is scotching and you just wish you can get something to drink. Now there is a drink shop down the road and you manage to get there. What do you order for? Well for me, I would order for chilled 7up (Yes, it’s one of my best drinks), open easily and gulp as fast as I can. Now notice I did not order for wine, say Veleta, not that Veleta is not very nice too but because I have associated it with having an occasion, it’s a wine for Christ’s sake. But 7up, it will give me that immediate feeling of refreshing which Veleta won’t give me until I chill it, set my table, wear fine dress and pour out in a wine glass. Now these two companies have built a feeling in me, a response, a perception about themselves in me, which I believe is not peculiar to me alone, now that is building a brand. It was not about their name alone, not about their logo alone, not about their tagline alone, not even the website not their colour nor packaging and other things alone, but a combination of all these things.

Now that you understand what a brand is, let us now look at how to build a successful brand for yourself. I will talk about 4 major ways today which can help you.

The first is to define how you want your brand to be perceived. How do you want your customers to think about you after they finish using your product?  How do you want them to talk about you to their friends? Positively or negatively? You have to decide that. Because if you, the brand owner doesn’t know, then it will be impossible to communicate anything to your customers.

Now that you know what you want to tell your customers through your products, organize your business based on this promise. Let everything about you be telling them and showing them. Remember I said in the last post that your tagline is a short-written promise to your customers. As it is written in your tagline for them to see it, it is showing in your theme colours, not the one that they will see and be repelled, it is also showing in your packaging method, it is showing in the way you respond to them when they give you a call, it is showing in the way your product is, it is showing in everything about you. You are shouting it out to them through everything. Now that way, you sure are building a brand.

After you have organised everything about you to give them your promise, now communicate that promise with them. BE CLEAR! Don’t say A and your customers will be hearing C. Communicate with them clearly what you want them to perceive about you. This way they know exactly what you are saying and they understand what to expect from you. So that they don’t get disappointed.

Consistency they say is very important, it is also very important in creating a brand. If you are a brand builder? BE CONSISTENT!! Don’t go on and off, don’t provide good product today and tomorrow bad product. You are a designer and you are building your brand, give your customers designs that they will love consistently. Don’t be good and be manageable tomorrow (I am earnestly working on that too), Be good always. This way, your customers’ trust will never be broken. Okay, this example is ringing in my head, imagine me that likes 7up a lot. I should now decide to buy one on a certain day and it should be bitter, maybe they mistakenly put something bitter in it. To be sincere, I can manage to drink the one I bought o, so that my money will not waste, but after that, that’s no more 7up for me. Even if someone offers to buy me 7up, I would rather not accept it because they have broken my trust, I don’t know what to expect from them. So, you see why consistency is important in building your brand?

In conclusion, building a brand, trust me can be a lot of work especially in being consistent. And of course, it is not something you can do alone, you will need people to help you as time goes on. This is why before you can communicate your brand promise to your customer, you have to communicate to your staff, they have to understand everything you mean so that they can help you in passing it across to your customers. With this, your brand is good to go. Also note that customers can perceive you wrongly, that makes you a not successful brand but if you are able to follow the steps explained above, knowing what you want them to have and know, letting them know what they should know and expect and being consistent with what you are giving them, then you are good.

A big shout out to all my readers! I love you guys! Thank you so much! Don’t forget to subscribe so you get notifications for new posts. Also send an email for topics you want me to talk about to olamipoada2@gmail.com. Watch out for the remaining two posts for the week.

See ya!

 

Brand: What it is and what it is not

As the saying by Aesop goes that "Every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either." I am glad to tell you that BRANDING is not an exception. This is why we will be talking about the topic of Branding: What it is and what it is not.

To know what a brand is not, we will have to look at what a brand is. A Brand can be defined as the sum total of experiences of your customers when they come in contact with you. It is the collection of perceptions about you (your business) in the mind of the customer. It involves what you represent to your customers and what they think of you, ranging from the way you respond to their mails, the music they hear when on hold on the phone, your tweets, your logo and so on. For example, when I think of 7up, I automatically think of a quick soothing feeling and when I think of Veleta, I think of Enjoyment…shey you get?

Now that we know what brand is, let us look at what brand is not. Please don’t forget to send in your questions in the comment session.

1.      Your brand is NOT YOUR LOGO

A lot of people make that error of thinking that their Logo is their brand. As I mentioned in my third post about logo, you can click here to read the full post, logo is a GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION of your brand. Your logo only covers the picture part of your brand. So, what of others? You see why your logo is not your brand but a component of your brand? Let’s move on.

2.      Your brand is NOT YOUR NAME

Your brand is not your name just like YOU are NOT YOUR NAME. Of course, your business name is a major component of your brand, it determines if your customers, especially first timers will even look at your logo or want to experience what you have packaged for them by buying.

 

3.      Your brand is NOT YOUR TAGLINE

Do You know what a tagline is? It is a short, written promise to your customer. For example, my company, Light Designs and Prints’ tagline is ‘We Labour to Satisfy you’. You see, it is a promise that we won’t stop until you are satisfied and I bet you have been satisfied from reading this blog. Your tagline promises your customer what to expect from you.

 

4.      Your brand is NOT YOUR WEBSITE

Do You have a website? Awesome! But it is not your brand, take due note of that, it is only part of your brand.

 

5.   Your brand is NOT YOUR COLOUR, BUSINESS CARD, PACKAGING METHOD, CUSTOMER REPRESENTATIVE APPROACH, MARKETING APPROACH etc.

All these are only important parts of your brand, not majorly your brand.

 

So, what am I driving at? All these mentioned above, all come together to create a brand (A collection of experiences).

Let us go practical. A customer sees your advert- MARKETING APPROACH- hears your NAME and loves it, he or she goes online to see what you promised in the advert, then sees your LOGO and TAGLINE, through the logo, he is able to see that uhm, this company will be dependable and will give me quality stuff. He/She then decides, let me check the WEBSITE. On getting to your website, he falls in love, easy to navigate, succinct, expressive and beautiful- COLOUR- he/she checks out your products and decides to buy. And then his/her questions are answered well- CUSTOMER REPRESENTATIVE. He/she makes an order and gets a doorstep delivery with nice packaging- PACKAGING METHOD. This experience that you have given the customer, starting from the Marketing approach to delivery is YOUR BRAND.

 

In conclusion, to have a brand, you need to meet up with your promises. You can’t afford to make a promise to your customers and then under deliver. In my next post, I will be talking on ways to build a successful brand. Watch out!

 

A big shout out to everyone that have been reading and also giving their comments, it means a whole lot to me. Don’t forget to send in your questions, your opinions and your ideas to me. I would really love to hear from you. To get me to talk about a topic? Send a mail to me on olamipoada2@gmail.com

 

See ya!

 

 

Design: How should it be done for productivity?

Design is one of the three fundamental dimensions of human intelligence. Most people think design is a tool i.e. involving only the use of Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and other software. It is actually the process which takes ideas through a number of CRITICAL THINKING to creation of prototypes and then to reach an innovative product that targets solving consumers’ problems and addressing their needs. You see!? Design is not about knowing how to use the tools but about going through a process.

In my first post about Creativity, I mentioned that being creative gives you the opportunity to try out new ideas, new ways of thinking and getting a problem solved. With this definition, let’s just say Design is the process of using our creativity.

So! We have seen what design is all about. Let’s look at this, how do we design? A lot of graphic designers make a mistake of diving into a job on getting it. And most times if not all, this rush in causes a quick rush out. What do I mean by a rush out, I mean, most people go blank as to what to do at some point. Mind you, since Creativity is not only for graphic designers, design isn’t too.

The process of design should always start with the question WHAT DO I WANT TO DO? You have to define what you want to do, what problem you want to solve, what does the customer want. If you are able to answer that perfectly, then you are on the path of designing.

The second question you have to ask yourself is WHY AM I DOING THIS DESIGN? What is that thing that you want to achieve with people when they see the design? What is that thing you want to communicate. If you cannot answer this question, then chances are that the design will not pass any message.

The third question is HOW DO I DO IT? In answering this question, I as a person, I meditate and search within. Don’t forget to search the internet too for ideas…look through other people’s works because someone must have done something related. And really, that’s the only way we can get a lot of inspiration as to the how. And mind you, there are 1001 ways with which you can do a particular design. So as the inspiration comes, pen them down and choose the best one you want.

The last question is WHERE IS THE IMPACT FELT? Where will the design be used? You know, you can’t afford to design a job which is meant for printing on Photoshop. Answering that question will help you to start out. This will also determine the dimensions to use.

Let’s look at this example, Mr Gbolahan gave you a design job for his furniture making business. He wants something that will bring people to come and buy what he is selling. You have to ask yourself these 4 questions, if you have to ask Mr Gbolahan, please do, so that you can get the right answers to work with. Let us answer them together, What do you want to do? An advert design. Why do you want to do it? Mr Gbolahan needs more customers. How do you do it? Get your answers. Where is the impact felt? Instagram or is it for printing? Get the answer too. Then you are set to use your tools.

In conclusion, these steps of the design process which I have mentioned above makes for productivity for you as a creative. Give just one sentence to questions one and two, so as not to complicate things for yourself. Don’t rush out into designing, take your time because it is worth it.

Please drop your comments, I will love to hear from you. Also, please subscribe to this blog, so that you can get notifications for subsequent postings. Don’t forget to send in your topic requests to me on olamipoada2@gmail.com thank you.

See ya!

LOGO

A logo they say has to be timeless, able to stay relevant for years, passing out the right emotions in the hearts of people who come across it. For us to be able to achieve that, we have to know the right things about logo before creating it. This is why we will be learning about LOGO today.

It is imperative to know very well about logo before starting out to create one…oh yes, I have created logos before I got the knowledge about it too. So, don’t be discouraged.

Logo is a graphical representation of your brand. It is that picture that represents the collection of promised experiences which in turn creates a mindset in the minds of those who come in contact with your brand. It is the FACE OF YOUR BRAND. You can see how important a Logo is for a brand. It is what represents your brand to the outside world with your brand name.

So, let's talk about the types of Logos that there are. There are 4 major types and we will be looking at each one. 

1. Wordmark Logo

This type of Logo relies on unique typography with no other elements. The logo is best for companies that their names describe what they do and it is also very good for new companies that are still working on name recognition, since consumers see the name straight up. Examples of companies that use this logo type are Coca-Cola, Google, FedEx, Disney and many more.

  

2. Lettermark Logo

These are the types of Logos which only consists of letters. It could be initials of the brand or maybe the first letters of each word. This logo type consists of a few words. It could be a monogram or an anagram. For a monogram, an example is CNN, who used their initials from Cable News Network to create their logo. Another example is my company, Light Designs and Prints who used the first letters of each word to create her logo. And for an anagram, an example is FedEx who used the first few letters of each word from their name Federal Express.

This Logo type works well for companies that have sufficient existing brand recognition, not new companies, companies that can afford enough time to explain what the company is all about, because unlike Wordmark, what the company does will most times not be evident from the name.

 

3. Brandmark Logo

This type of logo is that which uses a symbol to represent the company. The company relies on the ability of that symbol to evoke emotions from the viewer. This logo type is effective for companies whose subsidiaries need to associate themselves with the parent company. It can also be useful when the company name is too long and an example is Nike’s swoosh which implies speed and motivation. Another example is Apple’s Apple symbol which has a bite. Another example is the HP laptop which we all know today. The name actually is Hewlett-Packard. But the brand is most known with their logo.

4. Iconic Logo

An iconic logo is that type that consists of both the Brandmark and the Wordmark logo.  This type of logo is effective in communicating brand identity and can communicate to the viewers what a company does as well as what it stands for. Examples of companies with these logo types are Mastercard, Adidas and much more. It also work well with small businesses whose names are not widely recognized but very distinctive.

 

Please note that Logo can be classified into many more types but these 4 are the major types.

In conclusion, now that you have learnt about logo, don’t forget to put this knowledge into use before you create any more logos. Remember that it is not about what you know but about what you do with what you know.

I want to hear from you. How has the two classes been, Creativity and Logo? Also, don’t forget to subscribe for notifications. Do you have topics in mind that you want me to talk about? Please send a mail to me on olamipoada2@gmail.com I would be glad to hear from you.

See ya!!

Creativity

Hi guys! It’s been a good day for me, except for my phone that decided to stop charging. Very painful but I believe it will come back on soon. Enough about me, how are you too? Don’t forget to drop your response in the comment session #winks

So let’s talk about a particular topic that brings us all together, CREATIVITY.

Google defines creativity as the use of imagination to create something, the art of inventiveness and for me, of course I agree. But putting it in my words, I will define creativity as thinking differently to create something extraordinary. Creativity is basically putting different ideas together and coming out with a blockbuster…Boom! You can imagine right?

So, you as a creative, you are someone who sees the world a little differently than others, yes that’s you. And mind you, creativity is not a skill, it is an ability. So you think you can learn it? No! You think you don’t have it? You do.

Let me take you back to when you were younger, do you remember those imaginative thoughts you had that seemed impossible? They were completely out of the blues, looked and sounded stupid but were still awesome. That is what creativity is all about, thinking like a child. Allowing your mind to wander to the world beyond. So you see? You have the ability!

Being creative gives you the opportunity to try out new ideas, new ways of thinking and getting a problem solved. Being involved in creative activities definitely helps you to acknowledge and celebrate your own uniqueness and diversity. It encourages self-expression and is a definite way of creating something from your personal experiences.

Let us look at traits of Creative People

·         Creative people are curious. They are always full of questions.

·         Creative people like challenges. They prefer to stay than to run. They are not runners but ‘stayers’. You are not a runner, you are Creative!

·         Creative people are not afraid to experiment. They don’t consider the consequences, they go right into it.

·         Creative people have high standards. They definitely do not settle for less. They want to make the product or solution the best it can be.

·         Creative people know how to accept and give constructive criticism. They don’t criticize rudely, since they know what it takes to think and come up with ideas.

·          

Have you been having issues with ideas recently? Maybe you are a graphic designer like I am, that needs to give your client a super design, or you are a fashion designer who wants to throw a new style out, the blockbuster you call it, just take a deep breath. Tell yourself over and over again that you are creative and get to work. Boom!!...you are on your way to getting your blockbuster.

Have you learnt something today? Please click on the subscribe button right under the Blog name - Creatives’ Corner - so you get notifications for subsequent posts.

Do you have topics in mind you want me to talk about? Please reach out to me on olamipoada2@gmail.com I will be glad to hear from you.

Don’t forget to give a comment! See you on Tuesday!

Till then, remain creative.

Welcome

Welcome to CREATIVES' CORNER

 

Having more knowledge about topics like creativity, designing, branding and so on is a good idea but going for that particular topic in that big book might be the problem.

Self-discipline they say is important but how well can we apply self-discipline in getting knowledge about a topic we want from that big material?

Light Designs and Prints thought about this and decided to bring to you this blog for all creatives. A blog where you spend a few minutes to learn great insights. A haven for Creatives to hang out. 

Here, we will be learning about a lot of interesting topics that are peculiar to us as creatives.

Posts will be done as much as possible and the beauty of the blog is you can send in requests to us for topics you would want us to talk about.

You can also subscribe to sign up for notifications on our posts on Creatives' Corner.

It's gonna be a smooth ride. So, let the ride begin💃

Don't forget to leave your comments for us in the comment section.

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See you on Sunday!