Branding for Your Business - Website Design Vero Beach, FL

Branding is a word that’s been bandied about lately, but just what does branding mean? If you’re a cow it means one thing, but if you’re a business it means something else entirely!

I work with people in all types of industries, and one company I work with is Signs by Tomorrow. They have the enviable job of helping people to brand their businesses. They have outstanding graphic artists who can interpret our squiggles and stick drawings and morph them into something that shows people what we do. They make wraps for vehicles, all manner of signage for companies, and even banners for non-profits like my Exchange Club of Vero Beach.
Phil Blank who works at Signs by Tomorrow, gave a shout out on Facebook, he had decided that people need to understand more about Branding and what that entails. He wrote a great post on his blog, and he gave me permission to use it here on Social-Cindy.com.

“Creative Bloq
• January 26, 2016 19:17
What About Branding?
Brand verb
1.
1. 1.
mark (an animal, formerly a criminal or slave) with a branding iron.
synonyms: mark, stamp, burn, sear
“the letter M was branded on each animal”
• mark indelibly.
“an ointment that branded her with unsightly violet-colored splotches”
synonyms: engrave, stamp, etch, imprint
“the scene was branded on her brain”
• describe (someone or something) as something bad or shameful.
“the do-gooders branded us as politically incorrect”
synonyms: stigmatize, mark out; More
2.
1. 2. 3.
assign a brand name to.
“branded goods at low prices”
• the promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design. noun: branding

Now what does this have to do with your company?
Branding in a general sense (when it comes to businesses, marketing, online marketing, etc…) is your logo or emblem “identity” that is recognizable at a glance. Branding will make or break your business. You can count on that.

I think it’s safe to say that everyone reading this right now can name and identify (without much thought) what companies the brand identities shown here represent:

Was I right? It’s safe to say 99.9% of you listed all these off in your head instantly when seeing them.

Why is it so important?
Having a strong brand identity that can stand on it’s own is important for many reasons.
•It drives sales!

If you build a brand people love & stand behind, you build a loyal client base which gives your company a longevity beyond what you could imagine. Something as simple as a strong logo design can build a future for your company that no marketing scheme could ever accomplish.

•It creates uniqueness & independence.
So many things come along with having a stand out identity – this is one of the things at the top of the list. When you build a business along with a brand that people can identify, you set yourself up on a different tier than your “competitors” with a mediocre or non-existent brand identity.
“The image of success, breeds success.”And so much more…
What is the cost involved?
You should never view the longevity of your company as a trivial expense, but an investment. When you hire a creative artist & graphic designer to help you create your brand identity, you should take it as a serious gesture and investment into the future of your company.
This may come off biased since I am a freelance graphic designer – and have been for years. I have seen my fair share of flakes who think their startup business idea is some get-rich-quick scheme – but they don’t want to invest in the future of it.
Only thinking of a quick buck and the here & now, they sacrifice the time and dedication that needs to go into building a brand, thinking they’ve got the newest or latest & greatest idea.

Let me tell you – if there’s an original idea left out there – most of you don’t have it.
That is exactly why it’s important to build your own brand to its fullest potential.

The cost involved in creating a new brand identity or re-creating an old logo/identity is completely up to you and your designer/visionary, but I would urge you not write off whatever talent you’re seeking to hire as an expense… but again, an investment.

The Nike “swoosh” was created in 1971 – and they have never re-branded. THAT is longevity.

Conclusion…
There are so many points I could get into here, but I don’t want to bore anyone.Moral of this blog post is simple – create (or re-create) an image for your company that is unique, will stand out among your sea of competition, and last but not least – properly represent you and the company you’re working so hard to build. Your company is your future. Invest in it as such and you will not regret a minute of the time you’ve spent or a drop of the sweat you’ve dealt.

Before you go, here’s a couple examples of some branding I have done over the years..

If you’d like any more information – please visit www.theblankcreative.com

• May 19, 2015 15:50
CMYK vs. RGB: Knowing Your Colors
Coming from a lengthy background in design and printing, I see this issue come up nearly every single day. RGB or CMYK? Why does it matter…? Well, that’s what I am writing this blog about.
Let’s start with the literal definitions:
1. RGB (red, green, blue) refers to a system for representing the colors to be used on a computer display. Red, green, and blue can be combined in various proportions to obtain any color in the visible spectrum.

CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) is a color model in which all colors are described as a mixture of these four process colors. CMYK is the standard color model used in offset printing for full-color documents. Because such printing uses inks of these four basic colors, it is often called four-colorprinting.
To put it simply, RGB is primarily used for images you see online. Whether it is website design, photographs, etc… it is all part of the RGB (RED-GREEN-BLUE) family.
The issue we run into in the printing industry, is that 9 out of 10 printers (unless specifically built for photograph printing) are CMYK (CYAN-MAGENTA-YELLOW-BLACK) printers. They use up those 4 colors in order to produce the final print. The printed image consists of a bunch of dots on top of eachother, of each of those 4 colors, that combine to make the final print that you see. Whether it’s magazines, flyers, billboards, vehicle graphics,… it doesn’t matter. 99% of it is printed off a CMYK printer.

SO… Why is it such a big deal in graphic design?
If you pay to have graphic design work done (a logo created, print material, event displays, etc.) and it is done in RGB, when converted to CMYK for printing, you will see color change in your design. Sometimes it’s only a subtle change, but most times it significantly different.

The moral of the story is – if you intend on printing your graphics or logo in any way shape or form.. CMYK CMYK CMYK. If you want the look and feel of your business’ branding and marketing material to always be consistent and not change with each item you print, just solve the problem from the beginning. Create everything you have the intention of printing in CMYK and not RGB.

• May 16, 2015 09:49
Raster vs. Vector: The Importance of Knowing Your File Types
There’s a whole world of “files” out there.. do you know the difference? Or better yet, do you know the importance of using the correct files for web and/or print?
If you are paying for a design, you need to be sure you receive the proper files, and if you are not paying for a design, I can almost guarantee you will not get the proper files in order to print small or large scale.

The difference between Raster & Vector files can be complex, but I will define it in the simplest terms. Raster files are used for web (for the most part) and they do not need to be scaled up or down much for their use. If you scale a raster file up or down in size you will always have pixilation and loss of quality, however vector files allow you to make a logo or design as large or small as possible without any pixilation or loss of quality.

This comes into play when you want business cards or any marketing materials printed, whether it’s banners, table throws, signs (small or large), etc. etc. The list could go on for days.
When people discredit graphic design and want someone to “make a logo” for free or they have a friend whose kid “has Photoshop”… You will get the wrong files and you will either be forced to have poor quality marketing materials OR pay to have the logo redone in a format you can use in every manner you could think.

This is a huge problem in the industry I work in (design/sign making/printing) because people do not know the difference, simply because they just have not been told the difference. I urge you, let this post be a notice of how important good design is as well as having the proper file formats for whatever its is you wish to accomplish.

Click the file below to see an example of Raster vs. Vector