In my last post, I simply described the act of logo creation. While logos are totally sweet and an important part of any business/organization, branding is the more general term that encompasses the logo, tagline/slogan and overall design scheme. But branding isn’t just the way you deliver the logo. It’s a way to more thoroughly express the company’s personality.

Lets take this developer that approached us (from my last post) as an example. After I had designed the logo and everybody was happy, I started placing it onto the printed pieces I was designing. I was having trouble. I thought I was a terrible designer. I could not use that logo in any way that looked good on anything…not even the website. Eventually, it hit me. I just didn’t have a system of delivery for this logo! I didn’t have a brand established yet! I’m not a worthless designer! I shouldn’t have sold my laptop!

I realized that I should have approached the logo design with the idea that each element I design should carry this brand (or personality) forward, not just relying on the logo to do it for me. The kind of paper we use, the way we present content in printed and digital formats, even the location of the logo on all material matters. All of these specifics help to push the brand forward. They also make my job a lot easier. If I have to create a new ad for a publication, I already know the basic layout and design!

Next post I’ll dive a little more deeply into print design (and probably more branding stuff)…

Awesome.

That is, just as long as that color matches the rest of your color scheme. What’s that you say? You haven’t planned out what your color scheme is going to be yet and you are just randomly putting colors together? Well stop right there! Help has arrived.

There are several sites out there that can help you on your way to an aesthetically pleasing website. After all, you don’t want to be that site, and you know the one that I am talking about. The one that has the black background, white text and blue, red and purple links! Well, do you? I didn’t think so. To help you avoid that fate, I’ll talk about a couple that I use myself in deciding on a color palette to work from.

ColorJack: Sphere has a very handy tool so that when you move any one of the color choice dots around on the color sphere, the other dots are adjusted accordingly to give you a multi-color palette. This can then be exported to Photoshop, Illustrator or even to a simple URL with a click of the mouse. There are many tweaks and settings for the advanced designer but it is so easy even a small child could create a great looking color scheme here.

Well Styled’s Color Scheme Generator II uses a similar style for selecting your base colors and it also allows you to choose quick variations on the scheme such as pastels, pales, and contrasts easily. It shows your palette choices in an easy to copy and paste manner to the side.

Kuler from Adobe allows you to browse and grab themes from other users or create your own. The cool thing they have here is that you can even upload a photo of your own and it will analyze it, extract the colors and create a suitable palette to use with it. If you don’t have your own photo, you can just use the interface they have with Flickr and choose one from there. You can join the community and save your themes and they even have RSS feeds that you can subscribe to.

COLOURlovers describes itself as “a resource that monitors and influences color trends.” They have a large community of contributors and lots to explore. You can create new palettes and patterns here that you can save and share with others as well as use for yourself. This site is definitely worth a visit.

There are many more out there that do many of the same things, but the most important thing to know is that unless you just happen to have a degree in graphic design, chances are you may want to use a site like one of those the next time you start to build a website.

Hi. I'm Lauren Carlton – a newlywed, a new resident of Nashville, and the newest member of the JLB family. As the graphic design intern, my role is to tackle design jobs, work through problems, and basically do what I am told.

While working towards my bachelor degree in graphic design, I fell in love with print design and everything about it. As weird as it may be, I love creating page layouts! So what am I doing working for a company that does mostly web based design? Believe it or not, print and web design go hand in hand. I know, I was skeptical at first too, but after I had tackled my first website design for JLB, my eyes were opened to a world of possibilities. I began looking at the computer screen the same way I look at a magazine layout.

Though there are certain parameters and limitations when working with the web verses print, many principles are the same. As a designer I can still apply my knowledge of line, shape, color, and texture. The page should be balanced, have a visual hierarchy and be unified with its secondary pages. And unlike print design, web design creates an environment where the viewer can be an active participant through choosing what information they want to see. It's up to me to create a web page that draws the viewer in and to predict what he/she wants to see. Web design is still fairly young, but graphic design principles are constant.

They say that you learn more your first year out of college than you did the past four years in the classroom. In the few short weeks that I have been here, I have learned about business, about print and web design, and have discovered countless Mac keyboard shortcuts. Most importantly I have discovered a new area of design I enjoy creating. Though page layout is still my first love, I have actually developed a little crush on web design.

JLB has been growing ever since I came on board 6 months ago. We've really morphed from a mostly Web design firm to more of a full service design firm. Where we once specialized in Web design, CMS creation and SEO, we now concentrate on print and identity as well as all things Web.

At the tail end of last year, a company creating a new residential community in the Franklin area approached us to help them form a corporate identity and create all marketing materials based on that brand. We've been developing and designing for almost 5 months now and in that process, we've realized a few things about ourselves. Over the course of a few weeks, I'm going to start from the beginning of the design process and explain how we got to where we are right now.

Step One: Identify Yourself

Designing a logo is a pretty in-depth process. I have to find a way to graphically encompass the personality/ethos/culture of the organization. How do I represent all of those things while using text, maybe an icon or mark and only 2 colors?

When we're first introduced to the client, there are a series of questions we ask to get a basic understanding of what the company does and what exactly they want to portray. It's extremely important at this point to not only listen (and listen good, boy) to what the client is saying but also examine their personality and the personality of their business. I usually start the brainstorming process while we're actually getting to know the client and taking notes. (Often times research is important when creating logos for clients. Not too long ago, I had to design a logo that appealed to 12-16 year old girls. I'm not a 14-year-old girl, so I had to watch a lot of Hannah Montana to understand what appeals to them. It was awesome. Anyway…)

In logo design, instead of failing and going back to the drawing board, you want to spend most of your time at the drawing board. Once I've gathered the appropriate information, I start sketching out ideas on a pad of paper (well, vellum usually). This is where I draw or write every little idea I've had regarding this project. There are no bad ideas at this point. Everything should be treated as a potential logo design. I don't even go near the computer until I've drawn out lots of logo ideas.

Once I've finished putting the basic ideas on paper, I review what I've done and pull out the best 5 or 10 ideas and expand on them. I'll take th    ose ideas and then move to the computer to develop black and white "roughs." This handful of logo roughs will be what I eventually show the client to get feedback. I know some designers like to show the client their basic logo sketches and like to receive feedback throughout the process, but I prefer having something a little more polished before they see it.

On a good day, the client will love the direction I'm going in and pick a logo from the 5 roughs and then move on to choosing color. Usually, the client will see the roughs and comment on where I'm going and make suggestions for tweaks, or sometimes complete redesigns. When I go back to tweak the designs, I usually like to add a little color to the logo. By this time I've already had certain color combinations in my head so it's easy for me to throw some color into the mix. Again, I know some designers don't start the color choosing process until the logo is totally completed, but I like to keep things moving (I rarely have the luxury of spending a large amount of time on a logo).

This is a very quick and basic explanation of the process I use to design logos. When it comes to more in depth branding, there are a few more steps involved. I'll cover those steps and move into print collateral design in my next post.

Awesome.

I know that everybody is blogging about Starbucks paying homage to their history with the brown logo, but I wanted to say a couple things about it myself…

When Starbucks switched to their green, more streamlined logo, they were on the cusp of major corporate growth and social significance. Is there a better color to use in a logo to symbolize growth? The answer is no, no there is not. At that time, the demographic they were most appealing to was the 30-something, Friends watching, northwest crowd that enjoyed drinking real coffee. The crowd that was also into earth friendly "eco-activities." Is there any other color those 30-somethings like more than green? "No" is the correct answer. If you answered anything other than "no," you would be wrong.

Well now that crowd has grown up and had some kids. Coffee drinking has become a much more serious thing. The new old brown logo is Starbucks way of saying, "hey guys, we can grow up and take coffee seriously too (or again)…and sorry about all that frappuccino stuff."

thanks.