New brand for No Stress Accounts, I hear you say???

That's right accountancy with a difference, The Accountancy Office offer a professional service without the stress of collecting mountains of paperwork for 12 months.... finally!

Logo Design fit for a bride

Has been away for far too long!! Although I have been busy with the launch of Urban Mind Photography.

While on my photography travels I met up with a local wedding dress designer. Maggie creates bespoke gowns from beautiful materials with an outstanding attention to the tiniest of details. It was a pleasure to re-design her logo as it was to photograph her dresses.

"A logo should be an asset not an overhead"

This question has popped up a number of times over the last month or so, "A friend of a friend is thinking about designing her own logo, what do you think..?"

My answer stays the same, of course you can! If you feel inspired and know what you want draw it on something quickly before you forget.

If your going to use images from the Internet please make sure you have the right to do so or you could end up with a copyright issue before you've started. There are some websites that provide free stock images, but be aware that not all free images are good quality ones. When scouting for an image, a simple and clean design with few colours is best to brand all types of marketing methods and will be more economical for future printing costs.

If you want to draw the image yourself you may have problems with the software that is available to you, most day to day office programs will have no drawing tools and won't give you a file format that is suitable to print in high quality. Industry standard drawing programs are very expensive and can be complicated to use for a beginner, the tools are vast but important for a professional finish.

If your unsure because of the cost, remember your graphic designer will, well should have a degree in the area of design, knowledge in marketing, the skills to research into your business sector and target market, industry standard software to develop your logo with a good understanding of typography, colour and style.

A good logo takes time and a lot of research, it's going to cost more that £50 but it's a one off payment that will last the duration of your business. If you have an idea and want to be invloved with the logo process have a chat with your designer, it's great to get a client that knows what they like!

"A logo should be an asset not an overhead", Sara x

New logo for MG Couriers

Is the recession coming to an end?



Work is coming! I've had lots of enquiries over the past two weeks and I've got quite a bit of work to do..! Maybe this is the light at the end of the tunnel for all of my fellow designers and entrepreneurs. Has the recession finally stopped frightening so many people off???
I'm not sure, but this does show that people are becoming interested in spending money on business again, and even if the enquiries don't turn into work there is work out there to be done. My most recent project has been a logo for Knowing Hand and it's services in virtual business parks.

Raising your company profile

Raising the my company profile been a constant challenge, coming up with different ways to catch peoples attention is a full time job in itself! At the start I decided that advertising in the Yellow pages would be a great way to get my name around... It cost an absolute fortune and after being in for what seems like an eternity, NO ONE has contacted me because they found me in the book. That's not to say that it doesn't work for all sectors, tradesmen excluded, just not for Graphic and Web design, so please check this out before spending a fortune on this type of advertising!! However, you can get a free line in all of the books (Yellow pages, BT phone book and Thomson local) which is definitely worth doing.

After learning quite a harsh and expensive lesson I went on-line, and while having a web presence is quite important you can still add your business details to search engines and directories for free without a website. Google Maps are extremely useful for users searching for businesses in particular areas and are often located on the first page of a Google search. Urban Mind appears in the Google Maps section at the top of the first page when searching for Graphic Design Worcester and Worcestershire. Yahoo Local also offers a free listing but after submitting the online form you will get a phone call to 'check your details', then they'll try and sell you a listing that sits at the top. After you say no, you are told that it will take 6 weeks for the free listing to go live. I filled the form in 3 times before my listing was finally published, so be persistant!!

Designing your business cards

One of the most useful tools I have used during my company brand awareness campaign is my business cards. Lucky it was one of the first things that I had designed, it has been something that everyone has asked for. Having business cards helped to highlight the professionalism of my company, it also clarified that I have my own brand/logo.

Even if your not a graphic designer, I can't stress enough about the huge impact that you can make with well designed cards. Just small details like the materials that you use and the way that you position the details can say a lot about who you are. Using a simple layout on a clear plastic material emphasises my branding which is based on a modern, clean and fresh feel to design. I always get a really good response to these cards and the concept helps the clients to remember me which is great! You the Designer is one of my favorite web resources that can help inspire your design when creating or letting your graphic designer know what you want. If you want me to help you with any of your branding needs contact me at Urban Mind or leave a post, have fun!

Protect your designs!

It's your first brief and you've created some amazing concepts that you have poured your heart and soul into. However, the most important task is to send your designs so that they are protected until your precious time had been paid for (this is a business you are running after all!)

The way that I do this is to make sure that any concepts, whether graphic or web, are sent with copyright Urban Mind 2009 clearly typed just underneath the design. If sending electronically, a low resolution PDF is enough to be previewed but less likely to be used. Once payment has been made, full resolution formats can be sent or prints can be collected.

This system works for me, however communication is really important and all of your terms and conditions should be discussed with your client before you start a project. Most importantly enjoy!