It’s common for businesses to have a logo design developed for their company but not be aware of the different ways they can use it to promote their company and increase brand recognition. Most businesses realise that it can be used;

- In stationery
- On their website
- In marketing materials such as flyers and brochures.

However, there are other more creative ways of getting the most out of your brand design, especially if you have an interesting design such as these we have developed below, or if you are a retail business which tend to have more scope for creative use of their design because they can usually afford to be more ‘flamboyant’ with their branding compared to a service provider.

I find that logos which have an graphical or illustrative ‘icon’ seperate from the text lend themselves well for creative use of the design.

I’ve outlined a few productive uses for your logo design below, starting off with service based businesses and then moving onto retail businesses. If you want to hear any ideas that are personal to your brand, get in touch!

SERVICE BASED BUSINESS
1. Your logo should go into your email signature.
2. Your logo should be used as a small avatar for any online business networking forums your frequent.
3. Your logo should sit in your profile page for any online business networking sites you are a member of, such as Ecademy for example.
4. You can seperate the graphical element of your logo design and use it to stamp your brand across other sections of your web site - we have done this for Love in the Afternoon when creating their logo and web design, when using the flower from the logo elsewhere on the site. If you could see this closer you would find that the flower even makes up the pattern in the dress of the seated lady!

For the desk dry cleaner promotional characters (based in the theme from their sub division ‘genie dry cleaner’) note how the characters each have a company badge pinned to their work shirts.

5. As the star in your own range of personal greetings cards! See below logo and greeting card designs for Mortgage Saints and Cariad Hypnotherapy.

Read about this project >>

6. If you have a mobile salesforce…ensure your branding is stamped on any company vehicles.

RETAIL BUSINESSES
I find with retail businesses because they can sell a product and also because they have a physical premises to ‘decorate’ for customer visits they can be more creative with maximising their logo design.

Samples of creative use of a retailer logo design include;

1. Print it along with any other company graphics onto a wall canvas for hanging in your premises to brand your shop. Custom canvas printing services are everywhere and low cost - we created the below canvas design for Escape Health and Beauty to hang in the reception area of their salon using graphics already created for their website and other marketing materials, including their logo design.

2. T-shirts; print your logo design, if it’s interesting enough, onto a t-shirt for your staff to wear, or even for customers to purchase, see how these designs created for our clients could lend themselves to this purpose and Hot Pink Angels is in the process of having their ‘altered for t-shirt purposes’ logo design printed for sale in store.

3. Printed onto carrier bags and price tags.
4. Etched or printed onto shop window glass in addition to signage.
5. Converted in to pin/badge format for purchase or staff uniform adornment.
6. Have custom patterned wallpaper printed featuring your logo and associated brand graphics …cover one wall with it.
7. If you are an online retailer ensure your logo design and branding is stamped all over your packaging and delivery notes. If you manage your own delivery, high quality striking van livery is a great way of spreading the word.

In summary, creativity shouldn’t start and then end with your logo design alone; it should continue onwards in your application of that design to market your business, and at the same time developing a brand through constant visual exposure of your logo design and brand behaviour to your target audience.

Happy creative thinking!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 7:31 pm and is filed under Design Inspiration, Thoughts on Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.