When I speak to senior students at art schools, there is one major thing I try to impress upon them: to freelance is to run a small business and a freelance design business has all the needs and headaches of running a bakery, pizza parlor or crack house – although a crack house basically only needs a steady supply of product and doesn’t need advertising, bookkeeping, furniture and their collection methods are a bit different than any other business. Usually, this is when several students run to the president of the school, in tears, to demand their tuition back because no one had told them it would be so hard to be a designer. Welcome to business!

Part of that business is the same thing a competent designer will have to know to sell their services when a client with a new business wants a logo to start their road to success. There are many discussions on a logo vs. a brand. I can assuredly write that the two are intertwined but still two different things. When you start your freelance business, you will need both.

A logo is, quite simply, your signature; your name; the symbol by which people will identify you at first or second sight. If you were a sweater, it would be your label.

A brand is who you are as a person or company. Are you fun and frivolous? Are you service-oriented with a thousand-year history of service? If you were a sweater, your brand would be how you feel when being worn. Stiff and scratchy or warm and soft? Mine would be easy to rip off!

The logo, of course, reflects the brand. When you look at these brands, what do you FEEL?

AT&T is a global communications company. The logo reflects the brand and tells you they are large, trusted, corporate and established.

Coke has a fun, liquid logo that is classic, familiar and friendly. It gives you comfort and although it appears in a thousand different languages around the world, it is always recognizable and trusted.

Apple has the logo that speaks of a very different product from years of battling PCs. Who in the world would use a piece of fruit for a computer company? Some young visionaries who chose to be different and challenge the status quo, and did it extremely well.

Some argue that upper management has changed the brand via their personal quirks and business decisions. That is the trap of the brand. The brand is almost a personality and when it changes, it can destroy the trust people have built upon it.

Brands/Logos That Change Constantly!

Years ago, I was interviewing with a man who owned a design firm that had three divisions. Each division was branded differently so they could match the work they did. One division for children’s products, one for publishing and one for corporate communications. Each had a distinctive brand and clients never minded the separation within the one studio. A small staff made up the Boston firm, but they were viewed as if they were a huge company.

While interviewing over breakfast (a great way to interview – relaxed, friendly, open and free food!), the owner asked me what was my favorite logo.

“The Nickelodeon logo because it incorporates the brand, always changes but is always recognizable. Fun and brilliant in the simplicity!” I replied.

“I designed that!” he shot back. I was then afraid he might have thought I was kissing up to him, but I had no idea he was responsible.

He explained two impressive, ever-changing logos he had worked upon — the old MTV logo and the Nickelodeon logo.

“The MTV logo was done so everything inside the “M” could change and be different. Colors, patterns, photos, WHATEVER!” He was right. It changed as fast as the music video industry.

“The Nickelodeon logo presented a bigger challenge,” he admitted. “We needed to come up with the same thing, but really couldn’t mimic the same thing. That’s when we came up with the idea that the logo would be a set type face and the orange shape OUTSIDE of it would always change!”

Personally, I was struck by his creations and have since created logos that incorporated the brand with an ability to change, yet keep the identifier of the brand. Below is one design for the St. Louis Art Museum that was considered but was not used (I won’t say, “never” because the museum director liked it).

The idea behind the brand was to highlight pieces from the museum’s permanent collection. While not as large as many urban museums that contain some of the best-known art in the world, the St. Louis Art Museum does own some impressive pieces and they wanted to show them off as part of their public relations, to get visitors, fundraising and general public visibility.

My idea was to use pieces from the collection, with a brief history of each piece, on all stationery to have a “collect ‘em all” type of paper presence, and promote an educational and fun brand.

When People See Something Else in Your Brand.

Sure, a fun brand isn’t for everyone. Pentagram, for instance, is a design firm that describes itself as, “the world’s largest independent design consultancy. The firm is owned and run by 16 partners, a group of friends who are all leaders in their individual creative fields,” works “in London, New York, Berlin and Austin. We design everything: architecture, interiors, products, identities, publications, posters, books, exhibitions, websites, and digital installations.” Their brand, “Pentagram,” hasn’t seemed to hurt their reputation as some might see it as a symbol of witchcraft or followers of the devil. I always thought that was Milton Glaser’s firm!

Proctor and Gamble has had problems with their logo portraying the same thing with accusations that the image is “Satanic.”

Alfa Romeo has the same problem with the “serpent devouring a man” logo. Sometimes an ancient symbol just doesn’t translate well to modern times with no serfdoms or fiefdoms. Go figure!

Being young or just creative, we are in love with images and, if you’re like me, the stranger the better! We have to remember that the clients are not as creative or as visionary as we may be. I fully admit to having logos with skulls and skeletons and also will be the first to admit that while my “coffin-shaped” business card was admired by fellow creatives, it scared the heck out of prospective clients.

One savvy friend admits to his first brand, “I was briefly ‘HollowPoint Design — Graphics with Stopping Power.’ My teacher told me not to.”

By the same token, logos and brands with mutilated animals, like “Dead Dog Design,” “One-Eyed Kitty” or “Mutilated Cattle Studio” (yes, they are or were real names) just doesn’t say “fun,” “cute” or “reliable” to a prospective client. Too many animal lovers out there and your chances of landing the PeTA or Humane Society account is fairly slim unless a relative is the executive director.

What’s in a Name?

Just using your own name; “J. Person Design,” is safe but is it memorable? While I write using a childhood nickname to hide my identity from clients who might not appreciate my past articles on “Why Design By Committee Should DIE!” or “How To Spot A Sketchy Client,” “Creative Vs. Marketing,” or the ever-famous, “Why My Clients Suck,” my real name is the same as some famous actors, doctors, athletes and other ne’er-do-wells who have pushed my name return on Google onto the 27th page. I get more calls from people, asking for the actor than I do for my graphic design service. It has forced me to use yet another nickname as a professional tag, pushing my Google return to number one, on page one – filling the first page, in fact. The only problem is I can’t remember my real name at times.

You might also have a common name, which won’t help people find you when they say, “I remember meeting a designer but lost their card. I guess I can Google “J. Person” and find them. The same can be said of a brand name. I have a friend who called his firm “Creativille.” A very cool concept. If you Google it, you will find at least 14 other design firms with the same name. What a shame!

While at a large corporation, the head of creative would only use freelancers who had a company name that “wasn’t their name.” He felt that it gave the corporation more prestige to use freelance sources that sounded like “big studios.” He was also a crazy as the day was long and the pay was low. It’s not something you will or should run up against. I only mention it because there are crazy people out there and names do matter to them.

As with any business, you must research your company name, brand, logo and then legally protect the entire thing. I don’t know if my friend had the first “Creativille” but he surely hasn’t had the last. A registered trademark, although expensive, would have helped. The costs, can be cut back with some search work on your own and filing paperwork without an attorney. There are also services that do the work for less than an attorney will but down the line, if you have a large, multinational studio, you won’t want to rename and rebrand yourself because little Timmy has a lemonade stand his father registered as a birthday present.

Who Are You Trying to Reach?

Don’t ask your family or other creatives what they think of your branding and logo ideas. Your family will say very nice and your art school friends will think the pile of skulls with a computer mouse tying the together is “the coolest thing ever!” Just because you like fast cars and scantily clad women doesn’t mean professional business will, unless you want to do Manga work. If it is, your logo IS “the coolest!”

Research the big studios and independent freelancers. What is it they do now and have done in the past. It stands to reason that David Carson once had a logo that looked like a Frank Frazetta barbarian. He won’t admit it but he at least considered it, as we all did. Many creatives turn red at the suggestion that they used a marijuana leaf in their logo. Youth will have experimentation and lessons that helps us become better… and safer adults.

Really horrible logos – click here

There are always exceptions to the rules with branding. Designer, Craig Yoe, has turned his name and love of products for kids into a fun brand. He creates “Yo-gos” and other things into which his name can be twisted. He has a definite love of what he prefers to do and runs his brand accordingly. With the growing medical marijuana industry in the United States, I suppose someone could include a marijuana leaf in their logo and brand themselves as “High Standards Design.” Part of their brand, I suppose, is not getting paid in money.

Love Yourself… Love Your Brand!

Only you can decide who you are, and who you want to be. That is your brand. Seems like it took a lot of paragraphs to get to this point. Without the lessons of a lifetime, how else could you see and understand it. Your brand, being you, must fit into society but most of all, it must fit you. There’s room for anarchy, I suppose!

There is something you enjoy in your work. A person who wants to design brochures and web sites for financial institutions will not want to create CD covers for heavy metal bands. We all decided to become designers because we love design but most of all, because we love a certain discipline of design.

My career started in comic books and cartooning and through twists and turns of fate and life, I became a designer who dealt with the same industry, moving on to publishing, licensing design and work with the top companies and cartoon properties in the world. I have been very happy doing that over many years. Odd projects with more corporate usage have popped up and as a designer, I was able to handle the challenge well but it was not a direction I chose to continue and so, my brand stayed with fun and the children’s market (although plenty of adults certainly enjoy Mickey Mouse, Spongebob and Looney Tunes). My brand, takes me comfortably through my chosen industry.

I know many creatives who have branded themselves as type designers. They love type and are expert at kerning, nestling, leading and baseline shifting to create type that is design – that sends a message as clear as any ad or web site. They love it and are great at it. The same may be said for web designers, coders, photographers, painters and poets I have known. Be true to yourself and your brand and you will be happily married to it.

When It’s Time For a Brand Divorce.

Sometimes, people change. Circumstances change. It was a near-death motorcycle accident that changed my ability to use my hands to draw and made me seek the comfort of a computer mouse. A famous composer who lost an arm in combat specialized in writing piano pieces for one hand. Many famous painters didn’t pick up a brush until much later in life. Winston Churchill was in his sixties when he became Prime Minister of England. Sometimes we change for necessity and sometimes out of pure desire. Recreating your brand is not unforgiving. Reinventing yourself happens to people every day.

Sometimes you have made a mistake with your brand. You can correct it. Sometimes life throws you a curve. You can steer along with it and come out the other side. Sometimes you just want to try something else. Every day is new, so why not mimic nature and be the butterfly? Just don’t do it too often or the unused business cards from your last brand(s) will take up too much storage or landfill space.

Image Credits

• Camera Wars

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