That will do!

That will do, or that's good enough. I dislike both of those phrases and I hear them far too often these days.

Perhaps I have a little OCD when it comes to design, but I feel its my job to give you the absolute best designed piece that I possibly can!

That means when I design something for you I take the best photography, illustrations, and content and put it all together into a design that best communicates whatever product or service you are trying to sell.

Sometimes it's expensive and sometimes less expensive, it depends on many different factors.

Far too often I get photography or illustrations that someone took on their smart phone or pulled off the internet (which is copyright violation, it you didn't take it or create it) and asks me to use it on the cover of their brochure or on their website. I usually have to tell them its poor light, quality or resolution, and the comment I get back is; "that's good enough" or "that will do".

Good enough, should never be good enough for your business! Imagine having the contractor only put three walls on your house and saying, that's good enough or trying to do your job with both your hands and feet tied. You might be able to do it, but it will be incredibly difficult to get it done and take double or even triple the time.

It is our job to give you a product that communicates the best way possible. We have an expertise, I assume that is why you hired us. As the saying goes; you wouldn't hire a mechanic to do your brain surgery!

When you tell us, "that will do", you do your business a disservice. What we want to hear is, "That's the best designed piece our company has ever had!" and then of course hire us to do it again!

I want to say thank you to all of my clients! I appreciate your business and all the time you've stuck with me!

Michael Burke




© 2020 Michael Burke/Gotham Advertising and Design

A Re-visitation to Good Logo Design

Hi everyone!

I have been asked quite a few times in recent months, how do I hire a good logo designer? My standard answer is...you hire me! But there is more to it than just taking someone's word that they will do a good job for you. They may have a plethora of experience or their portfolio may look outstanding, but if they don't have the total package, can they really do your company justice? Read below and judge for yourself.

The following is my very first blog post and it's just as relevant today as it was in 2009 when I first posted it.

Thanks,
Michael
---------------------------------------

Good Logo Design


In the years I have been in the advertising and design business, I have seen hundreds of logos. Some of them very good and some very bad; there’s an obvious difference between the two. The good ones define the company and support the brand. The bad ones don’t.

It sounds simple, doesn’t it? It’s not.

Good logo design is more than having your company name in a cool type font, or maybe a nifty little graphic illustration. A good logo designer starts off with research.

If you hire someone to design your logo and they don’t ask any questions about your company, run for your life.

When designing a logo, a designer should find out as much about your business as he or she can. It is not unusual for the designer to ask in depth about your business plan, marketing plan, and your product or service. Sometimes, this seems like the designer is digging into your privacy, but it is important to have as much information as possible so the design can work best for your company. After all, the designer is creating the visual identity that defines it.

Think about it, THE VISUAL IDENTITY THAT DEFINES YOUR COMPANY. That’s pretty strong stuff. The logo is the first thing most people see before they even meet you. It’s on your stationery, business cards, note pads, envelopes, products (if you sell a product), store fronts, and the list goes on and on.

Your logo often introduces your company to your customers. Now ask yourself, do you want someone who doesn’t want to know information about your business goals and aspirations to design the image that represents your company to your customers and potential customers? Or do you want a designer who cares enough to ask the right questions and provides you with a well researched and thought out design?

Along with a business plan and marketing plan, logo design should be one of the top three things you do when you start a business.

Steps that should be taken when designing your company logo.


• Initial meeting – An introduction and chance to meet the personality behind the business. It is important to meet the principals in the business because their personalities can help to define the parameters of the design.


• Research - Research is one of the most important, and most often ignored, parts of the logo design process. The designer needs to find out as much information about your business as he or she can. There is no such thing as too much information. The design firm should know almost as much about your business as you do. Research also includes doing copyright and trademark searches. This search should be done by a copyright and trademark attorney. If you don’t have an attorney, the designer should be able to provide you with a name (if the designer can’t give you a name you should worry, they should have someone that they use regularly). This trademark search is for the safety of your business. The search makes sure that no one else is using your name or mark. Finding out this information is extremely important because you don’t want to spend your hard-earned money on a logo design, thousands of dollars on corporate identity packages and signage, only to find out that some other business has the same business name and similar logo design and that they had it first, forcing you to spend more time and money re-designing and re-implementing your logo. Some companies spend over a million dollars a year just defending their trademark, so research is important.


• Design - The designers will sit down and go over all the information they have accumulated from the meetings and research, and start to come up with ideas. Designers don’t just start picking typefaces and drawing illustrations with no direction or purpose. A good designer will have a good reason for every part of a logo design. Designers are problem solvers and should provide several different designs for you to look at.


• Client input - After providing you with several designs, the designer will ask for your input. He or she will find out what you like and don’t like about the logo designs presented. This is a process that will help fine-tune the design and provide you with the logo that fits your business best.


• Final artwork - After all the research and meetings, it all comes down to the implementation of the final logo design. It is uniquely yours and will be tailored to your business.

Once you have a good logo design in place, it will make the branding and marketing of your business much more effective.

Logo designs are not inexpensive. A good logo design takes time. With the proper research and input from the client, the logo design will be some of the best money you spend. If you want to know how good logo design instantly identifies your business, think of these business names and see what pops into your head when you read them. McDonald’s™, Dodge™, HR Block™, Starbucks™, Best Buy™. These are the types of identifiable logo designs that are well thought out, researched, implemented, and effective, and none of these companies cut costs on their corporate identity design, and spend a lot of money pursuing people who infringe on their identity.

Finally, a good, extensively researched and designed logo supports your brand and makes your company immediately identifiable to your customers and potential customers. It also makes more effective implementation of all marketing materials. A well designed, professional logo is the public face of your business. It represents your company in all aspects of your daily business; the design should be solid, researched, immediately identifiable and knock their socks off!


© copyright 2014 Michael Burke

When Clients should listen.

When I started in the Advertising business, it was towards the end of the "Mad Men" era. Three martini lunches, taking clients out to expensive dinners and flying them to tropical getaways in order to maintain their business. Those days, for the most part, are long gone! Yes we still cater to our clients, but meetings happen more often in the office or a coffee shop than a hotel bar. Instant contact with smart phones and mobile devices mean that many meetings don't even happen in person. Since everyone's schedule is busy, meetings have to be more efficient and time conscious.

I addition, the Agency / Client relationship has changed. In the 60's through the late 80's the Agency was the expert on marketing and branding and the client was more inclined to do what the Agency proposed for their business, because, after all the Agency was the expert!

Now days the relationship is a little different. I have observed that as clients have become more educated, the paradigm has morphed. Clients now are more vocal, and many have hired marketing specialists, or they themselves majored in marketing in order work hand-in-hand with agencies to come up with solutions to better spend their advertising dollars.

I believe the change overall has been for the better. The relationship between client and agency has become more of a partnership, where each partner cares about the brand, marketing, design of the business and wants to make sure the best possible solution is the the one that makes it to the public.

There are occasions, however where the client still needs to defer to the agency (or design studio). I'm a Creative Director of a small design shop. I have also worked for two of the largest advertising agencies in the southwest. For over 20 years I've met and listened to many clients, given input to help them create advertising solutions to help sell and expand their business and developed long partnerships and in some cases life long friendships with them. The following are three areas I've discovered, where clients still need to listen to their agency:

1. Photography- There are two areas that need to be addressed in photography used in ads and web. The first is professional photography. Everyone has a camera these days and the camera companies have given us many automatic settings that allow us to take really good images. But, let me just say that having a good camera doesn't make you a good photographer. Professional photographers train to do what they do. They understand composition and they have worked with professional designers and know what the designer needs in a photo for an ad, brochure or poster. They understand lighting and they make sure that things in the background don't look like they're growing out of someone's head. Second, is they know how much PPI (pixels per inch) is needed when they shoot. This is incredibly important if the images are to be used in print instead of on the web or on video (see my previous blog on ppi, dpi and spi). Hire a professional photographer, it will make your life easier in the long run and your company will have a polished image that will better sell your product or service.

2. Design- whether its a logo, brochure or the side of a truck, graphic designers have the ability to cut through all the garbage out there to give your brand better message. Designers don't just put something on the page because it looks pretty, there is always a valid communications reason why something is designed the way it is. Just look around you, everything you see was designed by a designer, signs, rooms, streets, buildings and even automobiles, you hire them for their expertise, trust them to do their job.

3. Time- A wise man once told me you can have any two of these but you can't have all three, FAST, GOOD OR CHEAP. This is so true. If you do it fast, it may be cheaper but you lose quality. If the agency tells you it will take a certain amount of time to get you the quality you deserve, you should listen. They have a lot of combined experience in their field and know what they're talking about. After all, isn't that why you hired them in the first place?

Good agencies welcome the new working relationships that exist between between them and their clients. We love what we do and that's why we do it! We listen to you and learn about your business in order to produce the best possible message. On the other hand, It's still very important for you to know when it's time to listen to us.


© Copyright 2013 Michael Burke