To help draw out the summer a little more, these beautifully designed summer festival logos represent the best of this relaxing season.

To help you sift through your options and achieve the best possible design for your organization, a little preparation before shopping can make all the difference. These 5 questions will help you formulate a thorough vision of what you’re shopping for.

1. Project Objectives:

What is the purpose of the logo project? i.e., stand out from competition, identify a new product, upgrade the company image, etc. Keep in mind a creative approach can be developed around a primary and secondary objective only; no single creative vehicle can accomplish more effectively. If there is a current logo, why is it being refreshed?

2. Target Audience:

Who are your readers/viewers/customers? i.e., age, sex, job titles, social/economic conditions, employment, geographic concentration, etc. Do they already know about your product or service? What motivates them? Why do they want this product?

3. Competition:

Who is your competition? How are you different from them? What do the competitors logos look like? What colors are being used?

4. Distribution:

Are there any production considerations? i.e., needs to work as one color or at very small sizes, etc. How will the logo be reproduced? i.e., offset printing, web, silkscreen, embroidery, embossing, etc

5. Most Important Point:

Most communications leave only one overall impression. Is there something specific the viewer should remember about the company after seeing the logo?

More questions to ask before designing a logo

Branding, the process companies use to differentiate themselves and create a memorable presence, can be powerful when developed carefully and thoughtfully. Without a solid strategy, however, branding efforts can instantly be a total flop. The following list provides 5 important tips for successful branding:

1. It’s not always about what you have to say: You may think you have control over your company’s reputation, but thanks to social media, that’s not always true. Sites like Twitter, blogs, and Facebook allow anyone and everyone to talk about you, and usually people are more prone to talk about bad experiences than good ones. Obviously, you can’t control what people are saying, but with careful monitoring and sincerity, you can use customer conversations to your advantage. Take this opportunity to show you care, ask them how you can improve, learn from your mistakes, and prove to everyone that you are dedicated to providing only the best products and services to your customers.
2. Do you: Focus on your strongest qualities and use those traits as your branding foundation. If you’re funny, find humorous ways to build brand awareness. If you’re an established expert in your field, emphasize the legacy aspect of your reputation.  The more genuine you are, the easier it will be to remain consistent. Not only that, but you’ll gain authenticity as well.
3. Know who you’re talking to: In order to accomodate your customers, you need to know who they are and what they’re looking for. The better informed you are, the better you can whittle down your messsage to truly speak to your audience. And the more satisfied your customer, the nicer they’ll be when speaking about you.
4. Be the whole package: In addition to saying the right things, it’s also important to look sharp. A well executed website, impressive logo, and designed collateral to boot will pull it all together. Branding is sort of like a job interview. You can be the smartest candidate in the world, but if you show up dressed like the Dude from the Big Lebowski, chances are you won’t get the job regardless of your answers.
5. Unbrand yourself – I recently came across a smart article by Dan Schawbel that focused on the ways in which branding can take away from your originality. If you’re building your strategy upon current trends or regurgitating what has already been said, you’re shaping yourself to be like everyone else. Once again, do you and focus on what makes your message unique. Don’t build such a complex identity that you’re restricted by it. The less formal and calculated you are, the better.

Graphic Design Blog has posted a two part series that features creative logos with hidden meanings. Here are just a few of the 25 logos featured in part 1.

• Body Wisdom is a high end day spa. The logo, which consists of two hands, also doubles as the face of an owl. The combined images represent both a relaxing massage as well as wisdom.

• Amazon, a logo recognized by many, has a very simple look. While the design may not contain shiny bells and whistles, it does convey two very important messages. The orange arrow connects the a and z, showing the wide range of options available to the customer, and it also forms a smile, which represents the satisfaction of the consumer.

• Designer Jason Cho represents the company’s name here by strategically designing a row of trees that also form a piano.

• You may have seen the FedEx logo a thousand times, but have you ever noticed the arrow between the E and X? This subtle composition represents speed, direction and reliability to its customers.

Designer Josiah Jost broke the mold of traditional logo designs when he utilized the negative space in this logo to form the letters E and D, which also form a plug.

As you can see from the above designs, a logo doesn’t necessarily have to be frilly and complex to be brilliant. Some of the cleanest and simplest designs have proved to be the most clever and communicative. When developing your logo, look for a design that is creative, clear, unique, and most importantly you!

View all 25 logos with hidden messages>>

In the past few decades, the opportunity to design the Olympic logo has been a highly sought after project with international recognition. The contest for this year’s winter olympics in Vancouver was no exception. With over 1,600 entries, 9 judges and only 1 winner, Gonzalo Alatorre knew his chances of winning were slim to none. But like so many other designers who dreamed of the ultimate portfolio piece, Alatorre knew he had a story to tell.

As Gonzalo collaborated with Elena Rivera MacGregor of Rivera Design Group, he worked to create a design that represented his first few years as an immigrant to Canada. The main aspects that he truly sought to capture were the warm and welcoming qualities that so many people exhibited when he first began to learn the culture and land. Vibrant colors were selected to depict these characteristics while simultaneously representing different regions of the country. Green and blues were used to symbolize coastal forests, mountain ranges and islands. Red represented Canada’s Maple Leaf. And yellow depicted Canada’s brilliant sunrises.The Design Group combined all four colors to create an inukshuk, a traditional stone sculpture used by Canada’s Inuit people. The team’s vision was successfully brought to life and Rivera Design Group was named the winner of  the National Vancouver 2010 Olympic Emblem Design Competition.

When John Furlong (CEO of the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee) announced  this award to the firm, he said: “I hope you realize that you now belong to a select group of world-class designers.” In fact, less than a dozen Creative Directors in the world that are alive today share this prestigious title. Needless to say, Alatorre and the rest of Rivera Design Group now have a very powerful portfolio.

What do you think of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic logo?

I guess that I should start over, “Real” logo design is a multi-faceted skill that isn’t something developed overnight. It takes years of education and on the job experience to get the big picture. A logo is a mark, which will represent your company and must integrate all of your marketing strategies and business goals into a tiny little mark. It’s kind of like having a baby. And since I have done both, I can really understand. You spend years perfecting this skill. And it is a 5-step process. The designer starts with research and I mean thorough research of the company. This includes reading through business plans and meetings with the leads from the client side.

After immersing yourself into this company, then you start to ask questions like who is the competitive landscape, what are you short and long term goals, etc. Once you have those answers and a good understanding of where the company is and where it wants to be, then you still can’t start design. You need to prioritize this research for the client. This is critical. What is the single most important piece of information that you gathered. Is it the personality of the company? And if so, can you say it in one or two words? What is that thing – or in the marketing world, what is your key differentiator. Now, do you have it? If so, you can finally start thumb nailing. And this isn’t quick. Do not thumbnail on the computer. Thumbnails must be hand drawn and you can’t just do a couple. A minimum of 50 thumbnails should get your creative juices flowing. Remember, this logo needs to represent THIS company, not any other company. They didn’t spend a day building Rome…

Okay. A few days later, you should look again at those thumbnails and pick out the top five. The top five are roughs. Ah..ah..ah. No computer yet. Now, you spend some time adding more detail to each of the thumbnails until you and three other designers can tell what it is. Got it? Now, at this point, the ball is still in your court. So, you get to pick one or two of your favorites. Now, go to the computer and you are probably already there and start working in a vector software program – not to name names, but I recommend Adobe Illustrator CS3.

Bring all the great concepts onto the computer and finalize the logo

After working on the logos for 2 days, you should have some nice vector versions in black and white that you can share with the client. Keep it in black and white because if color is integrated at this point, the client may not be focusing on the actual mark. They may be subconscioussly opposed to the color yellow, because they just hate bananas. So, you don’t want to get into that mess. So, keep it simple.

After your explanation and their critique, in a perfect world, the client would have selected one option. At this point, start working on color palettes and remember create a 1 color, 2 color and 4 color process logos. This will be used in all manners and the client needs to see that from the beginning. So, after some back and forth with the client, you should have an elated client and you should be quite satisfied with the results.

So, it goes back to the eBay logo for $10.99. How in the world do they possibly make any profit from $10.99? Unless they work for 10 cents an hour, it’s not possible. The client will never have what they need –a distinct mark that integrates marketing strategy with design. It will be something that’s worth $10.99 and I’d rather have a nice juicy hamburger for $10.99 not my design!