Branding Your Logo 101

Branding Your Logo 101- What to consider when developing your logo and Building Your Brand.

              You just received the most epic logo option from your graphic designer, it has great shading, 8+ colors and looks amazing on your new website.  Now it’s time to order custom apparel and promo items, simple right? NO! You get shocked at the cost to print full color on promo, your logo doesn’t translate well in one-color, you have a strange shade of green that you cannot seem to match with thread or print, and now you are left with building a limited and frustrating brand.  Sound Familiar?  I hope not! BUT this is a huge problem in our promotions industry.  It is imperative you understand some basics when developing a new brand logo or specific marketing campaign design.  Here are 3 logo tips to help your concepts transition well in the promotions industry and keep your brand cohesive.

1. Choose your colors wisely! -We run into this ALL THE TIME!  A client has this very rare shade of some color that a graphic designer found that looks amazing when you print it on paper, but it doesn’t have a thread that is anywhere close and when you convert it to RGB for the website you really cannot get the right shade either.  You will have a MUCH easier time building your brand with standard colors or at least colors that have a popular PMS color code.  Usually embroidery threads are dyed to match PMS colors and Screen Printing Ink custom mixed to PMS code.  The first question your embroider or screen printer will ask is “what are your PMS numbers?”. 
2. One Color Version- Most promotional products, (ie. cups, pens, tumblers) include a one-color imprint in the price.  Some products only allow 1-2 colors of print or just offer a one-color imprint. If your brand requires a full-color imprint you will be limited on selections of products, and stuck with only expensive options (ex. extra run chargers per color and additional set-up fees).  If your brand does not translate easily to one color, I highly recommend creating a one-color option you can use for consistency.
3. Branding Guide- This is standard in the corporate market, but I highly recommend this for any brand.  Your branding guide should have Pantone Colors (emb/promo) , CMYK (print), and RGB (digital) color codes on it, font names, and rules for branding.   This will protect you as well, the colors are clearly designated, so if something is produced incorrectly you have the documentation to show the right colors were not used.  A branding guide is imperative for brand consistency among suppliers, and will make sure you are building the right brand always.

When you apply the above to your marketing initiatives, you should be able to have the basics on creating a foundation that will limit headaches in promo land and create a strong cohesive BRAND.   Now…GO BUILD THAT BRAND!

Ginny Givens

CEO, Ginny’s Custom Embroidery Inc.

Building Your Brand One Impression At A Time. HAPPY BRANDING!