HOW TO BRAND

 

Today making a brand is one of the most important thing when register your company. The brand is not only to look nice is the representation of your company and is the first impression received by your clients. As the first impression is responsible for 90% of your business. I am sure you don’t want to miss up with this.

That why have make this post in this way you could be aware about the way to brand your company and having more success in your business by apply the right colours and shape for the logo on your brand and company.

How to apply a brand design psychology

Before you start designing a logo, write down a list of values and attributes that the logo should convey . Compile a list of corporate values or take a close look to your mission statement.

Once you have a feel for the message the logo needs to disseminate, you will be able to look at how to match this up with not only logo shapes, but also colours and typefaces as well. Use these three elements in combination to your advantage: for example, if you pick a strong shape but find it too masculine, then introduce a colour or colours that will tone down the male aspect. As the colours have their subconscious effect on the emotion filling by the viewers. That's why it is essential to use the right colour to give to the viewers the right mud to connect with your brand.

While you might think that you would want to use the same colours or similar colours to your competitors many times you are going to want to use a colour that is opposite so that you stand out and represent your own brand. But is important to remember the colour has associated meaning and elicits certain emotions or triggers different responses if you are using colours who appeal a different response the result could be a disaster for your brand.

There is the Graphic Designer and Usability Specialist Kristen Morrison talking about the basics of colour theory and the affects that colour has on brands and websites .

( click on the picture to see the video )

 

• A good brand design is not only about colours but also about shape.

The logo shapes used by big brands aren't chosen by chance.

When it comes to developing a brand shapes, is king. Their power to elicit an emotional response can have a resounding effect on the way customers and potential customers view a particular product, service or company. A powerful logo may look simple but there's nothing simple about creating effective logo shapes.

Be aware that the logo shapes and colours used to portray the most visible brands in our culture have not been chosen by chance - there are some powerful psychological forces at work. In this article we'll now take a look at how the informed use of shapes can be used to give your logo the desired resonance.

How humans view logo shapes

Our subconscious minds respond in different ways to different logo shapes. Straight lines, circles, curves and jagged edges all imply different meanings and so a skilled logo designer can use shape to infer particular qualities about the brand. Think, for example, of the Nike Swoosh: the combination of curves ending in a sharp point offers a strong suggestion of movement.

Particular logo shapes send out particular messages:

• Circles, ovals and ellipses tend to project a positive emotional message. Using a circle in a logo can suggest community, friendship, love, relationships and unity. Rings have an implication of marriage and partnership, suggesting stability and endurance. Curves on any sort tend to be viewed as feminine in nature.
• Straight edged logo shapes such as squares and triangles suggest stability in more practical terms and can also be used to imply balance. Straight lines and precise logo shapes also impart strength, professionalism and efficiency. However, and particularly if they are combined with colours like blue and grey, they may also appear cold and uninviting. Subverting them with off-kilter positioning or more dynamic colours can counter this problem and conjure up something more interesting.
• It has also been suggested that triangles have a good association with power, science, religion and law. These tend to be viewed as masculine attributes, so it's no coincidence that triangles feature more prominently in the logos of companies whose products have a masculine bias.
• Our subconscious minds associate vertical lines with masculinity, strength and aggression, while horizontal lines suggest community, tranquillity and calm.
• The implications of shape also extend to the typeface chosen. Jagged, angular typefaces may appear as aggressive or dynamic; on the other hand, soft, rounded letters give a youthful appeal. Curved typefaces and cursive scripts tend to appeal more to women, while strong, bold lettering has a more masculine edge.

To extend your use of psychology to a deeper level, brush up on the Gestalt theories of German psychologists from the 1920s. They hold that the human brain unifies the visual elements it sees to form a whole that carries significantly more meaning. People form patterns out of similarly shaped objects, while objects that differ from the group become a focal point of the image.

Another Gestalt principle, closure, is often used in brand design; this is when an object is incomplete but there is enough detail for the human eye to make the whole picture. A good example of this is the panda logo used by the WWF, shown on the left.

The logo shapes you incorporate into your designs become an intrinsic element in the message they will convey to the company's, customers and the wider public. Once you understand the psychology behind logo shapes you will be able to use this knowledge to create powerful brand.

· And avoid a Negative Impact Message

Like Tara Hornor said and Published on December 6, 2012

 

Whether by accident or just by lack of observation, sometimes logos get designed with shapes that create a negative impression of the brand on a subconscious level. My favourite (or rather, least favourite) is the downward or backward facing arrow. Why would you want an arrow pointing downward for your brand when you want to help customers progress and improve their lives? Here are a few that I've seen across the Internet that are similar to designs that have come across my desk:

 

These details are important, because more and more, logos are becoming the only brand identifier. Consider social media — Twitter, Face book Pages, and Google Plus — the logo is often the only visual representation of the brand. Don’t let it (literally) take your clients in the wrong direction.

While I'm talking about arrow-based errors, here’s an internationally recognizable arrow implementation that’s subtle and carries positive connotations for the brand:

 

I Flagrant Screw-up’s

Then, you have the fatally flawed logos that make it out the door. I make it my personal responsibility to interpret all logos as vulgarly as possible! If I can help prevent a major misinterpretation like some of these, I've done my client a great service:

What does that look like to you?

It’s a logo for a Jazz dance studio…do you see the problem? Think about negative space…

These logos attempted to connect a graphic with their business, and the initial ideas were good. They just missed some serious misinterpretations.

 

• Colour Branding & Trademark Rights

The colour of a brand is different from a colour trademark. Even though a TM or ? symbol may appear on a brand's image, it does not mean there are any legal rights to the colour or colours.

The TM and ? marks on the Mc Donald's and Refocom images below means that the company has claimed rights to the image (the symbol or word or combination of both).

You can use TM on any design that you wish to designate as a trademark. The use of the symbol may be governed by local, state, or foreign laws and the laws of a pertinent jurisdiction No registration is normally required . In most country this will actually give you some "common law" trademark rights.

You can use the ? mark  only after you obtain a federal trademark registration from the  Patent and Trademark Office of your country. Copyright (the ? mark) is different. It means that the original author or creator of any creative work (writing, images, music, software, etc... etc..) has the sole right to copy (distribute, publish, sell, copy) that work for a set period of time unless he or she explicitly hands over that right to someone else. Most governments enact this law.

Another example is the Color Matters website. All the articles and images in this web site are protected by copyright.

What is protected when a brand image is registered or has a trademark symbol?

The ? (REGISTERED) mark in these examples protects the brand image - not the colour or colour combination. In other words, you can use the same yellow and red colour as McDonald's for your business. However, if you used the same design - the yellow arch on a red background - with your business name, you'd be in trouble and even more so if it's for a hamburger restaurant.

The TM (TRADEMARK) symbol on a brand image means the same thing. It protects the design and does not give legal rights to the colours alone.

About Colour Trademarks

A colour trademark is different. In this case, the colour is the brand. The use of the colour in a market sector is protected by trademark. For example, when you see chocolate candy in a purple wrapper, you know it's Cadbury: when you see a turquoise box for jewellery, you know it's from Tiffany & Co.

However, Cadbury's purple is protected by trademark only for chocolate products. Anyone else can use the colour purple. For example, Royal Motor Oil and Nexium (pills) use purple in their brand.

Until the 1980s, U.S. law refused to recognize a single colour as a brand. However, color combinations, had long been protectable. This changed when Owens-Corning launched the "Think Pink" campaign for its fibreglass building insulation. In 1985, a U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled that the company had the right to prevent others from using pink for insulation.

Years later, in another case, the U.S. Supreme Court reiterated that a single colour can indeed be a brand, so long as the public strongly associates the colour and the specific product and that the colour is in no way functional.

Pink insulation is a good example of a colour that is protected by trademark. When consumers see pink insulation products, they know it's Owens-Corning. The colour pink doesn't symbolize anything in home construction. In fact, it's not even a very masculine colour.

Trademarks Today

Colour trademarks apply to unique situations because it's not possible to permit every business to own "their colour" today. Otherwise there would be "colour depletion." In other words, there are a limited number of colours.

Tiffany Blue is another example of a colour trademark. It's important to understand that they only own that blue in situations where it could be confused with their products. Tiffany only owns "robin's egg blue" for its boxes and bags.

You can paint your house that colour, for example, without having a problem. Given the wide range of products Tiffany sells, and the uniqueness of their shade of blue, they are protected from other jeweller who would use the same colour for boxes or packaging. Otherwise, there would be brand confusion.

A number of companies have failed to protect single colours. Pepto-Bismol couldn't get pink and Good Humour failed to protect the colour white for its trucks and uniforms. On the other hand, UPS has protected brown for its trucks and uniforms and 3M "canary yellow" for its adhesive notes.

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What colours cannot be trademarked?

One of the basic principles of colour trademark laws in the majors country's is that a functional colour cannot be trademarked. In other words, if a company makes lawn mowers, they can't "own" green because green is the colour of lawns and is therefore a functional colour.

Does John Deere Own Green?

Contrary to the colour myths, John Deere does not own green. They have trademark protection for the image of the deer on a yellow background but not the colours peers. Competitors are allowed to paint their equipment green or use green in their brand design because green is a functional colour. It symbolizes vegetation – grass, fields, farmlands, etc.. – and that's where you would use a John Deere tractor or any other Deere product.

On the other hand, Qualitex registered the colour green as a trademark for their dry-cleaning pads. In this case, green was a "secondary" colour. It The idea is that if you use a colour in such a way that your brand is totally identified with it – and there is no functional implications, then perhaps you should have the right to trademark the use of that specific colour in that specific market.

(More trademark colour myth: Barbie does not own pink; Mattel does not owns G.I. Joe green.)

Colour War: Louboutin Shoes and Red Soles

The issue of colour rights surfaced in a recent dispute between two well-known design houses — Christian Louboutin and Yves Saint Laurent. Louboutin has used a red lacquered out-sole on its highly priced women's shoes since 1992 and is suing for trademark protection. In the meantime, the trend is growing fast enough to make paint sales spike.

 

 

Everything has their hone limit even the trade mark and the copyright.

 

 

Ali Bradford CEO at REFOCOM? .