Logo Design

March 21, 2015 by Trish

I’ve just read an excellent post on the YouZign.com blog and wanted to share it:

Logo Design: The Balance of Font, Shape and Color

See it here http://youzign.com/blog/logo-design-the-balance-of-font-shape-and-color/

“Define clearly the focus of your own business (or your clients).
When designing a logo there are a few key questions that you need to answer:

What is the business all about?
Is it a business that needs to convey a message of trust?
Is it more of a friendly and playful company?
What products and services does the business offer?
What is the target audience?

Once you can answer those questions and you have reviewed the logos of your competition it’s time to think about designing.

With this level of research, planning and visualizing, you can get to the point that you actually know what your logo should look like.

The balance of everything……”

Here there is more detail on Shape, Font, Color and more – see the full post. Here’s the link again:http://youzign.com/blog/logo-design-the-balance-of-font-shape-and-color/

So what sort of business would we want an angry chicken logo for????

Well. I don’t know either, but he/she was just so striking, I just had to put the pic somewhere in the post!!

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Create Great Graphics in Minutes

August 31, 2014 by Trish

Do you spend too much money getting product graphics done for you?

Would you rather spend that money on other resources or family needs?….

My favorite Graphics Creation product is The Logo Creator – it makes logos, banners, headers, Facebook cover pictures and profile images and almost any other graphic you need because the size is so easy to change.

The program is inexpensive and comes with lots of elements to get you started but if you want to be really creative, there are several add-on packs or you can upload your own images.

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Here’s an example I made in a few minutes about the Characters Pack – made just by mixing and matching elements and changing colors. Eye catching, isn’t it?
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If you want to create attention grabbing graphics yourself without having to use photoshop, why not check out The Logo Creator for yourself now?
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Use The Logo Creator to Create Your Own Graphics

May 12, 2013 by Trish

CREATE YOUR OWN GRAPHICS THE EASY WAY!

Special limited time offer – see Bottom of this post

The Logo Creator from Laughingbird Software, an easy to use little program that almost anyone will find a multitude of uses for, whether you need logos, headers, facebook covers, placeholders etc or the kids want to make illustrations for school projects; your imagination is the only limit!

THE LOGO CREATOR SHIPS WITH 200 READY MADE TEMPLATES!

These can be modified ANY way you like. Change fonts, change the background, import your own images … or use any of the 300 built in objects to make your design really stand out!

Once you’re finished designing, just save the template to be used again or edited to produce variations and then export as .jpg or transparent .png.

For a Limited time, Marc is offering The Logo Creator at the LOW LOW price of $7 if you will share news about the software on social media – see details here: http://www.thelogocreator.com/

How to Create a Winning Logo for Your Homepage!

May 26, 2012 by Trish

Many people, when creating their website, don't think about the importance a logo can play.

Your site's logo is sort of like your business card. When people see it, the design makes an immediate impression in their mind, for good or for bad. Want to make sure it makes a good impression? Follow these easy steps!

1. Begin with a simple black and white design.

You don't have to finish with a black and white design, but you want to start with one. Think of this as the pencil sketch for what will become a great painting. Even the great artists start out with a rough sketch of what the finished product will look like. With a black and white design, it doesn't matter if you have the latest graphic editing software, or a more outdated version. Using black and white as a starting point, you can create a clean design from which to start.

2. Fonts are great, but don't go overboard.

There are a lot of great fonts out there and you might be tempted to put a few of your favorites in your logo. Don't! You never want to use more than two fonts in your logo. Any more than this and you risk having your logo go from neat and professional to amateurish. Professional graphic designers will tell you that too many fonts can be off-putting to a site visitor. Coco Chanel once advised fashion-conscious women to take off the last accessory they put on, in order to avoid looking like they were drowning underneath their accessories. Don't let your logo drown in unnecessary fonts!

3. Make sure your logo looks good in any scale.

One common mistake people make when designing logos is by designing logos meant to be viewed in only one scale. Remember, you may want to reuse your logo later on in either a higher resolution or lower resolution. Design your original logo in a high resolution and test it out in different scales. How does it look when you scale it down?

4. Avoid overly elaborate fonts.

Avoid overly elaborate fonts

Sure, that fancy font with all the bells and whistles looks interesting, but is it readable? There is a reason that the simple fonts are the most commonly used. If your reader cannot read your logo, you might as well not have one. Make sure the font you use can be read by more people than just yourself.

5.Try your logo on more than one background.

You never know where your logo might end up. For right now, it might look great against the white backdrop of your site, but what about when it is on an affiliate page? An advertisement? Does it look great against both dark and light backgrounds? Vibrant backgrounds? Dull ones?

6. Look at your logo from different angles.

People don't think about the impression their logo might make when turned upside-down or sideways. A logo that looks fantastic when turned the correct direction might look different when turned upside down. Your logo might only be on your website right now, but what if it is placed on a product or book later? Avoid unintentional disaster by making sure your logo looks great when viewed from all directions.

7. Get a second opinion.

Second opinions aren't just for medicine. You love your logo. Great! What about other people? Don't be afraid to ask for criticism. Make sure to ask for second opinions from people who are going to give you their honest opinion. Everyone wants to hear from other people how great their work is, but is it more important to have a bunch of people who tell you how great your work is because they think it is what you want to hear, or because your work really is great?

8. Tie it all together.

Your logo isn't complete until all the individual parts of the logo work together. Do the fonts and the graphics work together? Does everything flow well together? The components of a well-designed logo should work with each other and not against each other.

Remember to take your time with your logo design. Great logos look like they took time and thought to put together, so make sure you put time and thought into your design! And don't be afraid to deviate from your original design. Your original thoughts and designs may not be the best final choice, so don't be unwilling to adapt. By following these easy tips, you are sure to create a design you will be eager to show off!

Best wishes
Trish

The Logo Creator Review

April 18, 2012 by Trish

I recently downloaded a free copy of Laughingbird Software's "The Logo Creator" and have already become a huge fan. It can be used for more than just logos because you can create the page to be almost any size you want.

Get Your Copy Free Now!

Go to https://www.facebook.com/Laughingbird.Software and "Like" the page. After that you should be able to see the app for the Free Software – see area highlighted in yellow in the image below.

The software is simple to use anf has many features not found on some expensive programs.

When you open a new logo, the default window size is 560×420 but you can drag any corner or side to make the size you want.

The new window opens with an Element Setter for Text or Images. Clicking "text" opens a box for you to type in and then you click the "Add New Text" button to add it to the page. To edit, click on the text in the logo and in the element setter, edit the text.

Text formatting is done from the buttons in the separate Text Menu and the buttons are Format, Color, Shadow, Blur, Outline and "More text effects…" Inside each of these areas are more options such as rotatable text, gradient colors, 3D, mirror and many more.

Choosing Images from the Element Setter brings up some fancy letters and a menu for more logo objects including banners & star, glass objects, arrows, orbs, swishes etc.

Instead of starting with your own design from scratch, you can load an existing logo from one of the two included Logo Libraries, make your own changes and then save it as a new template for later use or modification.

Go to https://www.facebook.com/Laughingbird.Software and "Like" the page to get yourself a copy now!

The example below was made fairly quickly, using a ready made logo, but inserted my own graphic and changed the text and fonts just to give you an idea. Your creations can be exported in a wide variety of graphic formats and various sizes, making it particularly useful for larger projects like book covers or web pages..

When Your Mouse Plays Up

August 10, 2008 by Trish

Yesterday I went to a friend’s house to help her add pictures to a Word project, but while showing her what to do first – oh the frustration of trying to use a mouse that needed surgery (all body parts removed & replaced I think). It reminded me how much we rely on the mouse these days and I was very thankful for my background in DOS, when we didn’t have a mouse at all!

Many of those old keyboard shortcuts are handy to know, even if you don’t use them often, so I thought I’d share the ones I find most useful with you today.

Windows Shortcuts

CTRL+C / CTRL+V: This one is obvious and probably the most used keyboard shortcut in the world. CTRL+C copies whatever is currently marked and CTRL+V pastes the contents again. (C for Copy, V for Verbose)
CTRL+X: Cut – Copies the text for pasting, but removes it from original place (for moving text)
CTRL+A: Select All – The copy and paste shortcuts work well with this one
CTRL+Z: Undo the last action
CTRL+ESC: Displays/hides the Windows Start Menu
ALT+F4: Closes the active window
ALT+TAB: Switches between open applications.
CTRL+P: Opens the Print Screen dialog.
F1: Help with the current program
F2: Rename the active item
F3: Opens the Windows Search
SHIFT+DEL: Deletes the item immediately without moving it into the trashbin
TAB: Move to the next control, excellent for forms.
Spacebar: Checks a checkbox, presses a button if on a button, selects an option if on an option
ESC: Cancels the current task.

Windows Key
The Windows Key (next to Ctrl and Alt keys, usually has the Windows logo on it) is very handy for shortcuts, pressing it will display/hide the Start menu.

Windows+E: Open My Computer
Windows+F: Search for a file or a folder

To Open Programs when you can’t click the start button
Press the Windows key or Ctrl+Esc then use your down arrow key to get to Programs, Enter, then use up, down, left & right arrow keys to navigate to the program you want, then press Enter.

No mouse – Moving Up and Down Directory Levels in Windows Explorer
To go one directory deeper, use the RIGHT Arrow. To back out one directory level, use the LEFT Arrow

Automatically Adjusting Right-Panel Column Widths in Windows Explorer
The column widths in the right hand panel of the Explorer might not be the correct sizes to display all the file information. To automatically adjust all the columns at once to show all the information, Click somewhere on the right-hand panel, then simply press Ctrl+ (Ctrl and the plus key). The Name, Size, Type and Modified columns will automatically adjust themselves to display all their information.

Browsers â€“ Firefox or Internet Explorer – Scroll Through Web Pages
The spacebar will scroll down a page; Shift+spacebar will scroll up a page.

These are just the ones I use the most – for a full list, go to
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301583

The following are related to the work I was doing with my friend yesterday, so thought I might add them, too.

Windows – Getting Screen Shots
If you want to save what you have on your screen but you donâ€™t have a screen capture program, you can use Windows built-in capture as follows:

Hit the Print Screen key. This copies a bitmap of the full screen into the Windows clipboard. To capture only the active window, use Alt+Print Screen

Start up a graphics editor (or Word) and paste it in (Edit, paste OR Ctrl-V). If you only want a small part of the screen, use the programmeâ€™s cropping tool.

I prepared a small document to help my friend cropping her images in Word; if you’d like a copy, send an email to admin@trishfindlay.com with “Word Cropping file” in the subject line & I ‘ll email it to you.

MS Word – Selecting Columns
Selections in MS Word are usually lines or paragraphs. To make a selection for a column across lines or blocks just press Alt key while you select your text. You will see that the selection does not select all of the line. It just selects the block or the area. This is really useful sometimes.