Aid with the corporate image: Logo Design Studio

Citation

Pitta, D.A. (2006), "Aid with the corporate image: Logo Design Studio", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 23 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcm.2006.07723aab.001

Aid with the corporate image: Logo Design Studio

Art and design are probably never taught in business school. We marketers usually rely on artistic individuals to aid us with verbal and visual communications. Larger corporations have marketing communications staff well skilled in churning out press releases, designing promotional material and creating a memorable brand image. Smaller organizations lack those resources and often either outsource the function or, unhappily, try to stretch internal personnel. One of the obvious areas for professional help is with the company logo.

Some of the well-recognized world-class logos include the Toyota “upended Theta“ symbol, the Chrysler Corporation Pentastar, the Coca-Cola script logo, the McDonald’s golden arches M and increasingly the Mercedes-Benz logo symbol. These examples are just a few of the well-designed logos that are the product of robust creative staffs and much marketing communication testing. They represent the results of investing large manpower, software and hardware resources in the pursuit of a lasting corporate brand image. Arguably, they are also outnumbered by large number of poorly designed logos that do not carry the promotional burden well.

Too often companies have tried to create a memorable image to be used in advertising, signage, and everyday promotional activities without the required level of skills necessary. If the reader reflects on the logos of local retailers, several examples of stale or unfathomable images may come to mind. For example, before the age of digital cameras, photographers tended to choose a representation of the camera shutter, which looked a bit like a spiral spider web. Most customers ignored the shutter logo and the few who noticed it were usually puzzled. Yet, professional photographers found them so familiar that they thought the shutter was a perfect image that would communicate “photography.”

In other examples, the image communicates a concept but other companies use the same image. Since many printers supply customers with stock logos that may be used on business cards or in promotional literature, some of the best images are used repeatedly. For example, Florists choose the floral bouquet image to communicate that they sell flowers. In some cities the “sameness” of a florist’s logo is just advertising clutter.

The challenge facing the small- to medium-sized business is significant. If they cannot budget the required funds to hire a marketing communications specialist, they can hire an artist to create some artwork. Presumably the artist will supply some reasonable quality art. One problem with that approach is that the artist may not have any training in business communications. Then too, the client may not be able to convey enough information about the company, clients, marketing strategy or competition to aid the artist in creating effective work.

Product description

Today there is an alternative for the small business: Logo Design Studio. The product, from Summitsoft, conveys a useful, easy to master program, which follows in the footsteps of a previous product. Logo Design Studio is based on Logo Creator software, the previous version of Summitsoft’s logo software. Logo Design Studio is more than an upgrade of the old product. It was built from the ground up with a host of new features that meet the demands of both the novice and professional user. The product offers innovative design and creative elements that make it user friendly but powerful. The product features:

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  over 200 fully modifiable professional logo templates categorized by industry and interest;

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  an imaginative display of graphic objects, shapes, images and text styles that are easily altered with standard tools and special effects;

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  advanced color and alignment options;

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  full layer control;

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  extensive trademark and copyright guidelines; and

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  save options for web, document and professional print projects with an adjustable resolution up to 300 dpi, and the ability to export in JPEG, TIFF, BMP, WMF, PNG and PDF.

That extensive list of features provides much of what high-end design programs provide. Logo Design Studio also provides them with similar familiar and easy to use software tools. The level of similarity can help to ease training problems.

Main features

Other program features allow users to get valuable output with a minimum of effort. Summitsoft lists the following features in its promotional literature:

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  includes objects and artwork designed by professional graphic artists;

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  adjust and modify over 200 customizable templates categorized by industry;

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  over 850 objects include spheres, signs, swooshes, shapes, images, flags and industry-specific graphics;

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  wipe the logo canvas clean with the undo and revert tools;

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  import and export in all popular formats including JPEG, TIFF, GIF, PNG, WMF, BMP, PDF and more;

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  summarize your identity using the slogan and tagline resource library;

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  capture your identity with every essential object and text tool;

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  special effects such as shadows, blurs, embossing and frames ignite your image;

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  new text effects include projective, wavy, outline, memo and circular styles;

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  advanced color control options and gradients;

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  place your new logo on the included custom letterhead templates;

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  print sharp results with any project by adjusting your export resolution up to 300 dpi;

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  trademark and copyright guidelines help secure your identity;

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  video tutorials display the easy steps of Logo Design Studio; and

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  professional, creative, refined and designer fonts included.

Object and text tools

Logo Design Studio also provides numerous functions that allow creation of robust logo designs. They include:

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  font manipulation;

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  resize and rotate;

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  full layer control;

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  advanced color adjustment;

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  professional alignment tools;

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  transparent, colored and shaped backgrounds;

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  3D and mirrored effects;

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  shadows;

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  gradients;

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  reflections;

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  fades;

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  blurs;

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  embossing; and

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  frames.

A Summitsoft press release states that:

With the growing demand for logos and identifying graphics in today’s global market, Logo Design Studio packages the powerful design process into a software program that anyone can use.

Logo Design Studio provides a needed expert program to small- to medium-sized businesses and gives users the power to create graphics and logos for stationery, website icons and buttons, page headers, titles for e-Books, text effects for digital movies, sports teams and more. Summitsoft boasts:

Just fire up your imagination and go to work!

Setup

Setup is rather easy. Summitsoft’s installation program places the program on a computer’s hard disk but restricts access to all but a description of the program until the user registers the software. Software registration can be performed via fax or online and is easy. Once the software is registered, it seems to be unlocked and the user can access the various program modules.

Summitsoft has built in an automatic program update function. After installation, the program looked on the internet for the update website and downloaded and installed three separate program patches. The feature is a welcome addition that I have come to expect only on high-ticket programs and mainstays like Microsoft Windows.

Performance and operation

We setup the program on a middle of the line laboratory computer, namely a Pentium IV based machine running at 1.8 MHz. This type of machine may be found in many small businesses. Overall the program ran speedily with no glitches.

The program has the look and feel of the standard photo or image editing programs for Windows. Tools are located around a central screen and one sees the effects of changes and additions immediately. The major difference is that Logo Design Studio provides a host of logo templates that users may customize for their own designs. Those templates make it easy for the novice to produce a professional looking design on the first attempt.

Our lab staff enjoyed playing with the program and creating a number of designs that now appear as printed signs, taped to various laboratory walls and pieces of equipment. Even relative design novices can produce items that communicate well. While Logo Design Studio cannot compensate for novices with very poor design taste, it does support those of us with rudimentary design instincts. In the hands of an artist, it can yield some excellent results.

Logo Design Studio provides a host of design tools including a selection of shapes, objects, images and even a list of slogans and taglines that might help create a winning logo. The selection of logo templates can aid even the severely design challenged businessperson.

As a test, we asked several students and professionals to try their hand at logo design. The variety of output ranged from acceptable to very professional. Conceivably, someone on the staff of a company could produce some acceptable or better results for a small investment in time and money.

The program can output the standard graphics formats and can create a file that print shops can use in printing high quality letterhead or promotional material. The program allows output from 72 to 300 dots per inch (dpi). The 300 dpi resolution is quite acceptable quality.

Recommended system requirements

It is noteworthy that the product exploits a relatively modest level of hardware technology. By design or good fortune, Summitsoft matched the hardware resources of its target customers with the program’s hardware requirements. They include:

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  hardware: PC with Pentium 233 MHz or higher processor;

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  operating system: Windows® 2000, or Windows® XP operating system;

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  memory: 256 MB of RAM;

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  hard disk: 210 MB of available hard-disk space;

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  CD-ROM or DVD-ROM: CD-ROM drive; and

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  input devices: Microsoft® compatible mouse.

Accessories and add-ins

Summitsoft provides a number of commercial use font packs to extend Logo Design Studio’s applicability. They are available via electronic download. The sample pack provides 100 professional style fonts for commercial use. Summitsoft suggests that users may enhance the style and entertainment value of online and print projects with their high quality TrueType® fonts. TrueType® fonts have the benefit of maintaining their sharpness at any size and are compatible with all Windows applications. Commercial use fonts are for professional, unrestricted use for any project including logos, advertisements, for-profit projects, client websites and more. The pack also includes an advanced font manager that allows easy management of fonts while protecting vital system fonts from accidental deletion.

Cost

Logo Design Studio is available through major software retailers and office superstores with a suggested retail price of $29.99.

Overall evaluation

Summitsoft’s Logo Design Studio is a robust, useful and easy to learn logo design program. At its $29.99 cost it is so inexpensive that most companies that need any logo help should just buy it. Typically, a lower level employee can master Logo Design Studio and create designs that are at least helpful. At best, they may avoid the need for an artist completely.

Edited by Dennis A. PittaUniversity of Baltimore