EXAMINATION TIME

Branding - How Good Are Your Design Resources?

Every business has its own set of design resources. This can be anything from a simple logo or image through to a professionally designed corporate identity. The principles behind this ensure that you, or anyone commissioned to do design work for your company, adheres to the brand values you have created which ultimately means that there is consistent look across all your media, whether it be website, print or signage.

However, have you ever looked at the quality of your design resources? Your logo for instance, it may look great on a website or letterhead, but how good is it for signage or video. Most logos are created in what is known as vector format. This means that it can be scaled to any dimension without loss of quality. One area to look for here is to see if the logo has been traced. This is a quick workaround to produce a vector logo from an original file such as a jpeg. This may produce a good quality graphic, but if you look closely, individual letters, serifs etc can easily become distorted. This will be a problem if you ever want to use your logo at a large scale such as signage outside your offices. (For more information on Logos click here)

Another resource to look at is your imagery. Industry standard are photographs at a minimum of A4 size at 300dpi. Images that are not up to this standard may again look okay on a website, but if used for advertising etc, they will be instantly rejected by the publishing house. Also, have your images been retouched? Most raw photography will have dust, scratches or other imperfections. These need to be addressed before you receive the files to prevent sub-standard images being used. At a small scale, imperfections go unnoticed, but at a larger scale I have seen reflections, barcode labels, even sections of the photography studio – all too late when your photography has gone to print.

Therefore, always make sure that you are 100% satisfied with the quality of your design resource. Over time, it is easy for sub-standard graphics & images to be collated together, so be certain that any resource is checked before it is saved to your brand database.

Please note that the views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to any other group or individual. To ensure you are fully compliant with all current legislation, please take legal/professional advice and do not rely solely on the information provided in these articles.