Use this page as notes from our experience. Handy hints for Brand Managers.

What values does your brand carry your now?

How do you know this? What research has been done? Where are you positioned in relation to your competitors?

Does your identity assist with new business?

Is it easy to issue at short notice? How does it compare to your peers and competitors?

Logo versatility

The logo should be able to be stamped into cheese, cast into concrete, faxed or printed on the side of a truck. If it can do that then it can be polished into a TV star with 3D animated action and smoke effects. We make our identity work to be media savvy, reproduction friendly, modular, and flexible to support wide ranging disciplines.

Draw the logo once, send it many times

Logos drawn using line and fill have small file sizes for emailing, are easily edited and are industry standard. It is strongly recommended that if you wish to reproduce your logo in different situations at varying sizes (event banners, building signs, letterheads) that you have line work (vector) EPS versions at hand for distribution. From that file the design studio can make graphics suitable for almost any purpose without compromising quality

Brand stewardship

This will depend on the size of your organisation. An identity or brand will grow with your business. For it to grow the way you want requires direction - to make sure that it means the same thing to you as it does to the general public. It is important to consider how you will manage its associations.

Trademarking

To properly protect the fundamental elements used in your identity you may take the additional step of registering it as a trademark. It offers protection against competitors riding in on your success. Contact IP Australia or seek legal advice.

Search the trademark database at www.ipaustralia.gov.au

The company you keep

As an exercise, collect the logos of the clients you want to work with and place your own logo amongst them. How does it compare? How does it compare to the companies you want to out gun? Do your staff feel like handing out their card? Do they have any reservations about your current look?

Internal and external use

How will the logo to be used internally? What sort of equipment and uses will it have. What other organisations will you supply it to? Will you need a style guide?

Letterhead Legalities 

Section 153 of the Corporations Act effectively provides that a company must set out in full its name and ACN on all public documents the first time it is used in a document. This is especially important for letterheads, the basis of many official company documents. This does not include business cards for example but most other documents are "caught". Many company names are similar and the ACN is the real identifier these days when undertaking a company search. The legislature is at pains to allow those dealing with companies to identify those with whom they are dealing, hence the requirement.