Design galleries are very popular these days.  Perhaps way too popular.  It seems like every so often you will see sites similar to these that pop out of nowhere, and they would either be the same category, or something different.  Regardless of it being trendy, overused, and abused, I have to admit that these design galleries make it so much easier to gain inspiration, references, and you can also learn from them and enhance your skills in design.

Here are two galleries, that I personally use for inspiration and ideas.

Creattica

One of my favorite galleries that I always visit for inspiration for things like logos, business cards, and Photoshop work would have to be Creattica.  Creattica contains all different type of graphics from logos to even flash work.  The gallery also features a section where anyone can upload their work to the site and get featured once it has been cleared by the administrators.  You can also sign up and rank other people’s work.

As a result, this gallery site can turn into a place to get critiques and help from others.

Inspirationti.me

Inspirationti.me is a very unique site.  One of the first things that really got me to remember this site was the domain name.  By having a .me instead of .com, it’s very easy to remember since it spells out “Inspiration Time“.  This gallery site is geared more towards web design.  The examples they show at the site helps me a lot to pick the sites that I like to use for inspiration since it saves me time without having to click on every link to see the site.

With the gallery being nicely categorized such as icons, huge typography, and even colors, it’s easy for anyone to search through the site to find the inspiration you need.

Design galleries are great to have in your arsenal.  There are many out there that cover a variety of categories: Web Design, Icons, Fonts, and Illustrations.  In the near future, I will be releasing one as well.  I’m not exactly sure what it’ll be about, but I’ll be making the addition when the time comes.

I hope you enjoy this week’s Mundane Monday, and that you will collect all these inspirational resources into one archive to have one powerful library of references.

If you have any galleries that you like to share, feel free to comment and share the link.

What’s the difference?

You can never tell, but often enough, if you’re paying for a $50 logo, you might be getting something that doesn’t fit well to yourself.

Branding isn’t just a a service to make a logo.  It’s a process that both the designer and client should go through together to find out what’s the best way to represent the client’s philosophy, morals, services, and profession.  Once both has explored the textures, color palettes, the font style, and overall feel, then that’s when the branding has just begun.  The client should test out that branding, or even designers themselves should explore the use of their logos in business cards, brochures, watermarks, etc..

Once the client feels everything is in place, then you have fully branded them.  If you can strip something off the brand without it making a big difference, then you probably haven’t branded them correctly.  Imagine companies like Coca Cola or T-mobile.  Imagine them with different colors or different fonts.  Sure they might be the same product, but for the most part, you’d probably think it’s a bootlegged version of the real deal.

So how do you make a logo for yourself?  Surely you can’t just make something you think is “cool” and “awesome” for yourself.  You need something presentable, something you can show to others, something that represents you and you can’t live without it.  So here are a few tips and steps you might want to consider for yourself when you brand or rebrand yourself or another client.

Tips on branding yourself

1.  Who are you?

The first thing you want to determine is who you are.  What’s your name, your company, or alias that you are branding.  Sometimes you don’t have to think out of the box for a name.  Use your own!  If you have a common name, then you might want to find a creative way to integrate it into something.  Countless times at work, I see many people who’s businesses or companies is simply their name with photography attached to the end.  Not only it helps spreading your name, but also pretty much gives you a guaranteed first spot on the search engines.  As for me, I chose to do “Creative-Le” or “Creative-Le Designs“.  It’s simple, a lot of people will think it’s “Creative-ly” so it also acts as a pun.  Know who you are or who you are branding.

2.  Play with typography.

A lot of people think that most brands are just symbols, or some fancy mascot, but why not just simply type your name out?  It’s easy to do, simple to integrate, people will read understand it, and you’re half way done with your brand.  Try your name in different fonts whether it be thin like Helvetica, or thick like Impact. Mess around with the kerning and spacing but never skew or stretch  your font.  By doing so, you destroy the art associated with the font.

3.  Mess around with colors

Utilize different colors.  Determine whether you like warm colors or cool colors.  A color palette is important to a brand since it can define how your site/business cards/products, and other branded items.  Don’t be too overwhelmed with color.  A good test of your logo that you want to try out is to make it monotone and see how it looks in black and white.  If it looks great still, then continue on.  If not, then you might want to test out different versions of your logo.

4.  Don’t settle for one.

Even if you think you absolutely love that logo/brand, remember to put it through the tests.  Try different sizes, positions, colors in order to find that best version.  Once you got it, you can consider the job well done.  Vtension aka Vina Nguyen has recently rebranded herself with a new logo.  Notice how he manipulates the little elements in her logo and it creates a whole new feel.  She finally decided on one and will be using it on her future blog that will be coded soon together along with mine.

And for anyone that’s curious, here’s my final brand for myself.  Simple, yet a little twist.

Branding takes time.  It probably took me 2 days or so to figure mine out and it took Vina about a day or two as well.  Take it slow when doing something like this (unless you’re pressed for time from a client)  However, in the end, you should remember that making logos isn’t just a 2 hour job thing.  The more time you take into research and experimenting and the more a client knows about the process behind branding; the more value your designs will be along with your logo having more meaning to it.

As always, this is all from experience and from working with companies that deal with this as well.  All designers and people have their own opinions.  What validates mine?  My experience and that’s what most of my posts will be about.

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Our next post will show you my design that I have finally settled for my blog and site.