Graphic Design FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions I often get. Please review the FAQs to see if any of them answer your specific question.
In general terms, graphic design is the process and art of combining text and graphics and communicating an effective message in the design of logos, graphics, brochures, newsletters, posters, signs, and any other type of visual communication. Today’s graphic designers often use desktop publishing software and techniques to achieve their goals.
If your goal is to create and print your material from your desktop printer for personal use, such as greeting cards, flyers, or craft projects using desktop publishing software, you will not need a graphic designer.
What a graphic designer will bring to your process is an in-depth knowledge of graphic design and the elements and principles of graphic design, as well as the software skills required to use desktop publishing and image programs. A graphic designer will also be conversant in preparing files for use by others – be they printers or online Web hosting providers, ensuring the trouble-free output of your finished communication piece.
A designer is a communicator of your idea, product, and solution to the world.
With training or experience as a visual communicator and problem solver, a designer will combine your content with elements of colour, typography, line, space, shape and balance to create a finished communications piece for your business or organization. I will work with you to explore different options or design directions to solve your particular communications challenge.
A designer will also prepare your finished piece’s ‘mechanical requirements’.
Prepare it to the specifications of a printer, magazine, Web host, television studio or any other output medium to ensure trouble-free output of a final finished product (such as a printed flyer or a website).
I realize you have many options when choosing a graphic design provider, and thank you for the opportunity to present my solutions to you.
Why should you choose me over the competition?
Experience: With over twenty years of design experience, I bring a broad base of experience and knowledge to your design project. I am passionate about the design business, and helping organizations and businesses succeed and gain a competitive advantage.
Flexibility: Examine my portfolio, and you will see the breadth of work I have completed over the years. I have experience creating almost any type of project or design you require. Suppose I don’t have experience with a particular design area. In that case, I work with a network of design associates who can lend their expertise to your project, ensuring trouble-free production of any item you can imagine.
Creativity: Creativity is a very subjective topic. Examine my portfolio, and you will see how I have solved my past client’s design problems. I hope this is an indicator of my creative abilities.
Feel free to contact me to discuss potential design solutions to your communication challenges.
Risk-free: It never hurts to talk to someone to help clarify your design requirement. Use my Preliminary Project Brief Form to submit your design project today.
Competitive Pricing: I am a relatively small design shop with significantly less overhead than larger design firms, allowing me to pass the savings on to you.
A logo is a combination of characters, images and/or graphics creating a single design used to identify an individual, business, company, organization, team or school. The logo is typically a visual image used as a company trademark or instead of the company name. When consisting solely of stylized textual elements, such symbols are referred to as logotypes or wordmarks.
Yes, Designed By TATE is a full-service freelance design firm capable of creating your logo and branding and using that branding in everything from Web sites to your business collateral.
You will receive many different files of your finished logo design in various sizes and file formats, which you can use in print projects to websites. If you prefer or require a different type of file format, just let me know, and I will be happy to supply it.
It is a genuine concern of every client to know their financial commitment before embarking on a project. I wish there were a simple answer to this; however, design services are not so easily quantifiable, as requirement varies for each project.
Keep in mind that I charge per hour. See my Price Guide for more info.
There are typically two different types of logo design companies on the Internet that offer ‘package deals:
One sells pre-made logos. They design a group of logos related to a field of business. Typically these logos are iconic in nature or use a standard font face. You pick the logo/icon; they change the font to match your business name. These are the cheapest deals that you will typically find. With the cheap deals come some disadvantages, including the fact that your new logo may have sold to many different clients, so you may not be the only company using this logo, so registering the logo may prove problematic.
The second type of company does ‘custom work’. These logos are designed from scratch and are designed to fit your company. I belong to this group. Some of these custom logo design companies pre-package their logo designs in packages which offer different:
– initial concepts/variations
– turn around time
– number of revisions or changes
– number and variety of final file formats
– number of designers working on your logo
At Designed By TATE I prefer to offer tailored designs based specifically on your needs, not a pre-packaged design deal.
I feel that I should offer you the widest variety of samples/concepts/variations to explore different possibilities. Many package deals limit the number of concepts you will receive.
I feel that the delivery time should match your schedule. Many companies offer complete logo projects within 24 hours, and I question how effective the final product will be with such a rushed schedule. I allow time for adequate collection of information, market research, design concepts, and revisions within your schedule.
I believe in providing an entire library of final files, in various formats (gif, jpg, etc.), in a variety of colour variations and sizes for any future use you may have. Some companies limit the number and types of final files you receive.
Some companies have a limited number of designers to work on your designs. I will assign the appropriate number of designers to work on your project depending on your specific requirements. My work is original, and I do not use or resell pre-made logo designs.
So when it comes down to it, you can certainly opt for a package deal from a logo design firm, but be sure to compare the various factors above and see which package offers the most bang for your design buck.
Wordmark logos: Wordmarks are the most widely used logotype, and are typically comprised of text and a typeface. The text or company name is usually written and given a unique typographic treatment (Google, eBay, Netflix).
Brandmarks / Iconmarks: A strong yet simple graphic symbol, that represents the company. This can be realistic or more abstract (Nike swoosh, Mc Donalds, Apple Computer).
Combination marks: A combination of an iconic symbol along with a wordmark. This is a flexible means of conveying the company name and introducing an element to act as a symbol for the company. The elements can be used separately or together.
Depending on the type of logo being created, I may use an illustration element. These can range from simple icons to more complex colour illustrations. Keep in mind that the more colours employed in a logo, the more expensive it could cost to print (in business cards, letterhead, etc.).
I accept and prefer secure online payments using your credit card, debit card, or your bank account via PayPal.com. Opening an account is fast, easy, and FREE.
In certain particular circumstances, you also may be able to make a barter arrangement, either for goods or services or a link exchange arrangement depending on the nature of your business, i.e. non-profit association.
No problem! Changes happen. I am happy to incorporate your comments and revisions, whether they happen at the beginning or middle of your project. Any changes will be added to the final price for your project, I charge from $140AUS per hour. More about my prices here Price-Guide
Final logo files can be delivered by a variety of means. Files can be emailed to you, or uploaded to Dropbox for you to download.
As long as you give me as much clear direction in the initial brief I should have a few designs in the right direction. Keep in mind that I charge per hour. See my Price Guide for more info.
Artwork that is properly prepared and ready to be sent to a printer for the printing process. Traditional prepress consisted of boards or mats with all elements in place. Today, laser or inkjet printouts may serve as camera-ready art, but in many cases, many printers can now accept digital files either via upload, email, FTP, Memory Stick or CD. The concept of sending a physical printout is becoming less common.
As previously stated many modern printers can print jobs from a digital file, so sending an electronic version of your logo is typically all you will need. Camera-ready artwork is only needed if you are planning to print your stationery in spot (Pantone) colours, and your print shop is using old technology.
Vector files are files created in vector graphics software programs such as Abobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand or CorelDRAW. Vector files are files that you can resize, scale, and even change colours or fonts without losing any quality or resolution on your image. This is in comparison to a bitmap format (see below). Vector files are mostly used by professional designers or print shops where the highest reproduction quality is needed for your logo. Common vector file formats include EPS (Encapsulated PostScript), AI (Adobe Illustrator) and CDR (CorelDRAW).
Yes, standard with every logo design, I provide you with a full set of scalable EPS vector files.
Bitmap or raster files are most commonly used on the Web and can be used in every type of program from desktop publishing applications to word processing applications and page or Web layout programs. Bitmap/raster files are made up of a fixed number of bits (or pixels) and have a specific resolution at a specific size. If the image is resized/enlarged, the image may show a distortion. As such, bitmap files are typically used in lower resolution print uses or on the Web. Common bitmap file formats include GIF, JPEG, TIFF and BMP.
Pantone / Pantone Matching System or PMS colours are a colour matching system. A ‘Pantone’ colour is one where the mixture of basic colours is based on a specific formula. Therefore the specification of one of the 1000+ Pantone colours will lead to consistency of colour from more than one printer/supplier. Clients normally specify Pantone colours by the number allocated to each one (e.g. PMS 032 Red).
Typically I create logos in a variety of colour options, CMYK is what colour palette I normally use.
The CMYK colour model (process colour, four colours) is a subtractive colour model, used in colour printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. CMYK refers to the four inks used in the majority of colour printing: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (Black).
If your logo uses specific colour (eg: Coke Pantone Red 185c), then I could use a spot (Pantone) colour.
When printing in CMYK the printer used 4 inks to make up every colour. If you have a logo in a spot colour it adds extra fees as the printer has to add the colour to the end of the print job.
Scaleable vector logo files can be opened, changed and edited by you using software program such as Adobe Illustrator
Most people head right to Adobe Acrobat Reader when they need to open a PDF. Adobe created the PDF standard and its program is certainly the most popular free PDF reader out there. It’s completely fine to use.
Bitmap files can be used in almost all common software applications and can be edited using applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel PHOTO-PAINT, or JASC Paint Shop Pro.
Your artwork will be created in a vector format, so using any vector editing application such as Adobe Illustrator you will be able to open, change and edit your files.
There is a difference between how your monitor or phone, or tablet displays colours on the screen, how your printer prints and how a printer’s press prints. We match your logos RGB colours with Pantone colours for your printed stationery. Pantone colours may appear different on screen because we match them on the Pantone chart as it will appear when it gets printed. You will also be provided with a version of your logo in RGB colours. You will have to calibrate your screen with the printer to simulate how the final colour will accurately look coming off a CMYK press.
Yes, I can design your full logo branding and complete stationery package. Please fill out my Preliminary Project Brief Form.
As a very broad generalization, my design process follows the following steps:
- You complete the Preliminary Project Brief Form to submit your project specifics to me.
- I will either be in touch to clarify your requirements or provide you with a basic price quote for your project.
- Once you have accepted the basic price quote, I will be in touch to conduct more thorough creative research about you, your company/product/service and your design tastes and requirements.
- Your project gets booked in my schedule, then armed with your creative input, I will provide you with some general designs (Design-time might be a few hours to a few weeks).
- You will provide comments about the first round of design concepts.
- There is a series of design/feedback/redesign/feedback cycles as your comments and changes are integrated into a more refined design.
- Once you have approved a final design, I will prepare the final files for delivery. This takes anywhere from 1-48 hours.
- Final files are delivered to you along with the project invoice.
- You provide payment within seven days.
Time frames are generalized and can be adjusted to match your schedule.
After completing the Preliminary Project Brief Form, the information is sent to me.
Within 48 hours or less, I will either be in touch to clarify your requirements or send you a basic quotation for your design project.
Feel free to ask questions, clarify points, or make additional requests.
Should you accept the quotation, you will notify me, and I will begin your design project.
Depending on the type of project or design requirements, you should see initial design concepts anywhere from 48 hours to a few weeks after the start of the design process.
I can send you basic design concepts via email as attached linked files (JPG or PDF).
Any source materials are welcome. I can accept Windows or Apple OS formatted files in all popular software formats. Please contact me to clarify specific file requirements.
Once your design is finished, I can deliver your final file:
– via email as an attachment depending on size.
– upload to Dropbox and send you a link to download
– In rare cases, even save files onto a CD or USB and deliver via regular post or courier
For six months following your project, I keep your design in an active archive should you lose or damage your files or require follow-up work. After this period, I archive your files, and any retrieval at this point may include a nominal cost.
I suggest you get cloud-based storage such as Dropbox.
A Dropbox Basic account is free and includes 1 TB (1,000 GB) of space. You can download free apps to access Dropbox from your computer and mobile device.
Once I start the design process, you can communicate with me via E-Mail.
Projects are booked into slots to mark out my day for different clients; Jobs are booked in at the start and end of each day.
Working this way, I can get the most out of my creative process with no distractions.
If I have to have a meeting or any phone calls, I charge from $75 per hour. (This includes driving time to the meeting venue).
See my Price Guide for more information.