Читать книгу The Freelance Mum: A flexible career guide for better work-life balance - Annie Ridout - Страница 17

You’ll need an original logo, as the ones that come with WordPress templates won’t be good enough. If, like me, you’re not a designer, call in a favour or pay someone: the visual identity of your brand really matters. Freelance graphic designer Emily Brooks says: ‘A logo represents your business in any format – and people will recognise it as your stamp. It’s like a barcode, and it enables people to track you across all your platforms. The logo should capture the core; the essence of the brand.’ So even if your logo is just one letter, the font and colour and shape will eventually become your visual signature. ‘A logo should be versatile,’ says Emily, ‘it can change over time as your brand evolves.’

When briefing Matthew about the logo for The Early Hour, I said it was a parenting magazine so something playful or that nods to children/family would work well. That it should be unisex, positive and represent the early hours of the morning. He came back with a series of designs – some had a moon in the logo, some had a sun. Interestingly, he’d interpreted ‘the early hour’ as being both the end of the night and the beginning of the day. But I wanted to appeal to parents who are up early, so I opted for the sun. Also, this felt more positive. I love the logo he designed: it’s simple, clean and timeless – it really represents my brand.

On the subject of visual identity, try to avoid using obvious stock images across your website. Either take your own photographs, if you know how to take a good picture, or use a website like unsplash.com or designspiration.net where you can find better-quality (free) photographs. Just check whether you need the photographer’s permission, or to give a credit. Try canva.com (or the related app), which is great for simple picture editing if you don’t have Photoshop. It enables you to create one image containing a selection of photos, so I use it when I have two portrait pictures but need a landscape image for The Early Hour – I put the dimensions in and place the two images side by side. You can choose different backgrounds, or add fonts. This can be useful for creating social media posts (like quote boxes) too.