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Hi there.
Speaker:I see that you made it over to the new tips
Speaker:and talk portion of the podcast.
Speaker:These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and
Speaker:things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.
Speaker:I redid the podcast logo,
Speaker:and many of you participated in that and helped me out.
Speaker:So I thought I would share with you the four steps
Speaker:that I went through in this process of doing a total
Speaker:logo refresh for the podcast.
Speaker:This doesn't mean like a whole brand revamp,
Speaker:because your brand is way more than just your logo,
Speaker:right? It's not just visuals.
Speaker:Your brand encompasses everything.
Speaker:Every single experience that somebody has with you.
Speaker:We're just talking right now today about the logo and in
Speaker:my case,
Speaker:it's the podcast logo.
Speaker:And so this might apply to you.
Speaker:If you're ever thinking of refreshing your company logo,
Speaker:overall, some of your packaging,
Speaker:anything where you might put images out specifically,
Speaker:let me share with you what I did my thinking behind
Speaker:it. Pros,
Speaker:cons, some things that could make you stumble a little bit
Speaker:along the way.
Speaker:The first thing to consider where we should start with most
Speaker:things is why you're doing this in the first place.
Speaker:What's the reason what's the value.
Speaker:Why do it,
Speaker:for me specifically with the podcast,
Speaker:I felt like it was time.
Speaker:I've been podcasting now for almost six years crazy to say,
Speaker:and I've already changed the image a couple of times already,
Speaker:but I just decided I was ready to do something a
Speaker:little bit different.
Speaker:My podcast logo before it was a bright yellow background with,
Speaker:within the name gift biz unwrapped in my image there,
Speaker:but it's all yellow and black,
Speaker:which are two of my five.
Speaker:If you want to add black,
Speaker:then I've got five brand logo colors.
Speaker:So I was using two of them.
Speaker:And I liked the idea of that yellow in the back,
Speaker:because it was really sharp,
Speaker:especially when you do a podcast,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:when you scroll like the podcast feed,
Speaker:I felt like it really stands out and yellow stands for
Speaker:tearfulness and all of that,
Speaker:but it also stands for caution.
Speaker:And I thought about that as I was doing it,
Speaker:but I decided to go with the yellow anyway,
Speaker:and it served me well for a long time,
Speaker:but I'm gravitating to a lighter feel for the brand.
Speaker:Overall. Again,
Speaker:the brand is not just your visual images,
Speaker:but on the image side only,
Speaker:I'm going more with white backgrounds,
Speaker:more light and airy type images.
Speaker:And so I felt like now was a great time for
Speaker:me to put the podcast in line with that as well.
Speaker:And honestly,
Speaker:I also felt like as we're exiting a year,
Speaker:that was very challenging.
Speaker:Mentally. I wanted to do something new and fresh and different
Speaker:just from an emotional.
Speaker:And if you will.
Speaker:So having said all of that,
Speaker:those were my reasons.
Speaker:And if you're thinking of a logo adjustment,
Speaker:what would your reasons be?
Speaker:Have the why?
Speaker:Very clear,
Speaker:because changing a logo takes time and yes,
Speaker:money think about this time because you're going to create the
Speaker:logo, first of all,
Speaker:and then having to switch it out everywhere too,
Speaker:is money and time.
Speaker:Right? Think about it.
Speaker:Like you've got your email footers,
Speaker:obviously your website,
Speaker:any collateral materials that you use,
Speaker:any packaging,
Speaker:anywhere that that logo is,
Speaker:it's going to have to end up getting switched out.
Speaker:And you often forget where your logo sits everywhere.
Speaker:That's why I'm saying it.
Speaker:It does cost time and money.
Speaker:Once you've got your why that isn't even the first step
Speaker:I'm going to go through now and share with you the
Speaker:four steps that I took as I was doing this revamp.
Speaker:So the first thing to think about is the brand that
Speaker:you already have out there.
Speaker:If you're doing a full revamp,
Speaker:then I would go back and really start with your colors.
Speaker:What are going to be the brand colors?
Speaker:Now for me,
Speaker:I already knew my brand colors.
Speaker:I wasn't switching up any of my brand colors.
Speaker:I just was going to make some more dominant than others.
Speaker:So I was already on my way with that.
Speaker:That's not anything I would need to think of,
Speaker:but if you're really looking at your brand and thinking,
Speaker:you're going to switch up all your colors,
Speaker:the first thing to do is start with,
Speaker:well, what are the colors going to be?
Speaker:What's the receptivity of the colors?
Speaker:What do they mean?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:just like I was talking about before yellow can be cheerful,
Speaker:but it could also be cautionary.
Speaker:But so this is something to think about is what are
Speaker:your brand colors?
Speaker:Get those down,
Speaker:Pat. First,
Speaker:if you want to do any updating of photos,
Speaker:now I put a more current photo in.
Speaker:I decided that that was something I wanted to do is
Speaker:update my photo just by a couple of years.
Speaker:Yes. But different photo.
Speaker:So get all of your assets in a row and then
Speaker:start brainstorming.
Speaker:I just went into Canva and started creating all different types
Speaker:of designs,
Speaker:looked at some things that Canva provided,
Speaker:made adjustments accordingly and came up with,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:gosh, 30 different designs that I liked.
Speaker:So that was step one.
Speaker:Okay. Making sure I liked my colors,
Speaker:deciding on any other images that I thought I would want
Speaker:in the logo and then just brainstorming away creativity,
Speaker:abounds, and even crazy things.
Speaker:Cause you know how easy it is in Canva to throw
Speaker:background in,
Speaker:change the opacity,
Speaker:add some texture,
Speaker:pull it out because it doesn't look good.
Speaker:Try something new.
Speaker:You can do all of these different things right on the
Speaker:spot. And this is one of the things I like versus
Speaker:hiring a graphic artist.
Speaker:Any of you graphic artists out there,
Speaker:I'm sorry to say it that way,
Speaker:but you can see right away whether it's something that you
Speaker:like and that resonates with you.
Speaker:Once I had all my call,
Speaker:it let's call it 30 ideas that I liked.
Speaker:Then I whittled it down to only four.
Speaker:And that was kind of difficult.
Speaker:I have to admit,
Speaker:figuring out which were going to be my foreign.
Speaker:I'll tell you why the four in a second,
Speaker:I went back to my why,
Speaker:which really helped me.
Speaker:Remember. I said,
Speaker:I wanted more of a white background,
Speaker:lighter feel that helped me get rid of some of the
Speaker:ones that were too dark.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I was gravitating back to yellow backgrounds or pink backgrounds.
Speaker:That really wasn't where I wanted to go.
Speaker:I wanted more of a white background,
Speaker:so that helped me.
Speaker:So I whittled it down to four,
Speaker:which led me into my second step,
Speaker:which was,
Speaker:and many of you participated in this and helped me out.
Speaker:So you're going to remember this on Sunday morning,
Speaker:I put up in a gift biz breeze,
Speaker:which is my Facebook group.
Speaker:Any of you who are gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters, and makers here,
Speaker:feel free to jump over into that group and become part
Speaker:of some of these decisions.
Speaker:I make all along great group for support as well too.
Speaker:But I put up a photo and said,
Speaker:okay, I have four images.
Speaker:Which one do you like the best and a little trickier
Speaker:for taking this step.
Speaker:If you decide to include a community or get feedback from
Speaker:others on your images,
Speaker:make sure that when you start doing that,
Speaker:you're liking all the images that you put up.
Speaker:Okay? Because if you're throw up one random one that you're
Speaker:like, Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I hope no one ever takes that one because if they
Speaker:do, I'm not going to like it.
Speaker:I'm not going to be able to live with it.
Speaker:Well, don't do that because what if everybody loves that one
Speaker:and then you asked for their input and then you're not
Speaker:following any of the input that you were given.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:that doesn't feel good for people who took their time to
Speaker:vote on something.
Speaker:The thing that I found really valuable about that is not
Speaker:only, you know,
Speaker:some people just voted one,
Speaker:two, three,
Speaker:or four,
Speaker:but other people told me why they were choosing the one
Speaker:that they chose,
Speaker:which was really helpful as I continued going.
Speaker:So if you're ever doing this where someone is asking for
Speaker:some input,
Speaker:if there's a good reason that you can say really succinctly
Speaker:of why you chose the one,
Speaker:you did provide that for them,
Speaker:because it's really helpful.
Speaker:So for me,
Speaker:pretty much everybody chose image number two.
Speaker:So it was kind of a no brainer.
Speaker:Okay. It's going to be image number two from there though,
Speaker:I took it back and I did a few more versions
Speaker:of that image.
Speaker:Number two,
Speaker:like one of the choices instead of my photo being four
Speaker:color, I turned it to black and white.
Speaker:One of them,
Speaker:I added a pink border.
Speaker:One was an orange border.
Speaker:It was the same base image that they all chose,
Speaker:but a few more versions.
Speaker:So then I put that up as a second photo and
Speaker:many people also came back with that one with good comments.
Speaker:And so then I was done.
Speaker:You can't abuse people that you're asking feedback from you can't
Speaker:keep going back and forth with answers,
Speaker:but I felt like two was fine.
Speaker:And so then from there I needed to make a choice
Speaker:and I have to tell you all day,
Speaker:Sunday, first,
Speaker:it was one of them for specific reasons.
Speaker:Then there was another one for specific reasons.
Speaker:And then another one.
Speaker:And then I'm like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I have no idea now which one to do.
Speaker:So I decided I had to go for a walk.
Speaker:I had to just get away from it.
Speaker:And this is my step three.
Speaker:At some point you just have to decide,
Speaker:right? Like honestly,
Speaker:logos are important and colors are important because it gives a
Speaker:vibe for the business.
Speaker:But at some point you just have to decide and move
Speaker:on. So my third point is set a timeframe and then
Speaker:just choose one and roll with it.
Speaker:So I went walking and I didn't let myself really think
Speaker:about it.
Speaker:I came back,
Speaker:I looked at it one more time.
Speaker:I took into account and re-read all the comments.
Speaker:Any of you who were there,
Speaker:who helped me do this and commented,
Speaker:I really,
Speaker:really appreciate it because it really,
Speaker:really helped me.
Speaker:Then I did tweak the final logo that I ended up
Speaker:using just the littlest bit,
Speaker:but came back from my walk,
Speaker:chose the logo,
Speaker:made a,
Speaker:just a small adjustment done complete over that was it.
Speaker:Okay. So that was 0.3.
Speaker:But now I'm going to also give you 0.4
Speaker:and that was the rollout.
Speaker:And what I mean by that is you can make the
Speaker:adjustment and the refresh of a logo into an event for
Speaker:your business.
Speaker:Especially if like I did,
Speaker:you involve your community,
Speaker:you can do kind of a lead up to a day
Speaker:of voting.
Speaker:You could play around with this a lot to use this
Speaker:as social media posts,
Speaker:content, getting closer with your community,
Speaker:all of that type of thing.
Speaker:And then you could do a tease before the logo is
Speaker:revealed. See how you could like build this into a fun
Speaker:campaign for me.
Speaker:I didn't do that because I have so many things up
Speaker:with gift biz on wrapped overall,
Speaker:I'm giving you a behind the scenes peak.
Speaker:So we have the at-home craft and gift show coming up.
Speaker:I've got a webinar coming up,
Speaker:which is really exciting shortly.
Speaker:My signature course is going to open again.
Speaker:Too many things is just confusing and it feels too heavy.
Speaker:So for that reason,
Speaker:I decided to do this just short and sweet.
Speaker:By the time I decided on the logo,
Speaker:I put it up Sunday night and now we're going into
Speaker:all the different resources and adjusting all of the graphics,
Speaker:podcasts, graphics,
Speaker:guest, graphics,
Speaker:email, signatures,
Speaker:website, you know,
Speaker:all the different places where the logo sits.
Speaker:Now, the other thing that I'm going to do now that
Speaker:I'm going through this process,
Speaker:and this is another tip for you is I'm writing down
Speaker:everywhere. The logo is so that if I ever do this
Speaker:again, which come three years from now,
Speaker:probably I will is I can then just go off a
Speaker:checklist and say,
Speaker:okay, website,
Speaker:got it.
Speaker:Change the logo.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:Apple podcasts changed the logo.
Speaker:Signatures changed the logo,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that kind of thing.
Speaker:Oh, business cards.
Speaker:I need to reprint business cards now see cost anyway.
Speaker:So those are my four steps for you in terms of
Speaker:deciding to do a logo,
Speaker:refresh, it all starts with why are you doing this in
Speaker:the first place?
Speaker:Make sure that it makes sense and is a business purpose
Speaker:for you to make an adjustment.
Speaker:For me,
Speaker:it was just changing a little bit,
Speaker:lightening up the brand a little bit,
Speaker:just doing something different,
Speaker:a little refresh.
Speaker:So you do that before you do anything.
Speaker:Then the first step is deciding on your colors.
Speaker:Maybe you're keeping your colors.
Speaker:Maybe you're adjusting your colors,
Speaker:gather any images that you're considering using.
Speaker:So you have all of those visual assets ready to go,
Speaker:go into Canva or wherever you're going to go and play
Speaker:around a little bit,
Speaker:get more examples than you would use because the best ideas
Speaker:come later.
Speaker:So it's not the first thing you put up.
Speaker:It's not the second tweak that you make.
Speaker:It's not the third thing where you add a color,
Speaker:do like 30 different versions because your best stuff comes later.
Speaker:Changing out some fonts,
Speaker:perhaps putting highlights or different glowy things on the fonts.
Speaker:Like whatever it might be,
Speaker:all those great ideas come later then.
Speaker:So that's step one,
Speaker:step two,
Speaker:get input from people really helpful.
Speaker:And it's not just you,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you get so close to a task that sometimes it's hard
Speaker:for me.
Speaker:It was like unanimous decisions,
Speaker:almost all the way through.
Speaker:So that was really helpful.
Speaker:Then three,
Speaker:make a timeline and at some point,
Speaker:just choose it,
Speaker:choose it and use it right.
Speaker:Be done.
Speaker:And then the fourth is consider a,
Speaker:a real promotional rollout for your new imagery,
Speaker:because you definitely can.
Speaker:In my case,
Speaker:I didn't for the reasons that I explained,
Speaker:but you definitely,
Speaker:definitely could.
Speaker:Okay. So those are my points.
Speaker:If you're considering a brand refresh those of you who helped
Speaker:me choose,
Speaker:thank you so much from the bottom of my heart,
Speaker:I'm really happy with the way it looks.
Speaker:It incorporates almost all the colors of the brand.
Speaker:Not totally,
Speaker:but almost all the colors of the brand feels right in
Speaker:line. And now that I'm looking at it,
Speaker:I have this renewed energy and spring freshening up spirit.
Speaker:That's a wrap.
Speaker:I'm going to get to the point kind of girl.
Speaker:And this is what you can expect from these quick mid-week
Speaker:sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream
Speaker:of yours.
Speaker:Share your handmade products with us.
