07 August, 2014

Designing for Business: Company Logo, Website, Blog - WordPress or Google - & Social Media

Whether starting a new venture or refreshing an existing business, presenting an identifiable company image will reinforce your strategy to get noticed.

Some small business owners are obsessed by image and others are completely indifferent to the idea of a company logo. Your business needs a logo, even if it is just a name in a specific style, e.g.

John Smith
Entrepreneur

A logo identifies the company and unifies all other output from the company - emails, business cards, products, advertisements, website, fleet vehicles and uniforms.

Examples of Logo Designs:

Logos designed by The BPc
  • Sightline Doors offer panoramic views; the implication is that an uninterrupted view would include the Earth's curve.
  • The Wf logo shown is an icon version of the full Welwyn Festival logo; the confetti around a quirky font helps to convey a party or festival.
  • The blue bird is the letter M, the boat is letter P; the whole scene creates the message of Marine Pursuits.

A logo can convey a great deal about your company style and ethos: solid, serious, friendly, fun. Some of these characteristics are quite clear in the examples shown above. This fundamental beginning will set much of the design criteria for all that follows - stationery, website, advertising, product packaging, etc. so it has to sit comfortably with the company's directors.

At The BPc, we can design your company logo, business cards, stationery (printable and software versions) and other aspects of corporate graphic design. We also design and build websites - static, CMS* or e-commerce - including SEO, and we frequently set up and customise WordPress or Google Blogs and related social media pages, e.g. Facebook and Twitter, often continuing to manage them for clients for a monthly fee.
*Content Management System - website content can be updated in-house by clients with minimal internet experience.

Examples of Blog & Social Media customisation:
set up and customisation of blogs and social media by www.thebpc.org.uk


Our Logo design service starts at £75, Blog/ Social Media set up & customisation from £75, CMS websites from £275 (but to be honest, most small business websites cost nearer £375 or more) and all prices are subject to vat.

More... Blog posts about Design Services (logo design, website design, blog design)

04 August, 2014

Review Your Twitter Settings + More...


Every now and then, it's a good idea to review your Twitter settings and, as there have been some major changes to Twitter this year, why not review your settings now?

Before you attempt to change your settings, make sure that you know your password because it will be required. Click on the cog (top right of your Twitter screen) and select Settings from the drop-down menu.

Under Account, you can be a responsible tweeter and mark your tweets as sensitive if, for example, you have a tendency to swear a lot or post adult content.

Security and Privacy is where you can check your settings for photo-tagging, location information and letting others find you by your email address. You can also switch off personalised suggestions and tailored promotional content (although you can't turn off all ads).

Skipping to Notifications... I have a plethora of spam emails to filter through each day and a number of remaining emails to deal with so I don't really want a ton of stuff from Twitter.

I manage my account with Web Notifications, which are all ticked with the 'by anyone' option selected. All the Email Notifications are un-ticked except for New Followers, Direct Messages and Performance Stats. This combination doesn't suit everyone but you should check the best options for your own use.

You may have noticed that the Profile photo you originally uploaded is a bit fuzzy now, as it has been stretched to fit Twitter's new format. Also your header image may need changing for the same reason.

Finally, you may be surprised at the number of Apps that you have allowed to access your Twitter account. I strongly suggest that you check these and disallow those you are unsure of - you can always re-allow them if you need to.

Bonus Info: Refining Your Use Of Twitter

If you are following a lot of accounts - really following and engaging with - you may find Twitter Lists useful as it can categorise them into, say, local, social, business, sports, family and friends. Accounts can be in more than one category, e.g. Hitchin football club could be in both local and sports. Lists are also essential if you have reached your Follow limit.

Muting Followers is an option to avoid offending someone by Un-following. Go to the cog icon on their profile or use the More button on one of their tweets and select the Mute option (you can always un-mute). Similarly, while you are on their profile, rather than Mute their tweets, you can elect to just stop receiving their re-tweets.

Follow www.Twitter.com/BPcUK :-)