Website design marketing and hosting in Telford Shropshire

Sounds grand doesn’t it? Corporate ID, surely that’s for big companies?

Yes, but it’s for small companies too, and any size in between. All it means is ‘Corporate’ or company, ‘ID’ or identity. Put simply it’s how your business is portrayed through printed and online material. It’s about setting standards and adhering to them. If your logo is red, always print it in red, always use original artwork when it is reproduced, always supply original artwork to sign writers, printers and magazines etc. Specify the typefaces to use and their sizes, always see proofs before anything is printed and ensure it matches your standards.

The easiest way to gain consistency is to appoint a member of staff who is responsible for your print and web requirements. Make sure that person gets some training in the basics. This person then becomes the point of contact for all media and they should set about finding professional designers and printers who they can get to know and work with.

If all that sounds too big and corporate for your company then think about finding a designer who can deal with all this for you. It needn’t be complicated it’s just about consistency.

Well presented stationery carries weight, it’s impressive when it’s received. It needn’t be expensive but the whole package has to be well thought out.

That means, the paper thickness and quality, how it folds, quality of printing and first impressions i.e. what is the first thing to be seen when it’s removed from the envelope.

If you have little money to spend on your stationery then spend it on your print, a flashy logo is going to be really let down if it’s printed out of register on poor quality paper. Whereas a simple logo or even a typeface logo will always look good when printed in one colour on good quality paper.

These days many printers will also do your artwork, but design isn’t necessarily the printers strong point. So if it’s a strong design and ID you are after you are better offommissioning a designer. There is nothing stopping you however having your design and artwork done by a designer and once you have the artwork on disk, buying the print yourself. You don’t have to have it done by all one company.

Corporate ID is often overlooked. A companies letterhead often gets produced and looks nothing like the brochure. Or the vans are sign written but the company name is in a different typestyle to everything else. A designer can help you keep your image intact by creating a manual that other can follow so they can produce consistent printed material and help to build your brand. And no, your business is not too small to have a design manual written.

At design conscious our background is in print, we have experience in producing everything from business cards to books and magazines. So who better to trust with your consistent image?