I want to stand out from the crowd... what do you suggest?
It shouldn't be your logo that stands out from the crowd, it should be your brand in general. As mentioned above, your logo will be placed on an array of things so you want it to be versatile and to work. It's all the associations that will make the logo different from the rest, though some words to help you find that 'wow factor'. Bold, simple and understood.
Not at all, just take a look at some of the worlds most popular brands, their logos are simple and sometimes even word marks. What makes a brand a brand is the whole shebang; the stories you tell, your service, your product. Your logo on top is the brand identifier. Just look at brands like Dior. In fact, these days we're seeing a trend in really reduced logos, so watch that space.
Yes, it's important because colours hold certain meanings in different cultures. For eg, white stands for purity, yellow for happiness, red for urgency, green for fresh. Things like that. So whilst it's important to challenge the norm with colour, it's also important to remember the associations we have with those colours as a culture. For eg, how would you feel about a dental surgery with yellow and black colours? Erks you right? It's because we think minty fresh, so the colours green, blue and white come to mind.
Always Vector EPS or AI (Illustrator). They're editable files that can be resized without pixelation (blurriness). It's also good to get jpgs and pngs for online use. Be sure to ask for both RGB (screen) and CMYK (print) versions too, because if you print an RGB file it won't be as vibrant. So the CMYK file will be a truer indication of what that will look like. Likewise if you put a CMYK file on screen, it will become super fluro, so you'll know you've used the wrong one.
Absolutely. As stated in the above answers it's an identifier. Though these days we're seeing assisting branded assets take as much precedence as the logo. Take Instagram for instance, people associate the brand with the little camera icon, when in fact it's the running Instagram script that's their logo (just open the app and it's top centre). Though that right there shows the importance of assisting assets.
Yes and no, you want it to still be seen as fashionable and whilst some trends don't date, others do. A perfect example is the 70's retro kitchen, whilst that was great back then, people see it now and scrunch their nose (although that's made a come back recently lol). Use a good designer and understand the basics of communication and your logo will be timeless.
A lot of logos usually have tweaks over the years, whether it's slight colour changes, font changes, placements etc. Bigger brands do it all the time, Coke especially. They just do it subtly so you can't really notice the change, and that's a good thing because you don't want that to affect brand recognition (that put simply is the ability to recognise a brand).
The same way you would any other service, ask people! Trust is a huge thing when it comes to working in business, see who others have used and what they've said. Look on Instagram (there are heaps), Google (obvs), places like The Loop are also full of creative people. Just make sure you suss out their previous work and if it aligns with what you're after. Before you commit, have a chat with them, don't write someone off based on price, good prices generally reflect good value. One may charge hourly, another project base. A good designer will be able to truly understand what you need without going back and forth a million times. Think about that.
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(note: the usb photos are not examples of YO&O work)