Logo Design
Everything begins as a rule from your company logo. Your business cards, letterheads, envelopes, brochures, eflyers and website will all have your logo incorporated. Put any ideas that you have on paper, for example symbols, words, shapes and colours. A good graphic designer will certainly be able to help you here.
You can then design your own logo, or purchase one on the net and have it tailored to suit you. This is usually the cheaper option and indeed many logo sites are actually very good - take a look at the 3D logos available on the net - very impressive.
The other option is to have your logo designed by a professional graphic designer for a totally customized solution. Most popular logos are actually very simple, with just one, two or three colours. This is because it is easy to remember and print friendly. Should your logo be seen very briefly, for example on an envelope on an office desk, it is remembered easily. This is one reason why you put your company logo on all your company media - it is branding, advertising and recognition of your company.

Business Cards, Letterheads & Envelopes
The design for these is quite simple, with many templates available on the internet. Your graphic designer will design you a choice of four or five templates also. Once you have chosen your design you will need to print them.
If your company stationery requirements are small, you can print on an inkjet printer (printing as and when you need). The nest step up would be to print using a laser printer, these very effective office machines can print 30 letterheads plus per minute for example. Requirements of 1,000 + would be cheaper to print by "offset" printing. This would be done by a professional printing company and be more cost effective. You will also have a wider choice of paper and card for your stationery.

Brochures
Many companies require brochures which I would advise you have designed by a professional graphic designer. He or she will design you a few different layouts for you to choose from, and submit the graphic ready for print. This is not a job for the DIY designer, a professional job will certainly save you time and money. One of two printing processes will most likely be used. The first is "Digital Offset" which is cost efffective for 50-1000 brochures. The second is "Offset" which is cost effective for 1,000 brochures plus. Brochures cost money, so get your design right and finished to print standards or it will cost you in time and corrections.

Eflyers
Eflyers are an extremely cost effective marketing solution. They can either be a simple "newsletter" or more a detailed graphical eflyer complete with links to your website. These are simply sent by your email address to your customers. You can purchase email lists or make up your own using low cost software available on the internet. You can target your potential customers by the hundreds and thousands.

Website
When designing your website, structure it around your business, allowing for any future expansion of services or products. A webste should be simple and easy to use. Do not make it complicated or viewers will simply get bored and frustrated and move on to another site. One quite important factor to bear in mind which is often overlooked, is whether to have a "Flash" site or "HTML" site. "Flash" sites have moving pictures and/or animation. They look great, but can be difficult to optimize to get you high up the search engine page. "HTML" sites are a little more simpler. They can still have "Flash" embedded in them, but will not have so many fancy features. They are much easier to optimize enabling you to get higher up the search engine page. Your site should be hosted with a reputable web hosting company using up to date technology. Hosting is not expensive, usually has many extras and enables you to reach all around the globe.

Written by Zep Birdsall
www.ozvisual.com