Tips & Talk 4 – 4 Steps to a Logo Refresh

Over time your logo can get stale, look outdated and be in need of a makeover. This does not need to be an overly drawn out process. Just follow these steps and you’ll be refreshed in no time!

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Transcript
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Hi there.

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I see that you made it over to the new tips

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and talk portion of the podcast.

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These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and

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things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.

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I redid the podcast logo,

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and many of you participated in that and helped me out.

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So I thought I would share with you the four steps

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that I went through in this process of doing a total

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logo refresh for the podcast.

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This doesn't mean like a whole brand revamp,

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because your brand is way more than just your logo,

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right? It's not just visuals.

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Your brand encompasses everything.

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Every single experience that somebody has with you.

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We're just talking right now today about the logo and in

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my case,

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it's the podcast logo.

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And so this might apply to you.

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If you're ever thinking of refreshing your company logo,

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overall, some of your packaging,

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anything where you might put images out specifically,

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let me share with you what I did my thinking behind

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it. Pros,

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cons, some things that could make you stumble a little bit

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along the way.

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The first thing to consider where we should start with most

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things is why you're doing this in the first place.

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What's the reason what's the value.

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Why do it,

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for me specifically with the podcast,

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I felt like it was time.

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I've been podcasting now for almost six years crazy to say,

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and I've already changed the image a couple of times already,

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but I just decided I was ready to do something a

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little bit different.

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My podcast logo before it was a bright yellow background with,

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within the name gift biz unwrapped in my image there,

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but it's all yellow and black,

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which are two of my five.

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If you want to add black,

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then I've got five brand logo colors.

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So I was using two of them.

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And I liked the idea of that yellow in the back,

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because it was really sharp,

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especially when you do a podcast,

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you know,

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when you scroll like the podcast feed,

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I felt like it really stands out and yellow stands for

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tearfulness and all of that,

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but it also stands for caution.

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And I thought about that as I was doing it,

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but I decided to go with the yellow anyway,

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and it served me well for a long time,

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but I'm gravitating to a lighter feel for the brand.

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Overall. Again,

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the brand is not just your visual images,

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but on the image side only,

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I'm going more with white backgrounds,

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more light and airy type images.

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And so I felt like now was a great time for

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me to put the podcast in line with that as well.

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And honestly,

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I also felt like as we're exiting a year,

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that was very challenging.

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Mentally. I wanted to do something new and fresh and different

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just from an emotional.

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And if you will.

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So having said all of that,

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those were my reasons.

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And if you're thinking of a logo adjustment,

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what would your reasons be?

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Have the why?

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Very clear,

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because changing a logo takes time and yes,

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money think about this time because you're going to create the

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logo, first of all,

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and then having to switch it out everywhere too,

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is money and time.

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Right? Think about it.

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Like you've got your email footers,

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obviously your website,

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any collateral materials that you use,

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any packaging,

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anywhere that that logo is,

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it's going to have to end up getting switched out.

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And you often forget where your logo sits everywhere.

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That's why I'm saying it.

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It does cost time and money.

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Once you've got your why that isn't even the first step

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I'm going to go through now and share with you the

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four steps that I took as I was doing this revamp.

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So the first thing to think about is the brand that

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you already have out there.

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If you're doing a full revamp,

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then I would go back and really start with your colors.

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What are going to be the brand colors?

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Now for me,

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I already knew my brand colors.

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I wasn't switching up any of my brand colors.

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I just was going to make some more dominant than others.

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So I was already on my way with that.

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That's not anything I would need to think of,

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but if you're really looking at your brand and thinking,

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you're going to switch up all your colors,

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the first thing to do is start with,

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well, what are the colors going to be?

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What's the receptivity of the colors?

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What do they mean?

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You know,

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just like I was talking about before yellow can be cheerful,

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but it could also be cautionary.

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But so this is something to think about is what are

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your brand colors?

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Get those down,

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Pat. First,

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if you want to do any updating of photos,

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now I put a more current photo in.

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I decided that that was something I wanted to do is

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update my photo just by a couple of years.

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Yes. But different photo.

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So get all of your assets in a row and then

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start brainstorming.

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I just went into Canva and started creating all different types

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of designs,

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looked at some things that Canva provided,

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made adjustments accordingly and came up with,

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I don't know,

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gosh, 30 different designs that I liked.

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So that was step one.

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Okay. Making sure I liked my colors,

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deciding on any other images that I thought I would want

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in the logo and then just brainstorming away creativity,

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abounds, and even crazy things.

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Cause you know how easy it is in Canva to throw

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background in,

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change the opacity,

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add some texture,

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pull it out because it doesn't look good.

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Try something new.

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You can do all of these different things right on the

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spot. And this is one of the things I like versus

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hiring a graphic artist.

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Any of you graphic artists out there,

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I'm sorry to say it that way,

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but you can see right away whether it's something that you

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like and that resonates with you.

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Once I had all my call,

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it let's call it 30 ideas that I liked.

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Then I whittled it down to only four.

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And that was kind of difficult.

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I have to admit,

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figuring out which were going to be my foreign.

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I'll tell you why the four in a second,

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I went back to my why,

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which really helped me.

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Remember. I said,

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I wanted more of a white background,

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lighter feel that helped me get rid of some of the

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ones that were too dark.

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You know,

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I was gravitating back to yellow backgrounds or pink backgrounds.

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That really wasn't where I wanted to go.

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I wanted more of a white background,

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so that helped me.

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So I whittled it down to four,

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which led me into my second step,

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which was,

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and many of you participated in this and helped me out.

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So you're going to remember this on Sunday morning,

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I put up in a gift biz breeze,

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which is my Facebook group.

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Any of you who are gifters bakers,

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crafters, and makers here,

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feel free to jump over into that group and become part

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of some of these decisions.

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I make all along great group for support as well too.

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But I put up a photo and said,

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okay, I have four images.

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Which one do you like the best and a little trickier

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for taking this step.

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If you decide to include a community or get feedback from

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others on your images,

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make sure that when you start doing that,

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you're liking all the images that you put up.

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Okay? Because if you're throw up one random one that you're

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like, Oh my gosh,

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I hope no one ever takes that one because if they

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do, I'm not going to like it.

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I'm not going to be able to live with it.

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Well, don't do that because what if everybody loves that one

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and then you asked for their input and then you're not

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following any of the input that you were given.

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You know,

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that doesn't feel good for people who took their time to

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vote on something.

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The thing that I found really valuable about that is not

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only, you know,

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some people just voted one,

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two, three,

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or four,

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but other people told me why they were choosing the one

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that they chose,

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which was really helpful as I continued going.

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So if you're ever doing this where someone is asking for

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some input,

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if there's a good reason that you can say really succinctly

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of why you chose the one,

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you did provide that for them,

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because it's really helpful.

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So for me,

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pretty much everybody chose image number two.

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So it was kind of a no brainer.

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Okay. It's going to be image number two from there though,

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I took it back and I did a few more versions

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of that image.

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Number two,

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like one of the choices instead of my photo being four

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color, I turned it to black and white.

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One of them,

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I added a pink border.

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One was an orange border.

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It was the same base image that they all chose,

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but a few more versions.

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So then I put that up as a second photo and

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many people also came back with that one with good comments.

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And so then I was done.

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You can't abuse people that you're asking feedback from you can't

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keep going back and forth with answers,

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but I felt like two was fine.

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And so then from there I needed to make a choice

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and I have to tell you all day,

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Sunday, first,

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it was one of them for specific reasons.

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Then there was another one for specific reasons.

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And then another one.

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And then I'm like,

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Oh my gosh,

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I have no idea now which one to do.

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So I decided I had to go for a walk.

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I had to just get away from it.

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And this is my step three.

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At some point you just have to decide,

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right? Like honestly,

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logos are important and colors are important because it gives a

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vibe for the business.

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But at some point you just have to decide and move

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on. So my third point is set a timeframe and then

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just choose one and roll with it.

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So I went walking and I didn't let myself really think

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about it.

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I came back,

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I looked at it one more time.

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I took into account and re-read all the comments.

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Any of you who were there,

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who helped me do this and commented,

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I really,

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really appreciate it because it really,

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really helped me.

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Then I did tweak the final logo that I ended up

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using just the littlest bit,

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but came back from my walk,

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chose the logo,

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made a,

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just a small adjustment done complete over that was it.

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Okay. So that was 0.3.

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But now I'm going to also give you 0.4

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and that was the rollout.

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And what I mean by that is you can make the

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adjustment and the refresh of a logo into an event for

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your business.

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Especially if like I did,

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you involve your community,

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you can do kind of a lead up to a day

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of voting.

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You could play around with this a lot to use this

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as social media posts,

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content, getting closer with your community,

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all of that type of thing.

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And then you could do a tease before the logo is

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revealed. See how you could like build this into a fun

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campaign for me.

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I didn't do that because I have so many things up

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with gift biz on wrapped overall,

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I'm giving you a behind the scenes peak.

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So we have the at-home craft and gift show coming up.

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I've got a webinar coming up,

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which is really exciting shortly.

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My signature course is going to open again.

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Too many things is just confusing and it feels too heavy.

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So for that reason,

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I decided to do this just short and sweet.

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By the time I decided on the logo,

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I put it up Sunday night and now we're going into

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all the different resources and adjusting all of the graphics,

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podcasts, graphics,

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guest, graphics,

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email, signatures,

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website, you know,

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all the different places where the logo sits.

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Now, the other thing that I'm going to do now that

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I'm going through this process,

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and this is another tip for you is I'm writing down

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everywhere. The logo is so that if I ever do this

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again, which come three years from now,

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probably I will is I can then just go off a

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checklist and say,

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okay, website,

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got it.

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Change the logo.

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You know,

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Apple podcasts changed the logo.

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Signatures changed the logo,

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you know,

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that kind of thing.

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Oh, business cards.

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I need to reprint business cards now see cost anyway.

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So those are my four steps for you in terms of

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deciding to do a logo,

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refresh, it all starts with why are you doing this in

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the first place?

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Make sure that it makes sense and is a business purpose

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for you to make an adjustment.

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For me,

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it was just changing a little bit,

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lightening up the brand a little bit,

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just doing something different,

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a little refresh.

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So you do that before you do anything.

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Then the first step is deciding on your colors.

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Maybe you're keeping your colors.

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Maybe you're adjusting your colors,

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gather any images that you're considering using.

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So you have all of those visual assets ready to go,

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go into Canva or wherever you're going to go and play

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around a little bit,

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get more examples than you would use because the best ideas

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come later.

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So it's not the first thing you put up.

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It's not the second tweak that you make.

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It's not the third thing where you add a color,

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do like 30 different versions because your best stuff comes later.

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Changing out some fonts,

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perhaps putting highlights or different glowy things on the fonts.

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Like whatever it might be,

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all those great ideas come later then.

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So that's step one,

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step two,

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get input from people really helpful.

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And it's not just you,

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you know,

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you get so close to a task that sometimes it's hard

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for me.

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It was like unanimous decisions,

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almost all the way through.

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So that was really helpful.

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Then three,

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make a timeline and at some point,

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just choose it,

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choose it and use it right.

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Be done.

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And then the fourth is consider a,

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a real promotional rollout for your new imagery,

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because you definitely can.

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In my case,

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I didn't for the reasons that I explained,

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but you definitely,

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definitely could.

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Okay. So those are my points.

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If you're considering a brand refresh those of you who helped

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me choose,

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thank you so much from the bottom of my heart,

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I'm really happy with the way it looks.

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It incorporates almost all the colors of the brand.

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Not totally,

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but almost all the colors of the brand feels right in

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line. And now that I'm looking at it,

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I have this renewed energy and spring freshening up spirit.

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That's a wrap.

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I'm going to get to the point kind of girl.

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And this is what you can expect from these quick mid-week

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sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream

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of yours.

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