Once you have invested in a new logo, (that has been designed to portray your business in a succinct, clear and identifiable manner), squeeze every ounce of potential from it...

DO:

1) Use it on everything. From your business card, website, leaflet through to your invoices, vehicle livery, franking and signage.

2) Keep it consistent. Make sure it is ALWAYS a true up-to-date logo in the correct colours and with the correct typeface and not something "close enough". Don't let anyone "adjust" or "adapt" the design for a one off, or scan an old copy rather than ask for a correct master file, or worse still, use an old design - consistency is key to your market recognising your company and understanding your values.

3) Use a professional. As well as creating your logo, a design professional can create your advert, or your banner display, or your flyer, and will understand how the brand and core messages need to interact to get the biggest impact and gain you the maximum return.

DON'T:

1) Mix themes: If you have a new brand, don't continue to use any old materials displaying a previous logo or colour theme as this will just confuse your target market.

2) Use an amateur: However well meaning, or how similar their trade may be (printer, signwriter, web-developer or advertising agent), don't let them "knock a design up for you", as they probably won't understand all the nuances of how to use your brand, or won't know how the design should interact with other items in your marketing arsenal, or quite simply, won't have the skills or software to do your brand justice.

Remember: Your brand is an important marketing tool, think of it as an employee that you have paid for in advance for at least 5 years. It should be representing your business and the things your business stands for - all day, every day - even when you are asleep. It needs to be viewed in its uniform colours and styling, and not be poorly turned out. It needs to look professional and to look like it has been invested in and not poorly thought out or badly implemented. If you keep these tips in mind, then your brand will quickly start to repay your investment in it and help boost both your profile and your profit.

This article was written by Adrian Taylor, Creative Director at Aawen Design.

Any thoughts or comments? Ade would love to hear from you ade@aawen.com or call 01872 562090

Sometimes people compare graphic or advertising design to fine art. They believe that a piece of graphic design should be something of stunning visual beauty that the audience would admire or wish to frame and hang in a gallery. An interesting notion that whilst commonplace isn't necessarily relevant.

Of course as a designer I would love all my work to be universally admired and gazed upon with loving eyes. But let's be realistic, graphic and advertising design in particular, have a job to do and that sometimes means that "beauty" just isn't the way to go. A designer shouldn't ask the question "do you like my design", but should be more concerned with "does my design work." Clients commission designers to fulfil a requirement of their organisation - to inform, to promote or to sell. If the target audience is male over 60's with an interest in motors, then there is little point producing a "beautiful" design filled with reference to the nostalgic textiles of William Morris, the eccentricities of Salvador Dali, or the modernist typographic and geometric forms of the Bauhaus.

The taste of the audience is paramount and designers should be more concerned with appealing to these groups to help their clients receive the best return on investment rather than designing in a manner dictated to us by whatever design style happens to be in vogue or is popularised by peers.

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not advocating ugly or dated work or being disrespectful to any particular design style, I'm just stating that each project is unique and one size does not fit all.

A great design should be created with that bespoke brief, that unique client and that target audience in mind and they should not be shoehorned into a formulaic trendy design template just to suit a lazy designer.

A truly succesful design should function on every level - for target, for designer but most of all for the client - after all if a designer wants to be successful then they have to work hard to ensure their clients success first.

This article was written by Adrian Taylor, Creative Director at Aawen Design.

Any thoughts or comments? Ade would love to hear from you ade@aawen.com or call 01872 562090

Your business website is fantastic. It works so well, ranking highly in search engines, it is beautifully designed and the content on your site is so informative and persuasive that the customers simply can't wait to spend their hard-borrowed cash on your product. One day though, that website of yours might just disappear...

We've seen it happen. If your domain (your web address, for example mycompany.co.uk) belongs to someone else, like a midnight web developer, a flamboyant designer darling, or a holistic marketing guru then it is obviously their property and their responsibility. It is not in your control and this invaluable asset is at the mercy of another party.

What type of problems could this cause?

1) The person responsible could fail to renew the registration of the domain on your behalf, meaning you could eventually lose your domain. This could be for a variety of reasons (they have no cash, the business went bust, or maybe your businesses have ceased working together).

2) This is highly unlikely, but such is their authority over the domain, the person responsible could point the domain at a different website, meaning when someone looks up your web address instead of seeing your site, all of a sudden there's something else there!

3) A more likely scenario is that you build a new website and when it comes to repointing the domain to the new site, you try to do this but realise you don't actually own the domain. You try to contact the person with authority, but they are no longer contactable because they did it 5 years ago, you have no paperwork, your old email account is no longer active, and even if you could find their details, they have moved. Consequently you are stuck with your old website... and remember the domain will need to be renewed at some time in the near future (see point 1).

When it comes down to one of these scenarios it is going to be a real hassle reaching a satisfactory resolution, because someone else has ownership and authority over your domain, and essentially it is out of your hands.


So what? I can just get a new domain can't I...

Consider, what cost marketing a new domain, the loss of years of search engine presence, reprinting packaging, changing the TV advert you just commissioned.

Some might say 'We can cross that bridge when we come to it'.

It might not be an option, the bridge could have been swept down the river a long time ago.


So who is in charge of all this domain stuff then?

Different domains are controlled by different authorities in different countries.

Nominet is the UK Registy for domain names, that being domains ending .uk (including .co.uk). You might think of them as the appointed guardian, an authority on, or the wholesaler of uk domains. You can't buy domains from them directly, you need to purchase them from a Domain Registrar, for example someone like 1and1, 123-reg, Webfusion, Dataflame etc... there are countless other providers available.

Nominet have fair procedures and systems for settling any disputes or issues with domain ownership. This doesn't mean you'll always win your case of course, as I say they have fair systems and procedures, so don't bother trying to claim amazon or ebay .co.uk addresses.

The main problems arise when we look into ownership of a .com, a .biz, a .de, or similar, ie any domains that are not registered through Nominet in the UK. Instead the domains mentioned are registered via different bodies in different countries. Nevermind the call charges to the US to talk to the domain registry there - ICANN, what are the procedures for dealing with disputes, and if it does get awkward, how does a uk citizen exercise legal action in foreign territory. You may need to look into contesting domain names through WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation). What a load of hassle!


Who actually owns my domain then?

Well its actually straightforward to find out if its a .uk, simply search the web for 'WHOIS'. This will return a number of websites where you can enter your domain (web address) and find out who owns the domain name.

If it is a .uk you should be able to see who owns it (registrant), which domain provider it is registered with (registrar), and when it is due for renewal.

With other domains you may or may not be able to see the above mentioned detail, for example with a .com the WHOIS record doesn't have to show the domain owner's details.


BEWARE, if you OWN your domain.

If your name is down as the registrant then legally any transfers or changes to the domain will need to be (should be) authorised by you. Great on the face of it, but you must also check the contact details held for you. One example might be the domain provider responsible tries to contact you when the domain is due for renewal, but the contact details are wrong, therefore you miss the email and miss out on renewing the domain... it then becomes available on the open market and someone else snaps it up.


BEWARE, if you DON'T OWN your domain.

If you don't own your domain, someone else has ultimate control over it.


I dont own my domain! OMG!

Don't panic! That midnight web developer, flamboyant designer darling, or holistic marketing guru you appointed is probably a thoroughly decent, responsible person, if you just kindly ask them to talk you through how you could transfer the domain over to yourself, there is a good chance that they would see no problem in doing this whatsoever.

If after a time they refuse to do so, or if they prove uncontactable, and if its a .co.uk then you may wish to consider looking at contacting Nominet and seeing if they can help you. It's best to start with a phone call to them and it may turn out that you need to go through their Dispute Resolution Service (DRS).

If its a .com, .biz or .net, then disputes will be dealt with in the US and you may need to go through ICANN's Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). For any other domains in other countries you will need to go through the relevant bodies and processes.

If this fails then you may need to consider legal action to obtain what you believe is your domain name, and at this point you weigh up the cost of legal action and potential outcomes of this, against the costs and implications of changing domain name altogether.

Please note that on the nominet site they say for every 2000 domain names, they have a dispute.

Going by these figures there is a good chance you might expect the current owner of the domain to assist you in transferring ownership of the domain to you.

Just be sure to make contact with the owner of your domain, sooner rather than later.

Samuel Manley is the Multimedia Designer at Aawen Design Studio, Cornwall, UK, working on projects from design for Print and Web, to front-end Web development and on-page SEO.