​Successful branding occurs when your brand makes a deep connection with your followers. It’s what they use when building a relationship and developing an opinion about your business. A successful brand needs to convey messages about your business’:

• Purpose & Vision
• Values & Beliefs
• Position in the Market
• Personality
• Tone of Voice & Language
• Key Messages & Stories

But successful branding is more than your logo, business name or tagline. It’s more than having a flash website with all the bells and whistles, more than eye catching social media posts and more than having a recognisable brand. A business which has created a successful brand image, will be one which presents a consistent image.  

How to Achieve Successful Branding
As consistency is key in achieving a successful brand image, you first need to ensure all your ducks are in a row. This means reviewing your branding guide or having a graphic designer create one for your business. Inside this guide, you can expect to see details of the visual aspects of your brand, including your logo variations, fonts, styles and colours. A branding guide can also contain details about the vocabulary used, what can be shared on social media and other decisions about your brand’s visibility.
You then use your branding guide to ensure your brand image is consistent wherever it can be seen:

• Logo variations are used in the right places
• Colours used in social media are identical to your website and print advertising
• Font usage is consistent, including both heading and paragraph fonts

By being consistent with your branding, you are helping to build recognition, loyalty and trust amongst new and existing followers. If you are the owner operator of your business, then you have the sole responsibility in using your branding guide. If you outsource your web design or social media posts, sharing a copy of your brand guide with them will ensure they too practice consistency of your business’ brand image.

Where to Next for Your Brand?
It’s always a good idea to review your branding regularly. Check that it continues to portray the same messages to your audience and resonates with them, has an appropriate appearance for your industry and has all the key visual aspects included in your brand guide. What was once suitable for your business may not be now. That’s where I can help. 

As your graphic designer, I can work with your existing brand to develop a new look or simply tweak the existing look. Big or small, my design skills will help ensure your business makes a positive first impression. Get in touch and let’s have a chat or check out my current branding packages.

​A DIY logo may sound like a great idea, but trust me, it’s not! I’ll share the five key reasons why you should avoid designing your own logo at all costs and what to do instead.
 
Thinking about using a DIY logo for your business? With all the variety of websites offering you the option to create your own logo, some of them for free, it must be the best option, right? Nope. A DIY logo is never a good idea and I’m sharing the reasons why.

Thinking DIY Logo? Think Again
We’re a nation of DIY experts, keen to give anything a go instead of paying a professional to do it for us, and that’s perfectly fine – unless it is something you shouldn’t do yourself – like your logo. Your logo can help your business sink or swim, simply because it represents your business. It is one of the key things people use when making that all important first impression, and a DIY logo just won’t cut the mustard.
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Five key reasons why a DIY logo is a big mistake are:

1. Missing the message – your logo represents your brand and as such, needs to quickly and easily convey the right message to your target audience. A graphic designer is experienced and knowledgeable about designing a logo which clearly tells your audience what your business stands for.
2. Poor design decisions – you may like Time New Roman and electric blue text, but they’re not ideal together. Many people have little understanding of which colours work well together, let alone which font to use or representative images to use.
3. Lacking versatility – your logo isn’t just for your website. It also needs to be able to be used on business cards, brochures and promotional materials. A professionally designed logo can be used in multiple situations and will resize beautifully. 
4. Unprofessional appearance – your logo is what your customers will judge you upon, and you want it to make the best first impression possible. By hiring a professional designer, you avoid amateurish logos which look unbalanced, unfinished, too busy and just don’t fit with the expectations customers have of your industry. It will also be 100% unique, which is very important when it comes to branding.
5. Low quality – Many logo makers will create a logo which is of a poor quality, unable to be resized and look very pixelated. They’ll also most likely be unable to provide you with not only the right vector format, but also not provide a variety of file types.  In comparison, graphic designers use top quality software, which is 100% demonstrated in the logos they design, and the end files you receive.

Investing in a professional logo design is well worth it and will set you on the path to success! To get started, head over to view my logo design brand packages and let’s chat! 

​Talk with any business owner who has invested in a professional logo design and they’ll say the same thing: it was well worth it! 

As a professional graphic designer, it is my goal to put the investment of a professionally designed logo within the reach of all New Zealand businesses. That’s one of the reasons why I’ve created my range of affordable Design and Brand packages. 

I also love being able to give my clients the advantages having a professionally designed logo provides, and that’s what I’d like to discuss today. 

5 Benefits of Having a Professional Logo Design
There’s more to a logo than just choosing a few colours, a font and an icon. In fact, there’s an entire planning, design and trial process that needs to be completed first. As a professional graphic designer, I’ve spent years perfecting my design skills and knowledge to create logos which resonate with my clients and provide them benefits which include:

1. Positive and strong first impression
   There’s nothing better than achieving a positive first impression, especially as a business owner. A well-designed logo captures your audience’s attention and demonstrates your professionality.
2. Variety of logo versions and file types
   A business logo isn’t just for your website. It also needs to work on social media, letterheads, business cards, flyers, brochures and posters too. This often requires your logo to have a variety of versions and file types, which a graphic designer can provide for you.
3. Brand loyalty and connection
   When your customers can resonate with your logo, they remember it. When they see it in different places, they instantly recognise it as belonging to your business. The familiarity it provides helps to build an ongoing relationship between your business and your customers.
4. Brand identity and clarity
   Often having a logo designed for you tees off the creation of your brand identity. Things such as the colours, fonts, shapes and icons used within your logo are then replicated to the other places where your business is present. Your logo is a part of your business’ story, setting the stage for all of your branding, print and online materials in the future.
5. Distinguishes you from your competition
   Standing out from your competition is vital. A professional logo shows your customers that your business is unique and has special characteristics which place it apart from others within the industry. A professional graphic designer such as myself, designs a logo to communicate the points of difference a business offers, which help build brand loyalty and recognition.
   
   

To ensure your business takes advantage of these five benefits, get in touch and let’s chat about your new logo design today!

Changing Your Branding: A Beginner’s Guide 101
When you rebrand, it can be a partial or complete rebranding. You can choose between:

• Replacing the logo, but keeping everything else
• Changing the colours and font, but keeping the logo
• Adding phrases to your logo
•  Expanding your branding with additional colours and graphics
• Editing the logo​​
  ​

In the end though, your new branding still needs to reflect your business, in that it must:

• Be consistent
• Focus on your ideal customer or client
• Be unique
• Reflect your brand’s personality
• Be easily recognisable
• Tells your business’ story
• Can be used in many places and in many ways

Pros and Cons of Rebranding
When you alter your branding, you’re doing it with the desire to grow your business. In order to make the right decision, you need to weigh up the pros and cons.

The pros of rebranding include:

• Get new customers
• Increased engagement on social media
• Meet new goals
• You get to start again!

The cons of rebranding include:

• You can lose customers
• You’re no longer instantly identifiable
• It takes time to rebuild your business’ recognition
• ​It can be very costly

A great way to promote your business, rebranded or not, is to list it in a directory. Business Networking NZ offers a free NZ business directory listing and it’s a great way to increase your online presence. Come and add your details today!

Your logo is more than your business name. It’s your brand identity and without this, your business is likely to fall off your customer’s radar. A professionally designed logo gives your brand the credibility it needs to be successful. It’s a bit like a box of chocolates. All the pretty wrapped ones get picked first, with the dull and boring wrapped ones being left till last.  If your business doesn’t look good from the outside, no one is going to take the time to find out more about it.  If you haven’t already got a logo, check out my article Will Your Logo Help Your Business to Sink or Swim?

If you haven't got a logo professionally designed by a graphic designer, then read on to find out more about creating your brand identity.

What Makes a Great Visual Brand?
Your logo is an integral part of your brand. Everything revolves around it. The colours, images, shapes and content all work together to put an image in people’s mind about your business. Think of your brand as a person. Whatever you do shows people the type of person you are. Here are six ways you can make your visual brand rock:

1. Have a logo professionally designed
2. Stick with colours that are in your logo and colours that compliment your logo
3. Use consistent fonts
4. Use distinctive icons or pictures which set your business apart
5. Use a specific photographic style
6. Use your logo on everything
   
   

How Important is Your Logo Design to Your Visual Brand?
Your logo is the epicentre of your visual brand. All the decisions you make regarding the face of your business are made with your logo in mind. You need to have a graphic designer totally nail your logo for you to present an impressive visual brand. This means you need to consider:

• Minimalism – too much of a good thing is not a good idea. Keep your logo clean and clear of clutter for maximum impact.  After all, you don’t want someone to have to sit and stare at your logo to see what it is or what your business name is.
• Colours – the colours you choose will do more than just look pretty. Colours have meanings and instantly tell people about your company. For example, white and grey help to build trust, while yellow and orange are good at showing fun and energy.
• Multi-purpose – your logo is going to be used for many different things. It needs to be a design and style that can be used and altered slightly for different design and social media situations.
• Appropriateness – your business logo is your business face. It needs to be appropriate for the industry you are in, with carefully chosen symbols, fonts and colours which connect with your audience.

 
For example, I created a logo for Becky from Keen Kitchen in both a landscape and square version. This has given her the ability to use her logo in many different types of situations. As well as her logo design, I also created business cards, gift vouchers and A5 & A4 flyers for Keen Kitchen too. Becky has since had her logo put onto t-shirts and aprons for her and others to wear. 

“Helen from One Bite is an absolute dream to work with. She is friendly, fast & professional as well as being fantastic at her craft. Since starting my business just over a year ago I have used her for all design work starting with our logo. Since then she has done multiple flyers, business cards, gift vouchers and I will use her for all design work in the future. I will always, and have frequently, recommended her to friends and a lot of them have also gone to her and loved the end product she has delivered. It's almost unfathomable how fast she works. Nothing is too much trouble to tweak and she strives for perfection!” – Becky from Keen Kitchen
 
I’d love to work with you to help create an amazing visual brand for your business.
Contact me today and let’s get started! 

I’m all into making things easy. As a business owner, you’re very busy. You haven’t got time to spend hours perfecting your website banner. Nor can you afford to take time away from working on your business. I totally understand that. After all, I’m a business owner too.
​
As a graphic designer, it’s my job to create graphics for your business. But I’m not here to make extra work for you. It’s the opposite in fact because my job is all about giving you back your most precious commodity; your time. I’ll take care of all your graphic design needs, big or small. Here’s how it works …

Benefits of Using a Professional Graphic Designer
You’ve decided you need some graphic designs created. It may be a logo, a Facebook cover page image, social media templates or a website header. You may know exactly what you want, or are not quite sure yet. You could go and spend five hours trying to create it using free software online. But chances are you are not going to be 100% happy with it. Nor will it look highly professional.

​Here’s what you should do instead
Contact me. Send me any graphics you already have, such as your logo or product images. I then create exactly what you want to your specific size requirements. It’s delivered to you via email in a file which is all ready for you to upload to wherever you want it to go.

Let’s nail down the exact benefits of having me do your graphic design work:

• Saves you time and money – you can use your time to do what you do best – grow your business!
• Quick and easy – I do all the work for you
• Your graphics look professional, providing positive first impressions to your customers or clients

First impressions matter. The way your business looks is often the first thing customers and clients decide on as to whether they will buy from you. This was especially true for Sharon from Totally Balmy. She hired me to help her design a new logo and the result was a fabulous and exciting logo which represents her brand so much better. You can read about her story in my article titled Experience the Benefits Professional Graphic Design Brings Your Business.
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Another client I’ve helped is Zoe from Forget Me Not Photography. Zoe needed a complete overhaul with her branding. We started with creating a new logo and from there we moved onto business cards and flyers. Here is an example of her old branding verses the new branding and logo she now uses.

​“Helen was right there with my ideas. Everything I suggested Helen discussed with me and made sure that I was comfortable with. I can't recommend One Bite enough, you won't be dissatisfied if you contact Helen. Thank you for everything, I can't tell you how pleased I am” - Zoe
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I’d love to help you raise the profile of your business too,
​so send me an email and let’s get started!

Hello! I recently decided to interview one of my lovely clients. I wanted to see how professional graphic design work has impacted her and her business. This is a great read! Grab a cuppa and biscuit and settle down to read Danni’s experience. This could be what you and your business needs to get an extra lift, taking your from ho-hum to amazing!

What made you decide to get your logo designed by a professional graphic designer?
It honestly had not been on my radar in the beginning. I put something together in Photoshop that I thought would do and forgot about it. I love to research things, for example the best ways I can improve my business on a budget since I’m still in the start-up phase. After a tonne of research I could see my whole web presence didn’t cut it. It didn’t look professional, it didn’t feel professional. I was overwhelmed with the best place to invest for the best results. Having my website professionally designed was out of the question.

As I was looking for the best first step to take, I noticed Helen from One Bite posting examples of logos she had just wrapped-up designing. I loved the style and colours, they felt well-matched with my business. Her rates were amazing, definitely manageable for my little start up as the best first step into a more professional image. The final straw to making the decision was this post on Helens new blog written about logos (click here to read the blog). I was sold. A logo definitely seemed like the best place to start and the place from which all the rest of my branding would flow.
 
How did you find the logo process?
I contacted Helen and she sent through a questionnaire to fill. Some of the questions were a bit tricky as I hadn’t thought about some of them before. I got my research hat on and started checking through the list. It’s not as scary as it sounds. You know the saying “You only get out what you put it”? I live by that philosophy. So when I commissioned Helen for my logo, I made sure to give her the most useful info I could to help the design process flow smoothly. I was blown away by the variety of the first round of designs. Helen took my feedback and came back with designs that were so incredibly close. Just a few tweaks and I had my logo. The whole process was so quick, friendly and easy. It was exciting to see the logo come together; when I saw the finished product it felt amazing! I then realised just how much my old one did not do my business justice at all. I swapped it out across all online platforms and the desktop on my computer immediately and I felt so much better.
 
How has having a professionally design logo & business card altered the way you advertise your business?
I feel confident putting my business out there now that I have a professional logo.I still have a way to go before I’m totally happy with my online presence, but Rome wasn’t built in a day and it will happen. I’ll be asking for Helens help at each new stage of development of my brand and online presence.
 
How has having a professional designer work for you impacted how you feel about the professionalism of your business?  
Massively! I feel far more professional and like I’m taken more seriously for it. If you’re serious about your business, a logo is definitely the best first step and money well spent. Has it also impacted any other area of your business? I get more work because I’m out there - looking professional!

Here are Danni’s logos - before and after...

Danni from Winmill Creative is the most talented product photographer I have seen... check out her own before and after pics. Before - taken by her client, after - taken by Danni. You can find Winmill Creative by clicking this link: www.winmillcreative.co.nz

In my 20 years experience as a graphic designer I find that getting your logo right is one of the biggest decisions you will have to make regarding your business and branding. 

So much goes in to a logo design; fonts, colours, imagery overall style etc. As a graphic designer, in essence, I am trying to figure out what is going through your head. Some clients have no idea of what they would like in a logo and give the designer ‘free-range’. Other clients are a bit more specific in what they want. Either way there are a few things to think about when you are considering getting a logo designed by a professional graphic designer.

5 Points to Think About Regarding a Logo Design:

1. Make sure that you have a business name that you are happy with. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it is good to be sure of your business name before logo design starts.
2. Think about if you would like an icon or any imagery included in your logo design. If you decide that you would like some form of imagery, have a think about what you might like that to be, even a general theme of what you might like.
3. Consider your colour choices. Do you have colours you really like and others you don’t? 
4. Now onto fonts… There are so many different fonts out there. Script, painted, handwritten, serif, sans serif, bold, italic… the list goes on. Think about what fonts you like the style of and communicate that to your designer.
5. GOOGLE IMAGE search logos. You will get a feel for the logos that you don’t and do like. Copy those images and hold on to them. Look at them closely and try and see what it is that makes you like the logo. 

When you hire a professional graphic designer, like One Bite Design, to work on a logo design for you, you will have a huge head start. Having information under your belt with make the logo design process easier for you and me as your designer. Logo designs are so much fun and are so fulfilling. At the end of the process the main thing is that you, the client, is 100% happy with your logo. Careful planning and thought goes a long way in the success of the logo design process. Have a look at the before and after of this logo design and check out this review from Zoe...

Your logo is more than your business name. It’s your brand identity and without this, your business is likely to fall off your customer’s radar. A professionally designed logo gives your brand the credibility it needs to be successful. It’s a bit like a box of chocolates. All the pretty wrapped ones get picked first, with the dull and boring wrapped ones being left till last. If your business doesn’t look good from the outside, no one is going to take the time to find out more about it.
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If you haven’t already got a logo already or you are after a re-brand get in touch with me today!