Developing Your Corporate Identity

When you go into business, one of the key ways to establish yourself as part of the marketplace is by making yourself easily identifiable. Consumers react very well to seeing the same image over and over again -- they remember consistent presentations. If you present an inconsistent image, people generally focus on the inconsistencies or, even worse, say, "doesn't that look wrong to you?" Now, that's a thought you don't want associated with your company, isn't it?

Think for a moment about this WebSite, as an example. Having a consistent look throughout helps identify this company as being consistent, reliable, thorough, and focused. Customers are not completely objective when it comes to their service providers: they may not refuse to deal with you anymore because your salesman's business card was printed with the wrong colour of ink, but they may think twice about passing that business card to an associate if it doesn't remind them of your company and what it has done for them.

Corporate identity is crucial to the care and growth of your business. You have worked hard to get where you are, and you need to protect your identity to maintain your position in the global, and local, marketplace. If you take the time and care to set down some rules about how and where and when your logo and business name appear, it will be well worth it.

Logo creation is a specialized field, and, frankly, AMG does not do it. However, we do specialize in logo reconstruction.

It is a fact that many companies do not have access to the original artwork for their corporate identity items (such as logos and logotype). It can happen any number of ways -- losing contact with the original graphic designer or accidental damage to original whiteboards or computer files are common. Many companies, facing this type of situation, aren't sure how to proceed, and often pay at least as much as they originally paid to get the work redone by someone who specializes in creating new logos. Or, worse, a company may try to put off the inevitable and use scans and photocopies as a stopgap measure.

When we reconstruct your logo, we turn it into vector-based computer artwork. This means that you can change size without getting a jagged edge (like a fax), and create versions that are completely accurate as far as colour goes. You can also place your artwork in your computer-generated files: wouldn't it be nice to have a perfect-looking version of your logo on the faxes sent directly from your computer? Of course, with this new-found freedom, you would make sure that all of the acceptable usage policies (as outlined in your corporate identity package) are adhered to.

AMG offers the same reconstruction services to local clubs, organizations, and not-for-profit groups -- but only if contacted by the 'head office', since most larger groups already have a well-defined identity package available for use by members. Of course, if you want to update your package we're more than glad to assist!

An identity package is a group of items, along with the acceptable usage rules for those items, that are used to identify your group or business. Since AMG works with identity packages for businesses more often than for groups, we'll stick to calling them corporate identity packages for the sake of brevity and clarity.

Your corporate identity package usually covers your logo, the way your business name is displayed (often referred to as logotype), your catch-phrase or motto, and any graphical items that, while not being your logo, you wish to have associated with your business.

At AMG, we can work with you to design, develop, and implement a full corporate identity package, enhance or update an existing package, or even document the package rules based on your existing, unwritten usage policies. For more information on corporate identity packages, and how important they are, click here.

Many companies have existing artwork that is perfectly usable as it is for printed work, but is just not easily translated into a Web-friendly version, for one reason or another. We can create clean, precise versions of your corporate identity items -- ready for use in all of your Internet-based communications.

We can help you update your corporate identity package, to reflect the acceptable usage rules involved with Internet-based communications. This aspect of your package is crucial as your business begins exploring the opportunities presented by e-business.

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