As a freelance web designer Singapore I have shared articles on web design, logo design and digital marketing, for a change I have written an article about Things to do when you are at home during this COVID - 19. In this article I have provided 10 key points which you could try to beat the boredom of staying at home.

As the coronavirus outbreak has spread across the countries, many governments have imposed travel restrictions, social distancing and circuit breaker methods to safeguard their peoples. Travel restrictions are often coped up and an alternative to continuity of business has been recommended, few may be new to the stay at home as part of the circuit breaker. Although social distancing helps to minimise the risk of contracting the virus, non essential visits and crowding may increase the risk and hence it is very vital to stay at home and avoid all non essential visits outside. 

Do you have a question of why your small business needs a logo? Do you think that spending money in hiring a logo design Singapore freelancer is not required for your business? Then this article of mine which details why you need a professional logo designed for your business is for you. Logo helps to visualize your business, it creates a brand connectivity and consistency. There are almost 7 types of logos, starting from Lettermark logo, Pictorial marks, Abstract logo design, Mascot logo design, Combination logo design, Emblem logo design. 

It would be pretty dumb if I start with what is a logo as a professional logo designer, so let us start with why logo is important and then we will jump into what are the important things that you need to know logo design.

So, why do we need a logo?

Living in the digitalised era, what else is more important than a symbol that can be used in any medium and in all advertising strategies which will attract and provide a remembrance to the audience. Actually there is not even a question there, there is only a mandatory qualification that will help you enter the sea of business. It is like a gate pass without a logo, its like your company don’t even exist. Logo is an integral part of your brand, since it gives an appearance to it. Logo is considered as a face of a brand. So when there is an absence of a logo people cannot picturise the company, because how can we picturised something which is faceless?. Something which cannot be picturised can be easily forgotten, hence it is important to have a logo for your brand.

Having said why logo is important let’s jump into what you need to know about logo design. Below are the 8 most important things you need to know about logo design.walk me through these 8 steps and I bet you will get some insight about logo design. 

1. Start from basics

Always start from basics in whatever work you do. So start with the basic stuff like reading and understanding about the company, its objectives and audience. Think about what kind of logo will suit the company’s characteristics, a traditional one or trendy one.  Also make sure you are using a vector format while logo designing because raster will end up compromising the logo’s quality when stretched.

2. Avoid complexity
There is a wide misconception that complex logos are attractive and effective but what they don’t understand is that complex logos look bad when they are stretched. Therefore, the more simple your logo the more versatile it is. Also simplicity attracts more than complex designs because human mind prefer simple things rather than complex. 

3. Typography is also important
Fonts play a vital role in logo designing. It speaks about the personality of the company. A few companies think that font can directly influence the sales of a product. Fonts have characteristics and so do your company therefore it is important that your chosen font represents your company's characteristics. Never choose a font according to your personal likings and also don’t compromise readability. 

4. Colors plays the major role
Colors are also very vital, when it comes to logo designing. Colors have personalities. A research shows that 80% of customers say that color influences them a lot and helps them in brand recognition. Colors represent feelings and each color has its own characteristics. Depending upon the characteristics of each color, you can choose a color that you want to portray your brand. There are also multiple shades of each color. You can also use multiple colors in your logo. But make sure you color combo is good.

5. Timeless logos are the best
The best logos do not just stand out of the pack, they remain the same way for years. There is a wide modern fashion of following the new trend for designing a logo. But trends do change, when it does the credibility of the logo decreases, so you might need to redesign to keep up with the trend. But there are a few timeless logos that remain the same over decades yet they are appealing. Making a timeless logo requires thinking beyond trends. You should understand the human mind and learn what attracts it.   

6. Versatility is the key 

A good logo should be flexible enough to be used in a variety of ways, shapes and situations. For example, if your logo is not resizable then it limits the number of platforms that you can use for your brand marketing. Instead, if you make your logo more versatile, then it can be easily resized, printed, or placed on different media, making your brand more attractive. Even a good logo might become shaggy and illegible, when you shrink or enlarge it for your uses. One of the easiest ways to overcome this is to use a vector format 

7. Should be relevant

An effective logo design should be relevant to the market and the company’s target customers. More importantly, they clearly communicate a brand’s personality and identity. A primary component is the use of colors in your logo, which can trigger different emotions and show your brand’s personality to consumers. Fonts also have characteristics as previously mentioned. Overall, the logo should speak about the company rather than just representing.

8. Make it memorable:

The ultimate goal of a logo is to attract customers and make then connected to your brand. When consumers remember your brand, it will pretty much increase your sales. Memorability is the key to sales. When consumers can easily recall your brand, they are more likely to prefer your product over others. A memorable logo should be unique in its design. There are millions of logos in the world, but only a few do we remember. Therefore, make sure fall in the memorable category. 

WordPress is the world’s most used content management system (CMS) and is most preferred by any Freelance WordPress Developer Singapore. WordPress powers about 29% of the web and it is quite popular among first time users as well because of its simple to use features.

If you are yet to decide between WordPress and another CMS platform, then you can read the below advantages of WordPress before deciding on the same.

1.Free to Use – WordPress is a free CMS available over the web, and it is absolutely free for commercial as well. WordPress is open source, which means you can modify and use as you wish without a need to get any permission and customize your website and its functionality to the way you like.

2.Ready to Use – Youcan start developing your website on WordPress as soon as you install and configure the same.

3.Free Plugins – Most of the plugins are available for free. You can install the plugins with an easy click and can configure according to your requirements. The free plugins available covers almost the functionality that is required for a business website setup. Unless you need a specific requirement, you can go in for premium plugins.

4.SEO Friendly – WordPress websites are search engine friendly. Google gives a little higher value to websites built on WordPress CMS.

5.Secure and Safe – WordPress constantly updates the CMS to stay secure from hackers. However, developers need to be cautious in installing plugins. Always you need to install the plugins which are from trustworthy source.

6.  Responsive – WordPress themes are mobile friendly, you need not put in extra effort in customizing your website to be compatible to mobile and devices. Search engines rank websites which are mobile friendly higher than the websites which are not responsive.

7.  Support – Online forums, heaps of tutorials, solutions are available over the web for WordPress. Hence it is very easy to track your issue and get it resolved with the sources available.

8.  Integration – WordPress has the ease of integrating with many 3^rd party platforms. Email campaigns, newsletters, payments etc can easily be integrated to a WordPress website with the readily available plugins.

9.  Easy to Manage – Whenthere is a security update from WordPress or a Plugin Update, you can manage easily by yourself without a need to hire a Freelance WordPress Developer. However, if you have customized your website then it is better to hire a professional WordPress Developer to do the needful without spoiling the layout.

10.  Schedule Posts – In WordPress you can easily schedule the posts that you need to publish in your preferred timings and date. This is most preferred feature, if in case your majority of traffic comes in a specified time.

Apart from the above 10 listed features of WordPress, there are ample other benefits like multiuser capability, Membership service, Testimonials, publish content easily etc. Know more about website design and development in my Freelance Web Developer Singapore Blog. Without the difficulty of learning to code you can start using WordPress very easily.

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Internet plays a major role in deciding the success of a business. You may be a Freelancer offering services in Logo Design Singapore, Website Design and Development or a startup business, every business needs the support of internet to promote their products and services.

If you are planning to start up with a business, you should seek the help of an online marketing agency. This agency with its professionalism will take care of optimizing your website according to search engines. The marketing techniques implemented will bring on various improvements to the business. Digital Marketing is now doing whatever it can in order to match up to the pace of the trends.

Around 34% of the business has an integrated digital marketing plan already. Many businesses believe that digital marketing will help in improving the company revenue. Thus, they have decided on depending on them.

Below are the reasons which tell us how Digital Marketing is important for every business—

§Cost effectiveness- Digital Marketing is definitely more cost effective. Capital is a major concern for many major businesses. For small businesses, digital marketing is a boon. They don’t really have many resources or for that matter a lot of capital. Media can such businesses with a more effective and cheaper advertising method.

§Get in touch with customers- It is best for every business to use digital content to connect with the consumers. This way is definitely better than the traditional way of direct mail, billboards or PR campaigns. Now all that matters for a business is their online presence. This presence on social media determines the success of your business.

§  Pay attention to the mobile consumer- Mobile phones are no longer an alternative to something. In the US, around 91% of adults use their phones and browse the internet most. The consumers in large numbers are using mobile phones regularly. Digital marketing here can utilize this thing to target these consumers.

§  Higher ROI- You can actually increase higher revenue for your business. With the assistance of social media, your business can gather more data. This will automatically produce better ROI.

§  Better way to get to your target audience- Digital Marketing gives the platform for closer interaction with the target audience. These way businesses understand what exactly the customers want. Right decisions and improved services are bound to follow thereafter.

§  Good name for the brand- Target audience plays the most important role in determining the direction of a business. If you deliver what exactly your target audience expected, you can build better relationship with the consumers. This positive approach will help in building brand reputation. Satisfied customers will spread the good word about your business.

§  Conversions increased- The success behind the products and services because of digital marketing is measured on the basis of percentage of the incoming traffic. This gets converted into subscribers, leads, and others. The conversion is required because without it all the efforts are useless.

These are some reasons why Digital Marketing is important for every business today. Businesses that have adapted to this method know the benefit of it. Digital Marketing has reasons enough to satisfy the needs of a business whether big or small. You can read more in my Logo Design Singapore Blog about logo design, flyer design, website design and development.

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Until few years back, before the vast development of web and mobile, print design ruled the world. As a Web Design Company in Singapore, we showed the design just like we intended the audience to view using print design. Things gets little trickier and upgraded as web and mobile design started to rule. When we are talking about web pages, the role fonts can’t be ignored.

They are essential because webmasters or freelance web designer singapore choose certain websites because of the fonts that are used in them. There are definitely certain things that are to be kept in mind while you use fonts. When you are creating a web page, you have to keep in mind of the fonts that are provided to you by the web editor. The font is never embedded in the web page. The web editor actually puts a preference list of fonts in the page. Supposedly, if you are creating a web page using Comic sans font, then web editors like Dreamweaver or Expression Web is going to insert the style sheet of the web page. The visitor might not have the same font. Instead, they can yes the one that suit their browser and content of the page.

Why is it important to use fonts?

It is important for you to remember that you don’t specify any single font. Even if you think that the font may be very common, there might be users who don’t have computers that support the font that you are using. Try to allow web designers to specify a list of fonts that are to be used on a particular web page. If a computer has Arial installed in it, the browser will use to render pages on the site. But if it doesn’t have it, then it might use something else.

These are some of the best fonts that you can use

• Arial- This font is definitely one of the most used one. It can be included in websites such as thesitewizard.com, howtohaven.com and thefreecountry.com. This is a very beneficial font that is used by creators. Most users have this font installed on their computers.
  
• Helvetica- This is somewhat similar to Arial. Hence, this is a replacement for Arial. Some also like to use the combination of Helvetica, Arial, and sans-serif. Helvetica typeface is at times used in preference to Arial.
  
• Verdana- This is again similar looking to Arial. But the only point of difference in this is that the letters are larger with wide spaces. This font is supposed to increase the legibility. But the users complain that the font because of its wide spaces reduces the visibility. It becomes difficult to scan the text. It can be installed on Windows and Mac OS X systems.
  
• Arvo- It is a geometric typeface family that is suited for print and screen. The family includes four cuts like the Roman, Roman Bold, Italic and Bold Italic. It is an open font that is distributed through the Google Font Directory.
  
• Vollkorn- This is another interesting font that can be used in various fields and purposes.
  
• Droid sans- A very funky font that can be used in fun articles. This is going to be very popular in the coming times.

When you hire a Freelance Logo Designer Singapore to design your logo for your new business, your freelancer might have provided you logo design final files in various formats and instructed that the file formats can be used for various marketing purposes. You now have a whole bunch of files of your logo in different formats but it would be confusing without any design experience in the field. In this article, I have tried to detail the uses of the file formats at its simplest for clients to get used to the acronyms.

Know the basics

As a business owner or client, it would be outside your expertise to remember the file formats of the logo and however your logo designer knows what file works best for what purpose very easily. You could request your freelance logo designer to give a brief of the details of each file many would be ready to help but if you have designed a cheap freelance logo designer then they will not be providing all the file formats needed for your marketing.

Check the file formats of the logo files provided, you can check the extension of each file and know the file format. For eg: yourlogo.ai, yourlogo.eps, etc. The most extension of the files provided will be .AI, .EPS, .PDF, .JPG, .GIF, .PSD

Vector and Pixel Based Files

You need to first understand the difference between vector logo and pixel based logo to differentiate the files.

Vector based logos are created using Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw. They are scalable for any sizes and can be opened using the software.

A pixel based logo is created from a grid of different coloured squares.

Standard File Formats

Adobe Illustrator or EPS – The Ai or EPS is what’s known as the source file of your logo. This is the vector based file which inturn means it can be scaled to any sizes. If you need to edit the artwork in this file you need to have expertise in design or you need to seek the help of logo designers to do it for you. This file can be used to print your logo in Tshirts, brochures, banners etc.

.PDF File – PDF is also a vector based file, you can view the high resolution of your logo without the need for software.

.JPG File – A jpg is a pixel based file and it is used for making web presence. The image cannot be scaled beyond a limit and is used in websites, online promotional materials.

.PNG File -  A .png file is also a pixel based file which can be used in online promotions, email signatures etc. This file has a transparent background and fits in any color background if used.

.GIF File – Gif files are small files, it cannot be used larger than its original size. You can use this on websites where download time is considered as priority. Due to its small file size it is easily downloaded.

The above list of files are provided to the clients in general by any Freelance Logo Designer Singapore, though few also provide TIFF, .SVG files knowing the above basic file formats can help the client deal with marketing. You can also visit my blog of how much does a logo design cost to know the investment you need to make for your branding.