Once the business is up and running, any form of corporate identity will act to represent the company visually.
More importantly, as a look at any of the big corporate names will testify, company branding tends to stick around for many years before it is appropriate to give it an overhaul.
Many of the biggest brands around today have a company logo which was designed over fifty years ago, with only the subtlest of design changes over the years, to avoid the branding becoming dated.
It is worth setting time aside at the earliest possible stage to develop a company logo and corresponding literature. It is unlikely that the whole process will be done in-house, usually for one or both of the following reasons:
- Lack of time available
- Insufficient creative skills in-house
Luckily, both these barriers can easily be overcome. Firstly and most importantly, the creative process cannot be rushed. Allow plenty of time to see the project through.
However desperate you are for your new letterhead, bear in mind that logos and corporate identities are often unnecessarily rushed, leaving companies stuck with a poor quality or indistinct logo for years to come.
Secondly, intimidating as it may first appear, make use of outside designers and agencies. Briefing a third party to take care of your design needs for you is a surprisingly simple process.
After all, the priorities in a small business environment are decision-making and planning, with fixed responsibilities within its structure. Such an atmosphere is rarely conducive to unbridled creativity!