newbury Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Hi everyone, I've been trying to place my first topic. Hope I'm doing it right. My pre-school is tucked away behind a church in a hall situated behind a very high hedge so cannot be seen from the main road. Lots of local people don't know we exist. The pre-school has been operating for over 30 years. My problem is advertising. We have advertised in local magazine etc. and recently had a fantastic review on an on-line local magazine. The church have given me permission to get a large sign which we can place behind the hedge so that people passing know we are here. We recently increased our opening hours to include afternoons and have always filled places by word of mouth. I'd like to find a new logo as the one we are currently using is not very eye-catching. I've looked on line but can't find anything that is suitable. Has anyone commissioned a logo recenlty. If so can they give me any idea of cost etc. I know I have to get planning permission for the sign if a certain size is exceeded so will look into this, but I am at a loss as to how to start the logo search going. I'd obviously like to use the logo for everything else associated with our pre-school. Any help would be much appreciated. I'm hoping I've done this right and when I press 'post new topic' it works. I haven't a clue as to what all the buttons below mean. One step at a time!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 well done.. it did work very well and welcome... when we were looking for a logo we used the name of the setting as a starting point.. had parents input as to what they felt may be suitable, and childrens, looked at local settings too so we could ensure it was very individual and not similar to others....pity others didn't do it as about a year after we had ours done 3 others so similar popped up in the town! But our name did give a big help in the image. By this stage we had a good idea of what we wanted and had a parent offer to draw something simple and suitable.. suppose we were lucky in having a parent able to draw though... we then had luck in a local sign making firm willing to do a big sign in colour at cost for us , tidying up the image and give us the digital picture so we could use it everywhere else.. we had parents do all the calling and legwork for us. Not sure we could have afforded to have one done for us...think it really does depend on what sort of ideas you have.. just make it very simple and easy to be recognised as yours... easier the better as ideally you need to add it to everything so it becomes a sign known to your setting, we had ours on everything, form headed paper, t shirts etc and anything that came out of the setting... making it all the same like a corporate heading.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 We bought a banner from Vistaprint. It cost £85.00 but within the first term had bought in two funded children so the cost was recouped almost straight away. You can upload a picture you want or use one of their designs. Its weatherproof and has corner holes so you can tie it anywhere, in our case to the tree and church notice board. We only use it during opening hour then take it down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buttercup Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 I use vista print also and use their logos for all my stuff. Very cheap lots of special offers. buttercup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 When I took over the nursery I wanted a new logo but one that wouldn't stray too far from the original, if you get my drift. The existing logo was a basic smiley face, so I got the children to draw lots of smiley faces and chose the one that looked best. They didn't know what I was up to, so there wasn't any competition and no disappointed children when their pictures didn't get chosen. I thought it was a great way to show that children are at the heart of what we do. Maybe you could do something similar? On another front, I went to some business/leadership training a while back and we were discussing setting names, logos and so on. One point of view put forward by the trainer was to avoid names or logos that are overtly aimed at young children - 'little treasures' or pictures of children and so on. She was a specialist early education business consultant and favoured names and logos which were more abstract and businesslike because in her opinion she felt this was more professional. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but if you're doing a kind of relaunch it might be an option. Inge makes a good point about keeping it simple so that you can reproduce it on absolutely everything from adverts to tshirts to promotional items. Also, once you've got a shortlist of ideas, you could get someone to draft them up and do a bit of research and ask people to tell you what they think. Often logos can have hidden meanings or give messages you weren't aware of. For example, if you have some link to the church in your logo, will people think you are only there for those who use the church, or for a certain religion? Good luck - it is quite exciting deciding upon a whole new image for your group! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbury Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 Now I've got a new problem. How the heck do I thank all of you for your very useful suggestions? Again hope I'm doing it right!! Thanks for all your extremely useful experiences. I'm addicted to the forum and log on most days so when I was at a loss as how to advance with my search hoped some of you would be able to help. You've given me lots to think about. My pre-school is called Toybox and I was looking for something really eyecatching as there are three pre-schools very close to each other but we are the only one that is hidden from the main road and the hall is not used much by other people, as are the other two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 try searching for free logo designs online ...there are quite a few companies (like vistaprint) who hope to get your printing business by offering this service it might give you an idea of what you like/dont like. (there is also a site called something like 50 best logo designs which is fascinating). Remember if you are going to use more than one colour then there is a cost impication and you need to make sure it works in black and white too...Hows it going to look on notices/unifroms/letterheads etc etc Clear lines are best ...try asking for advice from your local print shop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 You could also try to attract the attention of The Librarian, who quite likes designing logos. Bananas are usually the best way of doing this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 The Librarian has swung down from the rafters and is on the case! And he LOVES doing logos! Ook! You could also try to attract the attention of The Librarian, who quite likes designing logos. Bananas are usually the best way of doing this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 When we were looking to design a logo (we didn't have one before) we asked the children to help. They all drew a picture and then committee and staff decided on the best/clearest/simplest. As it happened we picked two, a smiley faced stick man and a flower. My husband scanned the designs and then came up with various ideas that incorporated both and we came up with a smiley flower which has been our logo for 11 years now. We use it on all paperwork, have embroidered polo shirts and sweatshirts, printed high vis tabards and had one of those metal signs made with the centres that can swing (like you sometime see outside shops and pubs). It was great to involve the children who all received present for having a go. Rachel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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