Birth of A Logo

What is it about a logo that draws the attention of peoples memories. Is it color, shape or the overall graphic impact of the image. The thing about a logo is that it is always associated with a name, even when there is no name associated with the logo. So if I say swoosh, you are probably thinking Nike. How about peacock? Hopefully a free association will result in the bird, but when we mention logos, you immediately associate it with the NBC logo.

So if a logo is such a powerful image to brand a company, serious thought must go into the development of that brand. After all, once a brand has been publicly accepted, the public will only accept a small amount of variance in the brand. Shape is the first and most most important of the design process. In the January 4th, 2010 post called Times Are A Changing I discussed the process of our decision to rebrand. But I will cover the process used to develop the two different logo's.

First I spent some time in engineering and architectural design and the following logo is a direct result of that discipline as you can see below.

Ok, so it might be a little over the top in the sizing thing but lets keep on going here. I wanted a subdued patriotic color scheme and came up with the red, blue, and grey rather than white. The colors bars were a takeoff on the three colors and a gradient had too be established and recorded for reproduction.

Here is that gradient from the Photoshop gradient tool adjustment panel. It is not shown here but The ratios have numeric values to recreate this gradient exactly. With the logo goes a name and I figured it might just as well include the color gradient to keep the two together.

The arrows indicated the start, stop, and drag position of the gradient tool. This provides consistence within the logo and name. The gradient was established to define the three different words in the name. Red to blue happens around the D and blue to grey happens at the P. Cool, great, worked really good, but what was the problem.

It was blocky with a cumbersome long name. It did not represent a free flowing and artistic style we want to convey to to viewers of the site and our brand. It was time to make a shift in our branding. This is what we did in presenting PeekFoto. The name has a nice bounce to it but was quite unexpected in its origin. When I went to register peekphoto.com it was already taken but peekfoto.com was available. Once the web presence was established, people began to think the name of the company was PeekFoto. With a minor application to the State of Michigan we acquired a D.B.A. of PeekFoto. So with a new name, a logo change was in order. This took an evening in a hotel room with me scribbling the P and reversed F on a note pad. This you can see below.

And then the Peek and Foto on another sheet.

Once these were complete, I took a picture of the sheets of paper and loaded them into Photoshop. Working with levels and changing colors to make them more definable and usable in Photoshop is represented in the following image.

This let me isolate and save both the PF and PeekFoto names on different layers and ultimately different files. The start, stop and drag arrow was going to be a his and moss proposition. It took about eight or ten drags to finally get the gradient to look the way we liked it.

The name was a totally different story. Reversing the "f" had to be done to maintain the continuity of the brand. Being a graphic it is fine as is the "R" in Toys-R-Us. The gradient had to be dragged to separate the two names thought. What you see here and above are a flat image for a matt presentation.

The original brand will remain as Peek Digital Photography, LLC. is the legal name of the company and is being treated as an umbrella company just in case we venture into commercial or another form of photography. While there is a very technical side of photography, it is really the artistic eye supported by the technical strengths of the photographer that makes a god photog.

Well, there is the what, why, and how of one companies logo development. Much thought and effort will always go into a nice presentation, it just doesn't happen on its own.

That pretty well wraps it up foe me this morning, so I'll cya tomorrow... Doug

Times Are A Changing

When we started Peek Digital Photography back in the fall of 2007 it was as a planned second income to my already consistent income as a professional pilot. My primary income provides me with a certain amount of time on my hands. It was time in my life to look at possible fall back income for that "just in case" scenario that can occur in aviation.

During my formative years I was heading in a architecture/engineering direction before a sequence of events corrupted my decision making process and went into aviation. I can't complain, it has been a very interesting experience. In developing the logo for the company I fell back on a rather analytical block design that was better suited for a manufacturing company rather than a photography studio.

It might as well say Peek Digital Manufacturing. Two issues have come up regarding the branding of the company. First is the sterile shape of the logo and the second is the length of the name itself. The colors do a good job in the readability of the name but it is just to long. I could say that the squareness of the pixel motivated this design but that just would not be the case.

About four months ago I was reading one of the many blogs that I keep track of and it hit me square in the face. My target audience is not a bunch of professional engineering types, it is the ladies out there that are looking into having their own, family, or child's picture taken. It was time to show my softer feminine side. A fresh new brand was in order. A logo with flair, and a name that rolls off your tongue a little easier. Back in October I was sitting in my hotel room after a simulator session and started scripting some initials on the hotel note pad. After I was happy with the result, I took a picture of it and worked on it in Photoshop. Here is the result of that work and the introduction of the rebranding of Peek Digital Photography.

I liked the color gradient so I kept it in both the logo and name. The reversed "f" in the name is carried over from the reversed "F" in the logo. One person said they had never seen an "F" like that before. That might have come from my drafting experience. Besides it is unique and has a certain amount of flair to it.  It would not be the first logo to be burned into peoples memory.

So what happens to Peek Digital Photography, LLC.? Not a thing. It is the legal name of the company and the peekfoto monicker is a DBA (doing business as) mechanism that allows rebranding without the cost and legal wrangling to shut down one business and start another. Why go there unless it was necessary.

Hey, hope you all like the new softer and creative brand.

Cya... Doug

Customer vs Client

While this post is directed towards the photography profession, its application reaches many other service industries. In my other life as a professional pilot, our passengers are not just airline customers. The care and dedication we provide to our passengers convenience, needs, and most important safety goes unchallenged by the airline industry. Our passengers are not our customers, but our valued clients. If you compare the definition of the two following terms you will find my paraphrasing accurate.

Customer

A person  that buys goods or services from a store or business.

Client

A person using the services of a professional or company tailor-made to that persons specific needs.

The telling difference is in the words tailor-made and specific needs. A customer becomes a client when the provider of the service invests their time and effort into the betterment of the client. We have a responsibility to make our subjects look as best as we possibly can. Best light, best posing, best post processing are all tools that we use to tailor our services to provide an exceptional product to our clients.

Without seeming to be too direct, I propose the following based on the above inference of these two similar yet distinctively different words. 

• If you want to be a customer, go to Wal-Mart to get your portraiture. You will save money for sure. Unless you frequent this type of service often, I doubt if they will remember you the next time you come in to buy another product. Chances are there will be different people at the location on your next visit.
• If you want a client experience that address your specific needs, to be the focus of attention, the purpose of the experience, and the motivation that drives the photographer, seek out a professional photographer to capture the most special times of your life. Invest in the documentation of your personal and family history.

Our intent is to maintain a client relationship much more than that of a customer. Every senior portrait is a future engagement/wedding client. Each wedding client is a future mom with baby portraiture. This expresses a relationship with a client that goes well beyond just stopping by a big box store photo studio for an Easter photo with a bunny. It is a lifetime photographic relationship.

Well there is some food for thought to start off the week with.

Take care... Doug

The Matrix Remix

I saw a version of this on a video and wanted to recreate it. It could be a collection of any images but looks best when the images are of the same subject of different poses. This is really up the alley of the digital photographer as we seem to take just a few more images than our film driven counterparts. During tough economic times seeing nine smaller images of your baby might just make more sense than one or two larger prints.

The matrix can be produced three different ways. First in photoshop as a single large print, or nine smaller prints and assembled and matted together in a larger frame. The thirst method is to produce nine 10x10 rapped frames or standouts ready to hang on the wall as individuals elements.

The baby shots in the image above are from my daughter and her little guy. Ideally the baby shots should be somewhat high key on a white background. That way the blending works better for the matrix but you get the idea.

Take care... Doug

Full Service Feeling

A week ago Friday, April 3, David Ziser, renowned wedding photographer in the Cincinnati, OH area put a post up on his Digital ProTalk about DVD deliveries. I was going to simply write a comment on his post but thought I would use the opportunity to share my thoughts here.

I want to first mention that I am not going to slam anyones business decision on how they choose to deliver their products. That being said, I would like to present my position on the subject.

First, what is “shoot and burn”. Simply it is photographer who shoots the images, processes the images (or not) burns them to a DVD and sells the DVD to the client. The main advantage here is expense and effort. It is a less expensive product (or should be) and the time involved by the photographer is vastly reduced.

I feel there may be occasions where a simple digital transaction may be appropriate, such as still or product photography where the client will further use the image. What I am talking about in this post is Portrait and Wedding Photography. Here are my two main thoughts on why I personally disagree with shooting and burning.

Product

Photography is about art. When someone hires a photographer, they are trusting that person to create imagery that will provide a lasting expression of a subject. There is a saying in the digital age of photography that an image is not a photograph until is is printed on paper. I tend to agree with that statement. 

Prior to being printed, the image is simply an amalgamation of ones and zeros. Once those 1’s & 0’s are translated to an analog signal in the printer things change. The ink is spit out on paper, blending and being absorbed by the various combinations of surfaces and adjacent inks to produce a vivid and deep color print. No monitor can match the quality of image that a good printer produces.

When a shoot and burn photographer is done with the shoot hopefully they are spending some time with the images making them look the best they possibly can. If not they are doing themselves and other photographers a disservice simply for the sake of turnaround.

Service

This is really where the difference is. Shoot-Burn-Sale is a lifeless product. What do I mean by that? Other than the experience during the shoot there is no interaction, involvement, promotion, or for that matter possibly even contact with the client. Get the final payment, drop the disk in the mail and that’s it. Talking like that makes me feel like I just left the drive up at McDonalds. Kinda empty but I got what I came for.

Personally, photography is not just about the product or the creativity. While both very necessary elements, there is a third… The experience.

People in general will not remember the product, or the process as much as how they felt during the experience. I am not just talking photography. The last time you had a bad experience, think about how you felt. It may not have been the service, of the product that you remember in particular, but you do remember feeling bad about the experience.

Being a pilot to individuals and corporations, I have always known there is not a shortage of pilots that can get someone from point A to point B. But if that is all I did, I would be doing my passengers a disservice. They should always feel safe and comfortable, but it is special when the can feel good. That is the extra ingredient in service that is so missing in todays service oriented economy. Yes I want my landings to be good, the flight to be smooth, but most of all I want the passengers to feel good about the flight. This same perspective can apply to photography.The client expects, good imagery, but I want the client to feel good about the experience. From the first impression of a consultation, to the time on the shoot to the presentation of the images and pleasure of the prints.

Full service goes way beyond shoot & burn. Full service must include the good feeling one gets when great value has been attained.

Hey, I know this was a week of much talk and little photography but hopefully it has given me plenty of time to get the office into shape.

Have a great weekend and I'll Cya Monday... Doug

Left Brain - Right Brain

We often talk about someone being left brined or right brained in a way that one side is the man/thinker brain and the other the women/emotion brain. No I am not say that the ladies don't think or that men have no emotions here. But there is a truth that our brains are divided up into different regions for different purposes such as for analytical thinking vs creative thinking.

So how does this apply to photography. Simply put while our analytical brain applies the rules of photography and the mechanical application and manipulation of the camera equipment, our eye in the viewfinder must translate what it sees into appreciable art. We must combine those two parts of our brain to generate a beautiful image. This just doesn't happen, there is a process to that creativity. How we see or imagine an image, and how it makes us feel emotionally is every part as important as to how we obey (or break as our creativity leads) the rules and work the camera.

I could go on an on about this but last Saturday John Paul Caponigro had a video of Gordon Hutchings on just this subject and the artist in you will enjoy the perspective he gives on "Looking Through the Photographic Eye".  Enjoy!

Have a great start of the week.

Cya... Doug

Stop Looking Over Your Shoulder

Hey all, Thought I would put out another post this warm Wednesday in Las Vegas. That's right, I am still in LAS waiting for direction from the mother ship.

Anyhow, I just got done reading David Ziser' Blog over at Digital ProTalk. The quick summary of this was to look forward and not backward. It is a great read and if you want to take a look, click here. His post was prompted by a visit to a fellow photographers studio and subsequent impromptu meeting with a number of area photographers.

There was a statement about racing in the post that said the guy was "... constantly looking over his shoulder checking on who was catching up from behind him." It wasn't until he focused on what was ahead of him that he started winning races.

Metaphorically this can be applied to much of what we do in life. Water under the bridge. Spilled milk. What's done is done. These are all statements that support this philosophy of looking forward and keeping your eye on the prize or goal.

Keeping focused on the goal ahead not only provides motivation for your actions but gives use a daily purpose rather than plodding though life with no direction. This purpose is obviously temporal as there are other purposes to life that I am not going too dwell on here. With each goal we reach, there should be another goal waiting in the wings to replace it.

Staying focused on our own business and improvement produces an additional benefit. Not dismissing the importance of networking, we stay out of others business.

Thanks for stopping by today... Doug

Yes it is that time...Ugh!

Once again it is tax time. At least death does not come as often as taxes but then again it would end the tax pain in life. Today  is my day at the file cabinet, Quicken and Quickbooks to package the information so my accountant can get me the "new" when I get back from my tour which starts tomorrow.

Basically I will not post today as I will be buried in my office papers. My wife woke up this morning and asked if I was going to be a cave dweller today and should she come down to see if I am still alive. I agreed on both points.

Cya for now.

Doug

We Finally Have a Logo

After many months of thought and deliberation I finally drew out the idea for a logo on a boarding pass stub a couple of weeks ago. This is really the second iteration of the logo and typeface. It started out with a crayon type for looks but just did not have the professional snap that we wanted to present. I have visited too many sites where it was just flakey and while I am not a web designer, what I will display will look sharp and professional. It may not have all the bells and whistles, but that is no excuse for a shoddy looking website.

Peek Digital Photography is by some standards a long company name. However I wanted the name to explain that we are all digital. Referencing the thoughts of Vincent Versace  I work with film every morning when I brush my teeth, not when I am working with my camera.

So with a brand new logo, we were able to generate a business card. Yes we could have put our information on a layer over a nice photo, but that is what everybody else does. We prefer clean, sharp, and professional. We hope this is expressed in the our cards.

Ok... I know what you are thinking. What is with the 0000 phone numbers, and the Small Town address in a 49000 zip code. Well, I'll tell you. We are predominantly a local company and I really did not want that information blasted out over the blogosphere for all to see. If you would like to contact me you can e-mail me at doug@peekfoto.com or leave me a comment on the blog, I would be glad to respond. Just don't know what wacko's may be lurking in cyberspace. I don't know... Maybe it is just my paranoia showing.

Take care all... Doug