camera ready

A term used in the printing industry to describe something that is ready to go to print. Generally designers would have to be familiar with the basic requirements of commercial printers in order to deliver camera ready art.

As photo offset printing is being replaced with digital printing processes some designers and printers have begun substituting "camera ready" with "print ready", but overall the term camera ready has stuck and is still widely used with reference to files that are ready for digital printing processes.

cartoon logo

Cartoon logos are logos that feature cartoon characters as part of the design. Typically these characters are custom developed for the client. The inclusion of a cartoon character is the norm, but cartoon logos can also be created without a cartoon character, where the typography alone serves to give the logo a “cartoon feel”.

Cartoon logos tend to be more time-consuming from a design point of view and are usually more expensive than regular business logos.

Thanks to CartoonBall.com for permission to use the cartoon logo example.

CartoonBall

CartoonBall was established in 2006 as an add-on to Biz-Logo and is under the same ownership as Biz-Logo, although the focus of the site is different. CartoonBall specializes in cartoon logo design using an old-school approach of first designing on paper before the cartoon is converted to vector format.

Further Reading:

CartoonBall; http://www.cartoonball.com/

CDR

Native file extension for CorelDraw. CDR is a vector format.

CI

Short for corporate identity.

clip art

In the widest sense, clip art refers to all images that are pre-made to serve as illustrations, usually to accompany text. In the logo design context the use of clip art images during the creation of a logo is widely considered to be unethical. Apart from copyright and trademark issues, logo design clients usually expect the logo designer to produce a unique logo image “from scratch”.

Unfortunately the proliferation of online logo design companies has made the logo shopper's task a difficult one, with prices ranging from zero to thousands of dollars for online logo design.

CMYK

CMYK is a printing color model.

The abbreviation stands for:

Cyan
Magenta
Yellow
Key (black)

The CMYK printing process makes use of halftones (the tiny dots visible in some full color prints). A variety of color is achieved by layering the colors. For example, tiny yellow dots with tiny cyan dots thrown in will appear as green to the human eye.

In theory the combination of cyan, magenta and yellow should produce black, but in the CMYK process printers use black ink instead to achieve a deeper black.

concept design

Concept designs can be described as logo design ideas illustrated on paper or on a computer.

There are usually many ways to translate client instruction into images and clients sometimes intentionally leave the door open for designers to experiment within certain guidelines. Designers then submit concept designs to the client and once a concept design is accepted by the client there is typically a process of fine-tuning before the logo is finalized.

The number of concept designs available to the client varies depending on the logo design firm and the logo design package selected by the client, but is usually in the range of 3 to 5 concept designs plus 3 to 5 revision rounds. One notable exception is Biz-Logo which offers 15 to 30 concept designs and unlimited revision rounds.

construction logo

Logos created specifically for construction companies. Construction logos often contain images of either a roof, house, building or skyline - or a combination of the above.

Thanks to LogoAnts for this construction logo example.

Further Reading:
Construction logo examples; http://www.biz-logo.com/pre-designed-construction.shtml

copyright

Copyright is a legal right to control the distribution of an original work. In the strictest sense copyright refers to the right to make copies of the work, but it has a broader application and includes for example the right to distribute the work, profit from it, create derivative works etc.

With regard to logo design, some jurisdictions consider an original work done for payment the copyright of the client or customer. Logo design shoppers should however not assume that a logo they pay for will become their property and should request a written transfer of copyright document from the logo designer.

It should also be noted that some logo design firms choose to retain copyright and only grant the client an unlimited right to use the logo.

Disclaimer: The author is not a qualified legal practitioner in any sense of the word. Readers are encouraged to seek qualified legal advice prior to acting on any of the information supplied in this section.

CorelDraw

CorelDraw is a product of the Canadian company Corel Corporation. It is a vector-based illustration program that has gained popularity among logo designers.

CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator are currently the two market leaders in logo design software. While Adobe Illustrator is available to PC and MAC users, Corel Corporation discontinued their MAC version of CorelDraw after earlier versions were not well received.

corporate identity

A corporate identity consists of a logo, related designs and guidelines for their use.

The logo is typically central to the corporate identity, defining the look which includes an attitude, colors etc. The Google logo for example has a colorful and playful look which the company successfully caried through to their Googleplex building.

While this level of corporate identity is not required by most companies, consistency is important in branding. Company colors, company fonts, logo dimensions, acceptable logo background colors etc. should be considered carefully and should be applied consistently to ensure the strongest brand possible within the given marketing budget.

custom logo

Custom logos are logos developed according to specific client instructions. Typically the client would review several concept designs and have the opportunity to request alterations.

While some online logo design firms like ShelfLogos have opted to sell only pre-designed logos, the majority still offer custom logo design services.

Custom logos usually require more design time are more expensive than pre-designed or shelf logos.

Further Reading:

ShelfLogos; http://www.shelflogos.com/
Custom logo design examples; http://www.logoants.com/portfolio.php
Custom logo design; http://www.biz-logo.com/custom.shtml