Your opinion about logos.

[TominDales]

Thanks Tom, that's good advice.
It's a bit tricky because my furniture making is obviously not tool making so putting Tooley Park Furniture on the scriber might seem a bit odd to some people.
You are right though I've had so much advice on this I'm going around in circles a bit (not a complaint I hasten to add).

Philip, I'm not a marketing expert, just comment on personal experience, we had exactly your dilemma.. You probably need a new logo, a simpler one to put on the tools, over time you may decide to use it to replace your Tooley park one, that was where we ended up. you can take your time to take that decision, running two logos in the immediate future. The negative is that two logs/brands will dilute your brand recognition, and when you consolidate to one, you will lose some of the brand value you spent time building up, but those are trade-offs you can decide to take later on.
It makes sense to develop a simpler logo, it will take a bit of thinking through, there are several benefits of a simple but unique logo, simple logos are easy to recognise think RR, Shell etc and as you say easier to apply. Reflecting on what people said about the type of application you start with ( etching, sticker etc,) if you go for a more polished method of application, you can still keep the same logo, so choosing the logo is the key thing to get right first. It would be worth checking the new logo works on different media, metals, paper, wood, etc and in any colours you might want to use and can be applied using a variety of methods
Good luck.

 

[akirk]

In addition to all the other very valid thoughts... how many of these are you going to sell? If the reality is only a few a year then do whatever you want the brand will make almost no difference! Minimal hassle, cost, effort is the way forward...

If though you expect it to be thousands+ then get the brand sorted out...

sometimes a product has a niche which means it will be bought for its intrinsic values / benefits - branding is only really needed where you have a much wider consumer market - may be worth not over thinking it!

 

[philip sewell]

I think I might sell tens rather then hundreds so you are right with your advice akirk.

 

[shed9]

I think I might sell tens rather then hundreds so you are right with your advice akirk.

If you expect a low volume of sales which in itself would reflect low profit margins (if indeed any) then what motivates you to do it.

This is not meant to be a confrontational query, I'm genuinely interested and curious in the mindset of designing and building tools within that framework. Strangely and completely contrary to product sales I actually think you would probably get more sales if you sold less - If that makes any sense at all? Limited tool runs can be very successful if pitched right and I can see that approach working for some some business setups.

 

[TheUnicorn]

Interested to know if you've costed up having a batch made in china for instance, logo included. As I see it you are stuck in a catch 22, you can't make it for less, it won't sell in great numbers unless it costs significantly less.

 

[akirk]

I think I might sell tens rather then hundreds so you are right with your advice akirk.

In which case I would crack on as you are - sticker and all - make it a light load on you - and enjoy the fact that for those who do buy they have something which is a part of your creativity and ingenuity.

I think it has been a fascinating discussion and a lot of good advice - but there is a big big jump between enjoying making something because it scratches an itch and proves to yourself that you are right, you can do it better... and making it commercially. My first business was an R&D company in equestrian safety - R&D because we licensed the manufacturing, but that took about 5 years to develop the first product and then the injection moulding tools alone cost $250,000 to produce - commercial production of any product is not a cheap or simple process...

...so, I would just enjoy the product of a fertile mind and not worry about brand / name / websites / etc. particularly