It's always fun to be able to create something yourself.
 Today, I would like to briefly show you the process of creating an emblem-style logo using Illustrator.
A logo in the form of an emblem is a logo in which text and visual expression are combined within a certain mark, which is a combination of a logotype and a symbol. 
​Emblem-style logos are suitable for use anywhere, such as web pages, social media, or products. You can put your own brand history in the round space. For example, it is effective because you can put a lot of text in a relatively small space, such as year of establishment, website address, copyright indication, etc. In particular, these emblems can become history itself. 

 Let's make an emblem logo that can maximize the characteristics of text and symbols like this.
First, open a new file in Illustrator. And draw a round circle as shown below.

  ​When drawing a circle, press the shift key at the same time to draw a symmetrical circle. Draw a small circle as shown below and put it inside.

 ​Next, select the small circle inside and write the text by selecting the Type on A Path Tool among the Type tools from the toolbox on the left.

 As references, I wrote "Designed by Myungja Anna Koh" on the right screen above. 
​When you turn the direction of the text after writing the text, hold the line in the red square below and rotate it.

 ​Also write text at the bottom of the emblem. After writing, adjust the contents of the properties menu on the right to change the size, shape, spacing, etc.

 Another thing to note here is that you have to rotate  the blue line under the red square at the bottom to put the text in the desired position.

 ​In my case, since the text is too close to the original, I changed the property that adjusts the spacing of the letters among the properties below and repositioned it.

​When the text is complete, click the Direct Selection tool to change the color as desired.

 ​Then, load the picture that will be placed inside the emblem.

 ​Designate Color Burn of the Opacity attribute so that this picture will naturally melt into the emblem.

 ​Below is the finished logo.

 In fact, you will find that making your own is much more fulfilling and flexible than leaving it to a logo maker or someone else. Hope you all make your emblem logo great.

 I've created a logo with trademark registration in mind before. I also worked as a graphic designer for a while in Korea, so I know how to handle photoshop and illustrator. So, I tried to make my logo and use it. However, I wanted to entrust it professionally through a company, so I looked into the following companies and assigned them. 

The company below is a company called BrandCrowd.

 ​You can customize the logo that suits you by searching for a free template provided by this logo company.

 Below is the result of applying my customizing information.

 If you click the download button, you can see the folder, standard like below. 

Inside the standard folder, you can make sure the files, which related to design for your website. 

But it's not free! I should pay $20 for applying my website. 

 If you don't have time, it's not a bad idea to try the above site. You can save time and, above all, because you can download various types of files together, you can apply it not only to your website, but also to your social pages and your products.

I thought it was a good experience, and this time I tried to make my own logo using Illustrator.
The target of the commission was to create a logo for a finance-related company. The draft, including the company name and the meaning of the logo, was drawn by the customer himself.

  ​Below is the image implemented using Illustrator.

 I think it's good that you can communicate with customers more smoothly and create a more dynamic logo when you make it yourself. ​Next, I will upload the process of how it was made using Illustrator.

 I drew, prepared exhibitions, and sold paintings, building my career as a painter. Additionally, I have to improve my artistic skills step by step while doing marketing and work simultaneously. And as the paintings accumulate to a certain extent, there are also images derived from these paintings, and based on these images, products beyond the canvas are created. Literally, selling paintings is the moment when it becomes a business.

You may limit painting sales to individuals at first. However, as time passes and the paintings are sold, pictures may sell them from small stores to large corporate units. In other words, if you only think about the route that currently sells paintings temporarily, you will not be able to make a long-term business plan. And when you suddenly need to sell your artworks with a business in mind, you may be disappointed to see yourself so unprepared.

Shortly, artists must have a business mindset, and working with knowledge in these fields is beneficial in several ways, such as protecting one's work and reducing customer confusion in the long run.

And with the development of the Internet, one's works or images are exposed without restrictions for any reason, so it would be good if they were legally protected in case of infringement of copyright and trademark registration in the future.

Since I am also a painter, I understand how exhausting these things are for painters. Since my husband is a college of business professor, I hear and learn a lot about business, brand, and marketing from him every day. And I know how important it is. 

A famous proverb in Korea says that Seodanggae will read a poem in 3 years. It seems like the American proverb. "The sparrow near a school sings the primer." Seodang was an academy that taught Chinese characters to village children a long time ago in Korea. This is where the teacher of the Seodang, teacher, reads Chinese characters aloud to children every day and reads the meaning to them. Seodanggae means a dog that lives in the Seodang. Even a dog can read a poem later if they listen to the Chinese characters while staying here for three years. I often laugh when I tell my husband that I am that seodanggae. But even though I make sense why I register my trademark for the future and When I try to start the process after realizing the importance of patent and trademark registration, I feel my headaches by various regulations and processes.

Still, I'm going to start my brand name, Annakohart.
I want to show you step by step forward here.

Rather than registering copyright for work, I would like to show you my brand, a trademark, in short, a trademark registration for business activities.

A trademark is anything that represents your brand in the marketplace.  The most common trademarks are business and product names, logos, and slogans, but it’s possible to register non-traditional trademarks, as well.  Unique color schemes, sounds, and even smells may have the potential to become a registered trademark.
​
The first step in registering a trademark is constantly checking the trademark electronic search system database to ensure that no one else has registered a brand in your category.

 ​In this way, you need to search for the trademark you set in the database. You can use that name only when there are no overlapping names, as shown below. If a "likelihood of confusion" can be established between your name and the registered or pending trademark, your application will be rejected. If you do, you will have to pay the registration fee and start over. We recommend that you search in advance because time and money are all gone. 

​Available free of charge, the database contains extensive data including pending trademarks, abandoned trademarks, registered trademarks, and dead trademarks. 

 ​Below is a table showing the trademark registration process.
​Click to go to the related website.

And personally, I recommend that you visit the blog below. Artists may not understand or be familiar with related terms or legal meanings prior to copyright or trademark registration. The blog below is relatively friendly and well explained in detail.

 

 ​Below is a YouTube channel where information about the trademark registration process is well organized.

Life itself seems to be a learning process. I feel that I have to study and study all the time, regardless of age, without any restrictions on my profession. And this process is always fun. I am always grateful to be able to progress step by step and share that process.

​Turkish photographer and environmentalist Fahri Tunc posted a fossil-like photo on his Instagram one day.

But, surprisingly, it wasn't a fossil, but one of the scenes where the flamingos that inhabited Lake Tuz in Turkey dried up and died out. Lake Tuz(salt Lake), a closed basin lake in the Central Anatolian province of Konya, is the second largest lake in Turkey. 
 
On the Tuz Lake, one of Turkey's most beautiful rivers, beautiful pink flamingos dance and show their beauty every year.

 Go to the related article!

 But now, neither the Turks nor the tourists who go to see the beautiful pink dances of the river can see the fantastic performances they present to  humans. And even the hope of seeing them in the future was gone. 'Cause now the lake is gone with them, too"

 My heart aches every time I see articles like this. Because nature presents humans with so much beauty and energy, but humans do not like and appreciate the gift, but unpack the wrapping paper and throw it and trample it.

Even me, one of those people, has nothing I can do right now. So what can professional painters do? 

The EcoArt Project is about 600 painters who felt the seriousness of environmental destruction and climate change could unite and express their voices. They meet regularly to hold symposiums and hold exhibitions. In addition, the artists themselves present art using recycled or scrap materials to deliver a message of environmental protection to the public.

 ​In fact, they announced a new initiative to fill these empty stores with free pop-up exhibitions focused on climate change and sustainability, as retail space across New York is vacant due to pandemic-related business closures.

 Artists wishing to participate in this kind of activity go to the home page below and click Sign Up.

 When signing up,  you need an artistic resume/bio and a portfolio consisting of at least five images. If there is a video such as YouTube channel, please write a link. Also include  references such as your major shows and publications. And also you can check that you are self-taught artist like me or studied at art school. In the description, write down your motivation and plans for why you want to work through this project. 

 And you choose whether the work you upload is related to the environment or not. In my case, my older sister is an environmental activist, so I have been interested in the environment for a long time. Therefore, I uploaded related images after selecting my databases. Also, by artist's career, select whether it is an Emerging, Mid-Career, or Establish artist.

 After filling in the information, click Submit and wait for the result. I received the following mail. 

The following is an example of a showcase page screen to be published. 

 ​Wouldn't it be great if the environment could be protected as easily as this click? I feel a heavier responsibility in the future. I myself should set a good example for the environmental movement.

 ​The Chinese sculptor with who I was exhibiting in the past gave me advice. "An artist shouldn't just paint a picture. Marketing is also essential to exhibit and sell the picture. But actually, it's too difficult to do two things. So it's good to be active in the community." Of course, when I first heard from her, I realized that it is unfittable considering the lifestyle of a woman who has only affordable time after picking up her child to school and should do all the housework. Above all, everything stops when the child gets sick, it is like a miracle to do these things while painting and household as an artist and housewife. It wasn't easy to use the between times to draw only pictures. Still, as it was then and still today, I ran and ran and worked hard for the time I could draw, and then I barely had time to make premier, and my joy doubled. I can never lament my plight. Because, as I wrote in a previous post, I live with such a joy as a lark that sings with incomparable joy from Shakespeare's sonnet poem.

 Especially with many Internet platforms, complicated, cumbersome, and difficult things have become much easier and simpler. In the past, to get an opportunity to exhibit my work, I had to print out all lists of galleries that could be displayed, visit each place in person and interview them. So I had to visit them one by one to show and explain my portfolio. However,  Nowadays has more and more opportunities for art open calls. Above all, since the post-coronavirus influence, you can show your work online if you want to, anywhere in the world.

 Today, I am going to review one of those platforms, a site called CaFÉ.

 CaFÉ  site has the references in handling hundreds of thousands of submissions (over 720K) for thousands of call for entries (over 6K). 

 ​You can sign up in two categories.

 ​If you click the Find Call menu above, you can get information about the competition with the options that artists want.