A logo is a graphic, symbol or a name used to represent a company. Logos are used to created immediate recognition of the company by people and to establish bran recognition. The three different parts of a logo are the logotype, icon and slogan. The logotype is the lettering used in the logo, the slogan is a symbol used in the trademark and a slogan is a catch phrase used by the company. When designing a logo the designer should make the logo unique to prevent confusion with other logos in the market. If people mistake the logo for a different company it defeats the purpose of having a logo.
Effective logos are extremely important because they create brand recognition and they are valuable assets to a company. Logos should represent the company appropriately and be able to be used in a variety of materials and in color as well as black and white. Preferably different logos should be designed in a variety of situations such as color, black and white and so on. Simple logos are the best because they stay in people's minds easier and it is easier to recolor and resize.
Some logos are extremely effective and are recognized globally. Some examples are Coca Cola, the Nike "swoosh" and Adidas' three stripes.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Monday, May 07, 2007
Business Laws
For our final project we have to create a business over the summer. This post is about the legal aspects surrounding businesses in Ontario.
Business Names: In Ontario you have to register your business name with the province of Ontario unless you are operating a sole-propeitorship with your legal name. The fee is $60 if you register online and $80 if you register by mail. Your registration will be valid for five years. You can also do a name search to see if your name is already being used for a fee of $12.
Taxes:
Income Tax: Business have to pay income taxes to both the federal and provincial governments. Your taxes calculated by your gross income minus legitimate expenses like office rent, employe salaries, insurance premiums, leased equipment and so on.
Goods and Services Tax (GST): Most goods and services sold in Ontario apply to the GST tax which is 6%. If your annual revenue is less than $30000 than you have the option of whether or not to register for GST. If you make more than that you must apply for GST.
Your GST remting and reporting depends on the total taxable sales of your business. If they are $500000 or less than you have to remit quarterly and report annually. If they are more than that but less than $6 million then you have to report monthly and remit quarterly. If they are more than $6 million, you must both remit and report GST monthly.
Provincial Sales Tax or Retail Sales Tax (PST or RST): Most goods and services in Ontario as well as prepared foods more than $4 are applicable to this tax. The rate is 8%.
Payroll Deductions: If your business is hiring employees, you have to make federal and provincial payroll deductions. You have to set up an account with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and federal payroll deductions as well as income tax from the amount paid to employees. You have to send those to the CRA. The federal payroll deductions are:
Employment Insurance (EI)
Canada Pension Plan (CPP)
The provincial deductions are:
Workplace Safety & Insurance Board Premiums (WSIB)
Employer Health Tax(EHT)
Records: The Ontario law requires that you keep organized books and records of your business and for income tax records you must keep them for at least six years after the taxation year that those records refer to.
Licenses: Certain businesses require that you obtain licenses from the federal, provincial or municipal government to operate. You should check to see whether or not your business needs a license at a SBEC centre and as well as your municipal government because municipal govermnets have the aurthority to issue licenses within their jurisdiction.
Business Names: In Ontario you have to register your business name with the province of Ontario unless you are operating a sole-propeitorship with your legal name. The fee is $60 if you register online and $80 if you register by mail. Your registration will be valid for five years. You can also do a name search to see if your name is already being used for a fee of $12.
Taxes:
Income Tax: Business have to pay income taxes to both the federal and provincial governments. Your taxes calculated by your gross income minus legitimate expenses like office rent, employe salaries, insurance premiums, leased equipment and so on.
Goods and Services Tax (GST): Most goods and services sold in Ontario apply to the GST tax which is 6%. If your annual revenue is less than $30000 than you have the option of whether or not to register for GST. If you make more than that you must apply for GST.
Your GST remting and reporting depends on the total taxable sales of your business. If they are $500000 or less than you have to remit quarterly and report annually. If they are more than that but less than $6 million then you have to report monthly and remit quarterly. If they are more than $6 million, you must both remit and report GST monthly.
Provincial Sales Tax or Retail Sales Tax (PST or RST): Most goods and services in Ontario as well as prepared foods more than $4 are applicable to this tax. The rate is 8%.
Payroll Deductions: If your business is hiring employees, you have to make federal and provincial payroll deductions. You have to set up an account with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and federal payroll deductions as well as income tax from the amount paid to employees. You have to send those to the CRA. The federal payroll deductions are:
Employment Insurance (EI)
Canada Pension Plan (CPP)
The provincial deductions are:
Workplace Safety & Insurance Board Premiums (WSIB)
Employer Health Tax(EHT)
Records: The Ontario law requires that you keep organized books and records of your business and for income tax records you must keep them for at least six years after the taxation year that those records refer to.
Licenses: Certain businesses require that you obtain licenses from the federal, provincial or municipal government to operate. You should check to see whether or not your business needs a license at a SBEC centre and as well as your municipal government because municipal govermnets have the aurthority to issue licenses within their jurisdiction.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Microsoft Publisher
Today in class we learned about Microsoft Publisher. Microsoft Publisher is a program for creating print publications and is part of the Microsoft Office suite. Publisher gives you more control over page elements than Microsoft Word. It gives you better features for changing the lay-out of your publication.
Our assignment is to create an advertisement for a class of our choice using Publisher. I'm going to advertise Phys. Ed. because it will probably be of most interest to students looking at courses in Grade 9.
Our assignment is to create an advertisement for a class of our choice using Publisher. I'm going to advertise Phys. Ed. because it will probably be of most interest to students looking at courses in Grade 9.
Monday, March 19, 2007
The Internet
Today in class, we learned about the internet. The internet is a physical connection of millions of computers all connected together and the software that they run on. The World Wide Web (WWW), is a graphic interface making it possible for the average person to use the internet. FTP (file transfer protocol) and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) are some other uses of the internet.
HTML also known as Hyper Text Markup Language is the code that world wide runs on. Internet browsers like Internet Explorer and Firefox take the html and translate it into the visual page we see.
HTTP stands for hyper text transfer protocol. It's the rules for transferring information over the world wide web.
HTML also known as Hyper Text Markup Language is the code that world wide runs on. Internet browsers like Internet Explorer and Firefox take the html and translate it into the visual page we see.
HTTP stands for hyper text transfer protocol. It's the rules for transferring information over the world wide web.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Music Piracy
I think like two classes ago we talked about music piracy and the laws concerning it. So right now in Canada the laws are kind of confusing and they contradict each other. In the United States, the record companies got IP adresses from people downloading from ISPs (Internet Service Provider) and they fined them. There's two laws we talked about. One is fair use and the other is concerning copyright infringment. The fair use law says that if you buy a music CD then you're allowed to rip it to your computer for your personal use as long as you don't distribute it. The other law is that if a copyright is placed on something owned by someone your not allowed to break it. The law on downloading music right now is that you're allowed to download music but not upload it. The laws are about to change is six months and they make it a criminal offense to even rip a CD for your own purposes. The ethical choice you have to make is whether you want to download music. Some people first download a song, then buy it to support the artist. Some artists have websites where you can donate money if you download their music. To stop illegal distribution of music, online music services have what's called DRM or Digital Rights Management. It protects the file from being shared to other people. Downloading movies and software however is still illegal.
Today we read an article in the Toronto Star about police catching people selling counterfeit DVDs in Montreal. The article claims that Canada is becoming a world leader in pirated movies. Montreal is the international center where people go to moive theatres and record the movies on camera and then realease the movie on the internet. Hollywood stuidos such as 20th Century Fox threaten to delay realeasing movies in Canadian Theatres. And because movies are also released in French in Canada pirates can also sell the movies to the European market. The RCMP are currently running a large scale investigation in Montreal to track down bootleggers.
Today we read an article in the Toronto Star about police catching people selling counterfeit DVDs in Montreal. The article claims that Canada is becoming a world leader in pirated movies. Montreal is the international center where people go to moive theatres and record the movies on camera and then realease the movie on the internet. Hollywood stuidos such as 20th Century Fox threaten to delay realeasing movies in Canadian Theatres. And because movies are also released in French in Canada pirates can also sell the movies to the European market. The RCMP are currently running a large scale investigation in Montreal to track down bootleggers.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Digital Ethics
Today in class we talked about digital ethics. Ethics are what we consider morally right and wrong. Questions like what makes a good person and why we need to be ethical were asked by philosophers hundreds of years ago. There are different opinions on ethics and people make ethical decisions for different reasons. One of the ethical models was that if your decision would help the most number of people in a good way, then it was an ethical choice. Another way that we talked about was that if you could imagine that everybody in the world would make the same decision you would make, then it was ethical.
In the new digital age where people interact with other people using computers and other technology, ethics take a shift. Because there isn't a direct personal feeling with people people seem to forget about ethics. One of the big ethical issues being discussed right now is software and music piracy. Most people wouldn't think it's ethical to go into a store and steal a music CD. However the same person might not have a problem downloading the music on a P2P network without paying for it. It's just as bad as stealing, but it seems to be different because your'e not physically going into a store and stealing the music. Many people try and rationalize piracy with different reasons. For example they might say that they can't afford the software so it's ok for them to pirate it. However we can't just start stealing whatever we want just because we can't afford it.
Another example of digital ethics is computer viruses. Most people wouldn't consider it ethical to go into someone else's house and ruin their property. However computer viurses can get inside your computer and destroy all your important files. The person who wrote this virus may not have broken into a house, but he probably didn't think it was a problem to write a virus. Again, because the hacker didn't think of the computer as someone else's property they didn't have a personal feeling and therefore they forgot about ethics.
Technologies such as DRM are being put into place to stop piracy and unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material. However some times there comes a situation whether something may not be illegal but not morally correct. After understanding the circumstances you need to make the decision.
In the new digital age where people interact with other people using computers and other technology, ethics take a shift. Because there isn't a direct personal feeling with people people seem to forget about ethics. One of the big ethical issues being discussed right now is software and music piracy. Most people wouldn't think it's ethical to go into a store and steal a music CD. However the same person might not have a problem downloading the music on a P2P network without paying for it. It's just as bad as stealing, but it seems to be different because your'e not physically going into a store and stealing the music. Many people try and rationalize piracy with different reasons. For example they might say that they can't afford the software so it's ok for them to pirate it. However we can't just start stealing whatever we want just because we can't afford it.
Another example of digital ethics is computer viruses. Most people wouldn't consider it ethical to go into someone else's house and ruin their property. However computer viurses can get inside your computer and destroy all your important files. The person who wrote this virus may not have broken into a house, but he probably didn't think it was a problem to write a virus. Again, because the hacker didn't think of the computer as someone else's property they didn't have a personal feeling and therefore they forgot about ethics.
Technologies such as DRM are being put into place to stop piracy and unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material. However some times there comes a situation whether something may not be illegal but not morally correct. After understanding the circumstances you need to make the decision.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Linking Excel With Powerpoint
In class today, we learned how to link objects in excel to a powerpoint or a word document. Once you save the excel file, you go to powerpoint and go to Insert>Object. There you check the select from file and browse for the excel file. You have to check the box that says Link because you are linking the two documents. If you insert excel objects this way, then if you update the information in your excel file it automatically updates it in the chart in Powerpoint.
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