Luckily for me, I'm capable of designing many things including logos, so running a business will not be a problem. I have the majority of skills to fully run one with the exception of programming my own website, but that I will steer clear from this and my sibling kind of acts like a consultant which is good for keeping costs down.
I'll be keeping my business name secret for a while until my business gets going, since my nosy, malicious neighbours who were also eavesdropping on my conversations are stalking my social media and the bald neighbour found it hilarious years ago because they don't think it's possible for me to run my own business. This will be my source of income in between or while employed and top up while studying.
I've designed two logos for this brand name, one with the full name and one without for smaller items where space is tight, a logo that can be seen in less than 1 centimetre square. The logos were produced using CAD, tracing over a photo of my own hand written created font using vector tool in Affinity Designer and then transferring into Photoshop Elements which does not have the vector tool, I prefer the layout and ease of use of Photoshop, but the professional version and the Adobe annual subscriptions are far too expensive for me. Hopefully, the greedy Apple Inc doesn't come after me for using a fruit not related or even looks like an apple, a disgraceful company suing owners with pear and apple logos. The smaller logo which is a Pomelo is also the letter "o" for the full brand.
Full sized logo
I've decided to not use the name, so therefore will have to design a new logo because I think it's kind of an odd name and more logical to have a brand name that keeps it simple. I have still however post this logo up as an idea with copyright of course.
The second logo I've created will be uploaded later, this brand name has been registered. I've done a quick search online and the all brand names I have created have not be taken, I usually do a quick follow up on government registrations just to be sure. For this brand, my business specialises both in designing fashion accessories and graphic design work.
In some ways my second brand name is causing a lot of notifications from the government, just simply because I use the word "Atelier" as part of my trademark and that is a word commonly used by many businesses, I'll have to think of a brand without this word for my third brand name that I will be creating soon.
After being excited and suffering from anxiety, trademarking has now passed after 2 months and 1 week, a week earlier than specified by the government.
I will still be trademarking third logo/brand name at a later date to sell other products such as cosmetics and everything else that is not trademarked by my second logo/brand name with maybe a couple of upcycled items from used and new sources. I don't really have much to upcycle except a couple of wool coats that is too small for me now, most of my goods or clothes are to raggedy to even donate to charity and most items I make will depend on my random creative streak, so there is no point in trying to trademark more classes than necessary. Sometimes you can find inexpensive materials in shops when they have a sale and therefore design a new item by taking these apart.
All of my trademarks are brush fonts with no serifs and based solely on my handwriting style. Sans serif fonts give it less of a traditional feel which are easier to read, a brush font gives it a more personalised or free spirited touch, using my own hand writing style makes it unique and less likely to infringe intellectual property rights with other companies. My Atelier Pomelo trademark/logo is more cursive and more eccentric, my second logo is more controlled and non cursive.
Trademarking is extremely expensive for designers because each category of goods will be classed separately and therefore extra charges for each category. For example, jewellery is classed into two separate categories; precious and fashion jewellery, clothes are also separate from handbags etcetera. Business names and visual logos are also trademarked separately.
An registration fee and for one class is £170, each extra class is £50 each. So I will be registering 4 classes under one trademark, so this comes to £320, so it's not cheap. The process takes the government 2 months to complete waiting period for objections from other trademark holders, just in case similar trademarks appear and two weeks to publish the trademark once completed.
Since I'm still have to complete fashion coursework, I will be sticking to the £1000 sales limit this year, I will decide whether to go over this limit once I'm more confident with the business and myself at handling more paperwork (tax forms), I really want to start the business this year. Eventually, I hope to escape the grasps of being employed and moving to self employment, I hate my job for a reason (two faced greedy, non-caring, harassing bosses in retail work with ridiculous hours and hardly any contracted hours). I do like retail because you can meets all sorts of interesting individuals, get some exercise or fresh air and I get inspired by my surroundings.
So although I don't make the 2023 £12,570 personal allowance on my current salary, I legally need to report any extra money coming in over £1000 in sales (not profit) in additional to my annual salary. This includes personal sales of second hand goods etcetera from auctions or car boot sales or any other means, many people break UK laws and delude themselves that they are legal, I've seen plenty of people take money under the table. This sum will be different for those on government benefits. Personally I think this is a lot of annoying and pointless paper work for both me and the government, but all countries are greedy and like to keep tight tabs on tax payments.
https://www.search-uk-trade-mark-classes.service.gov.uk/searchclasses
The above hyperlink provided by the government is a good way to search what class your product falls into if you are not sure.
So as my logos are registered, I've added an ® so this means that it is a protected and registered with the government. I'll will also be adding a © my name and year created to protect my logo from being misused and stolen. Copyright is applied on all works of art so to speak automatically once it has been created, in the UK there is no register service or storage of works created by artists. You will often see ™ on logos or trademarks, this means that it is a trademark which may not be officially protected nor registered with the government.
As you can see Debenhams and Daky had this issue using the standardised regular fonts for their standalone letter 'D'. Both using the same font and the letter 'D' being identical. It is therefore wiser to create your own fonts, if you are capable of doing so or hiring a graphic designer.
