I love designing logos. It gives me a chance to explore ideas beyond the constraints of browser compatibility and usability… for a while anyway. As an example I’ve described the process I used for a client recently.
Step 1: Client consultation
This usually involves sitting down over a coffee and me finding out more about the business or organisation that the logo is for. I ask the normal questions:
What does your business do?
Who are your customers?
Who are your competitors?
What are your long term goals?
Do you have any visions for your branding?
Step 2: Research
After the meeting and back at the PC I look up any competitors that the client might have mentioned. This is useful as I don’t want my design to look similar in colour or style to a competitor. I then do a quick image search to kick start the ideas.
Step 3: Sketch
Turn off the PC, grab a pen a paper and start sketching. The amount of time I spend doing this will vary and I don’t like to spend too long on each idea. It’s really just a way to get a few thoughts out onto the paper. The video below shows part of this process.
Step 4: Back to the PC
From the sketches I go back to the PC, open up Photoshop and Illustrator and refine a few of the ideas. This stage is much like the sketching process too and I like to make a real mess in Illustrator.
Step 5: Produce 3 versions
Most of the time I provide 3 initial ideas to the client which vary in style. It’s important that these logos are fairly refined and I pay attention to typography and alignment so that they are presentable. Any more ideas than 3 will confuse your client and make your job much harder in the long run.
Step 6: Present and feedback
Once you’ve had the chance to present your ideas to the client (try and do this face to face) you will no doubt get feedback. In this case, my client wanted to explore a different typeface in one of the logo ideas.
Step 7: Roll-out
This is where one of the ideas is chosen. It’s at this stage that you should produce versions for print and screen and in reversed out and single colour options. This will also probably be the time to work on business stationary and other areas of application too.
The client is happy with the final version of the logo and now the work begins on rolling the logo out through application onto the website and business stationary. You can see a version on white in my Creattica profile here.
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very nice , and the final logo is really good , like it
Wow looks easy but i know it isn’t…
Thanks very much for the comments
Great article thx a lot!
Muchas gracias en ese orden debe ser mas sencillo….aclara la mente!
Thanks for all the helpful information on this site. I am finishing up a logo for our church. I was wondering if you has specific steps beyond the stationary and business cards to roll out a new logo to ensure we get buy in? We’ve had a design committee and rolled it out the the management team, but I am looking for ideas to help ensure that the congregation buys into to the new logo as well and feels a part of the process – (with not a lot of budget available) Thanks for any thoughts you might have. Marsha
Hi Marsh,
Thanks for commenting and visiting my site and I’m glad you’ve found some info useful.
In response to your question I usually put myself into the decision makers shoes when it comes to the final presentation. I currently working on a logo and branding for a personal trainer so the presentation might include a photo mockup of the logo onto a t-shirt in a gym environment to show how it would stand out.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to mock the logo up onto a order of service or perhaps a marquee for any events that might be offsite perhaps.
I normally try and demonstrate the versatility of a logo so for applications that might require flat single or two colour version, the logo should have as much impact as a full colour or shaded version.
I hope that’s of use – please let me know how you get on.
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Thanks for sharing with us how you work. Very helpful for other designers.