You never get a second chance to make a first impression
Everyone needs a logo they can be proud of, it’s a window to your business, and often the first impression of your company. For example, isn’t it so nice to have a positive response to your business cards other than your potential client just folding them into their back pocket? This is where professional logo design and branding come into play. Follow on for our Logo Design Step by Step process and let us show you how we create a strong visual impact for your business.
Great logo design happens when you work with experienced designers. In this blog post, I hope to clarify the professional logo design process in this step-by-step guide to help you understand what you can expect from your designer. It is very much a collaborative process so I will also let you know what we need from you. These valuable insights will help you discover the extraordinary power of a strong unique brand and how it can build a community of brand supporters that will help your business grow.
What is a Logo?
Your logo is much more than a few colours, fancy fonts, and clever graphics. It forms part of your brand and will be displayed right across your business and promotional material. For this reason, your logo should be simple, memorable, versatile, and relevant to your brand. It should also be unique so that you can stand out from your competitors within your industry.
“A logo derives meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around.”
Paul Rand
For example, is your brand formal and traditional? Maybe you are a contemporary cutting edge company or maybe your services are high-end and exclusive. Defining exactly where you place yourself in the market will inform your logo design process. A new trending designer font won’t cut it if your company is more traditional and old school. Think of who it is you are targeting on your social media channels and your advertising campaigns.
You need to stand out from the crowd which means you need your logo designed to accurately represent your company. Your logo also needs to create an impact, be unique and of course be delightfully memorable. If you lose any of these elements, I believe you lose your audience.
Good design adds value of some kind, gives meaning, and, not incidentally, can be sheer pleasure to behold; it respects the viewer’s sensibilities and rewards the entrepreneur.
– Design Form and Chaos
What does a great logo design process look like?
Let me break it down for you into a step-by-step guide.
The first step of the logo design process is getting to know your business. After our initial phone conversation and when I first meet with you, I will have a lot of questions. I will email you a detailed questionnaire to fill out. If you have any problems filling this out we can sit down and discuss it together. The questions I have compiled are designed to not only figure out your style preferences but also to get to the heart of what your company is all about. This is what we call the client discovery phase. It is a very important step and will help inform the Creative Brief. This creative brief will cover every aspect of my design process, from research to concept creation and on to producing your final artwork.
The Creative Brief
Some questions we will ask you include:
- What are the core values of your business?
- Who is your target customer?
- Who are your main competitors?
- What is the most important message that your business needs to communicate?
- Do you have a tagline, if not have you considered one?
- What other brands/logos appeal to you and why?
Every bit of insight you can give me about your company at this point will contribute to the success of your logo design. For this reason, I advise you to spend some time completing the design questionnaire.
It’s worth mentioning that sometimes the answer to these questions are not always obvious. Sometimes the questions themselves can help to redefine and shape specific areas of your business so for this reason it can be a valuable exercise for both parties.
Research
Industry Research
After my initial consultation, I set about researching your industry, focussing on your company history and learning about your particular ’niche’. This will help me to uncover where you are currently at in terms of your brand identity. I will then research your target market which will help me to get a sense of your business goals and identify with your company’s values.I will also research your competitors, as this helps me to differentiate your company and ascertain what makes you stand out from the crowd.
Visual research
I then go on to explore design styles in and around your industry. This helps me to identify possible design directions. Further visual research includes colour and its meaning or symbolic reference, typography styles and creative fonts. With this information at hand, I then create mood boards as guidelines before brainstorming ideas to create your unique logo
Design Concepts
This is the exciting part! It is where the process of creating a visual representation of your logo based on my research and your objectives begins. I will provide two to three concepts at this point and through further rounds of revision, we work on the clarification and development of one of these concepts.
Sketching
This is where the pen and paper come into play. I start with rough sketches determining the desired design features and requirements for your logo. To get a better idea of how your logo concepts will translate, I will then further refine the artwork to establish the correct spacing, sizing, suitability of fonts, kerning etc When I am sure I have some great concepts for you, we select the best ideas (2-3) and start the magic of creating your digital artwork.
Design Execution
All the final artwork is converted to vector format in Adobe Illustrator which gives me more freedom to experiment with colour and fonts. Illustrator also allows me to tweak some finer details and create variations of the final concepts by adding or subtracting information as needed. These variations will enable you to reproduce your logo so that it looks appealing across all your promotional materials and social media platforms. For example, sometimes you need your logo in portrait and sometimes you need it in landscape format. Other times you will need it with or without a tagline or maybe a black and white transparency. Who knows … maybe one day you will need your logo displayed on a billboard or wrapped around a building!
Presentation
It is now time to schedule a meeting where I can present the concepts to you. These concepts are produced in a high quality design presentation using PDF files. I can also email you a link to the logo design presentation if your schedule is too tight.
This presentation includes mock-ups of your proposed logo showing you how it would look in print and on your website or social media channels. This helps to give you a better feel and understanding of your logo’s visual impact. I can then discuss the preferred logo concept in detail, what it represents, how it works for you and any area that doesn’t work for you. This is where we may need to make any final revisions or adjustments to your final logo.
Revisions
Sometimes revisions or little tweaks are required to get your logo exactly where you want it to be. Maybe you don’t like the colour or want to change out the tagline. I will make the changes as necessary and re-submit any final revisions or adjustments for you to approve. It is important for you to carefully review the final design before signing off on it. This ensures that there are no errors or issues with the design that could cause problems later on.
Approval
When we are both confident that we have arrived at the best solution, it’s time for you to sign off on the design. This is the moment of truth, your logo is now the face of your brand. The symbol that will represent it to the world capturing hearts and minds and securing a place in the memories of your clients or customers.
Delivery
Now I work on your deliverables, which is the final part of the logo design process. I will create your logo design in various file formats including alternative layouts for your social channels eg: landscape or portrait options and transparent logo files.
That’s it! Congratulations! You now have the complete freedom to use your new professionally designed logo across all your print and digital platforms.
Let's get started creating your new professional logo
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