Is a logo your brand?
NO. Your logo communicates ownership. It shows potential customers who you are, what type of product or service you sell, or what benefit you offer consumers. A great logo will have an emotional connection with the audience you’re trying to sell to.
Phase1 - Research.
Before we even look at a Mac to start designing a logo there are a number of things to do first in order for us to know what kind of logo we will need to be basing our rough sketches on. Client demographic research and questions regarding the business the logo is for as important as the designing that will follow.
Ask yourself
And keep asking until you have a picture in your head of hat perfect client. Then decide on market position, high or low end goods and services, fast and cheap, formal, timeless and so on.
Phase 2 – Ideation
Get a pen and pad then splurge out as many words relating to the company as possible, this means any words. Make a full page or them then start picking out key words that reflect the company story the best.
Once you have a good set of words start to think about how to portray that in an emblem or a symbol with sketches, very rough sketches to begin with. Nothing is silly or stupid here, this is where the ideas will start to form.
Keep going until you have 2 or 3 viable ideas on paper.Refine these ideas with a clean drawing. Then let the ideas rest….walk away,give them a little time. If you still think they’re the best idea for your project then move on but often times another idea pops into your head during this idea rest time and off you go again.
Phase 3 – Primary Logo Design
Start digitising the logo(s) you have chosen on your Mac orPC as an Ai file or similar. You’ll want a vector format if you intend to use the logo on vehicles or large banners and signs. Or find a graphic designer to help
Put the final logo together with any amendments.
Phase 4 – Secondary Logo Design
Make any secondary logo(s) for instance you may need a square version for social media profiles or a vertical version. Design as manyas is needed.
Phase 5 – Logo Family Production
Put together a folder with all of the logo types and file formats that might be needed. .ai .eps .pdf .jpg .png etc.
Company logo design should be saved in full colour, single colour b/w examples and text to outlines incase the client does not carry the font used in the design.
Duration for the whole project is usually 7 – 10 working days to complete the perfect outcome.
It’s really worth spending some time on this as it’s the only first impression your client will get. It provides a foundation for your visual brand
A logo needs to work. It has to be effective! Not just a name in a nice typeface. Business logo design is not easy but if you follow these steps you could be on your way to getting a meaningful,targeted brand logo mark to start that cool brand you always dreamed of building.
Think if you need a graphic designer for logo design or not, it may seem costly to hire one but it’s more expensive later on if you design a bad logo without really knowing it’s ineffective and you find yourself having to change, printed media, websites, vehicle signwriting and signs just to get back to where you’d started?
My advice, get a professional logo designer to help you. Once you have a logo you have confidence in you can start putting together the brand assets, business cards, vehicle signwriting, signs, logo for website….they all of the sudden all start looking like you own them!
Gavin owns and runs The Sustainable Designer and has been in the design and branding industry for 30 years. In his spare time he writes for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution as a Lifeboat Press Officer and regularly goes sailing with his family on the North Kent Coast. A passionate oceans activist, Gavin always tries to help with the huge task of saving our seas and marine wildlife. Gavin believes that any company should be able to afford good graphic design and offers various ways to pay for his freelance services.
