Logo Design Process

Design brief.
Conduct a questionnaire or interview with the client to get the design brief.

Research.
Conduct research on the industry itself, its history and competitors. Problem-solve first, design later.

Reference.
Conduct research on logo designs that have been successful and on current styles and trends that may relate to the design brief. Follow trends not for their own sake but rather to be aware of them: longevity in logo design is key.

Sketching and conceptualizing.
Develop the logo design concept(s) around the brief and your research. This is the single most important part of the design process. Get creative and be inspired. As Dainis Graveris has written once, “sketching isn’t time-consuming and is a really good way to put ideas in your head right on paper. After that, it’s always easier to actually design it on the computer. Sketching helps to evolve your imagination: once you understand it, you will always start from just white paper.

Reflection.
Take breaks throughout the design process. This helps your ideas mature, renews your enthusiasm and allows you to solicit feedback. It also gives you a fresh perspective on your work.

Revisions and positioning.
Whether you position yourself as a contractor (i.e. getting instructions from the client) or build a long-lasting relationship (i.e. guiding the client to the best solution), revise and improve the logo as required.

Presentation.
Present only your best logo designs to your client. PDF format usually works best. You may also wish to show the logo in context, which will help the client more clearly visualize the brand identity. Preparing a high-quality presentation is the single most effective way to get your clients to approve your designs.

“Canned presentations have the ring of emptiness. The meaningful presentation is custom designed—for a particular purpose, for a particular person. How to present a new idea is, perhaps, one of the designer’s most difficult tasks. This how is not only a design problem, it also pleads for something novel.

Everything a designer does involves presentation of some kind—not only how to explain (present) a particular design to an interested listener (client, reader, spectator), but how the design may explain itself in the marketplace… A presentation is the musical accompaniment of design. A presentation that lacks an idea cannot hide behind glamorous photos, pizazz, or ballyhoo. If it is full of gibberish, it may fall on deaf ears; if too laid back, it may land a prospect in the arms of Morpheus.” (Paul Rand)

Delivery and support.
Deliver the appropriate files to the client and give all support that is needed. Remember to under-promise and over-deliver. After you’ve finished, have a beer, eat some chocolate and then start your next project.

What Makes A Good Logo?

A good logo is distinctive, appropriate, practical, graphic and simple in form, and it conveys the owner’s intended message. A concept or “meaning” is usually behind an effective logo, and it communicates the intended message. A logo should be able to be printed at any size and, in most cases, be effective without color. A great logo essentially boils down to two things: great concept and great execution.

How To Choose A Logo Designer?

Keep an eye out for certain things when choosing a logo designer:

• Experience and proven success
  Do they have a proven track record? How experienced are they?
• Testimonials
  Do they have positive testimonials from previous clients? Ensure you check the validity of testimonials. A quick email to the company should suffice.
• Their design process
  Do they follow a logo design process?
• Awards won and published work
  Have they won any awards for their work? Is their work published in any books or magazines? How recognized are they in the industry?
• Strength of portfolio
  How strong is their portfolio? Have they got 100+ mediocre logo designs or 10 to 30 excellent ones? What is the ratio of real to fake logo designs?
• Timeframe
  How long would they take to complete your logo? A typical logo design process takes 4 to 15 days, but many can go for months on end. Think of how long your logo design will be used for: would you want it to be designed (much less researched) in less than 24 hours?
• Price
  The cost of the service usually reflects what you will receive. In most cases, you get what you pay for… but price is not the only indication.
• Affiliations
  Are they affiliated with any design associations or publications? This is a good indication of how dedicated they are to their craft, though it is not essential.
• Professionalism and communication
  How do they present themselves? Do they respond to your emails quickly? How do they communicate? Do they work with a contract (to protect both them and you)?
• Questions asked
  How many questions does the designer ask about your business? Questions should revolve around your company’s history, target market, goals, etc.

5 Principles Of Effective Logo Design

A good logo is distinctive, appropriate, practical, graphic and simple in form, and it conveys the owner’s intended message. You should follow the five principles below to ensure that your design meets all of these criteria:

1. Simple
2. Memorable
3. Timeless
4. Versatile
5. Appropriate

Reading 2 - Helfand

Method Designing: The Paradox of Modern Design Education

Jessica Helfand

- Over a century ago, Konstantin Stanislavsky revolutionized the modern theatre by introducing a new system of training, in which the actor would draw on his or her own emotions to achieve a true understanding of a character.

- The good news is that in an effort to produce designers who can think for themselves, we ask our students to identify a method which becomes evident through the work that they produce.

- Such an emphasis on authorship is, by and large, a way to train young designers as thinkers — and not merely as service providers. At the same time, we encourage them to seek references beyond the obvious: the richness of their sources testifies to an ability to engage a larger universe, and their work benefits from locating itself along a trajectory they’ve chosen and defined for themselves.

- The bad news is that as a consequence of seeking validation elsewhere, there is an unusual bias toward false identity: so the design student, after looking at so much art, believes that s/he is making art.

Reading 2 - Bayazit

Investigating Design: A Review of Forty Years of Design Research

Bayazit

Design research tries to answer the obligations of design to the humanities:

A - Design research is concerned with the physical embodiment of man-made things, how these things perform their jobs, and how they work.

B - Design research is concerned with construction as a human activity, how designers work, how they think, and how they carry out design activity.

C - Design research is concerned with what is achieved at the end of a purposeful design activity, how an artificial thing appears, and what it means.

D - Design research is concerned with the embodiment of configurations.

E - Design research is a systematic search and acquisition of knowledge related to design and design activity.

First-Generation Design Methods

- The influence of systems analysis and systems theory on design established the grounds for the foundation of “systematic design methods,”

- The methods proposed at that conference were simplistic in character. Everyone was systematizing his or her own approach to design, and externalizing it as design method.

Second-Generation Design Methods

- Second-generation design methods began to compensate for the inadequacy of the first-generation design methods.

- User participation to P&D is a very wide and comprehensive subject, with its political, ideological, psychological, managerial, administrative, legal and economical aspects in relation to various countries.

Reading 2 - Leedy + Ormrod

The Problem: The Heart of the Research Process

Leedy + Ormrod

The problem or question is the axis around which the whole research effort revolves. The statement of the problem must first be expressed with the utmost precision; it should then be divided into more manageable subproblems. Such an approach clarifies the goals and directions of the entire research effort.

Basic Research

Such projects, which can advance human being's theoretical conceptualizations about a particular topic, are known as basic research.

Applied Research

Such projects, which can inform human decision making about practical problems, are known as applied research.