A systematic approach to logo design

Designing a logo can be a very time consuming process as it is often quite difficult to come up with logo design ideas that match our clients requirements. There are so many different elements you need to consider when designing a logo including colours, typography, balance and symbolism to name a few. So where do you start? Today I’ll show you a systematic approach for designing any logo which will hopefully add some logic and structure to the very creative and sometimes haphazard logo design process.

So you have just finished talking to your client about the new brand they want you to create. As an example let’s say that your client is a stock broking firm called “Petra Capital” and they are looking for a clean and corporate logo design which will give their firm a professional look and feel. We’ll get started on designing their new logo using this systematic approach.

Do some research

First thing’s first, we need to do some background research. Do a Google search to find your client’s competitors and have a look at their branding to get a feel for the style of logos used. It’s fine to be inspired by competitors but we want to make sure that our client’s logo design is unique so that it stands out from the others in some way.

It’s also important to do some background research on your client’s business. I actually found out that Petra Capital specialize in mining stocks and that the word “Petra” means “rock” in Greek. These are interesting facts that we can incorporate into the logo design.

Generate some ideas

Once we’ve done some research and have a pretty good feel for what’s needed we can create what’s called a “morphological matrix” to help us brainstorm ideas. This is my secret weapon when it comes to logo design, it’s a very powerful way to organize your thoughts and merge them together to create clever concepts. Mind maps are also useful to get your creative juices flowing.

A morphological matrix is basically a table with the logo design components in the left hand column and your ideas on the right. Try to come up with as many ideas, symbols and concepts as possible. Below you can see the morphological matrix I created for our example client. I’ve circled the key ideas that I’d like to incorporate into the design. Since the client is a stockbroking firm specializing in mining, I’ve decided to merge the mountains symbolism with a line graph that represents stock trends. Remember, the whole point of logo design is recognition, we need to create a unique symbol that people will remember.

Decide on the type of logo

Now that we’ve got some ideas in mind it’s time to figure out what type of logo is most appropriate for our client. There are three basic types of logos: Illustrative, Iconic and Typographic.

ILLUSTRATIVE LOGO

Illustrative logos are generally quite complex and graphically heavy and thus are usually not suitable for corporate logos. Due to their graphical complexity we need to also make sure that they scale down nicely. Here are some examples of illustrative logo designs.

ICONIC LOGO

Iconic logos consist of a symbol placed next to the logo text. These types of logos are quite powerful as they have a focus on strong typography while also giving the logo a unique look and feel with the use of symbols. Iconic logos are also quite versatile as you can use the symbol on its own in certain cases too.

TYPOGRAPHIC LOGO

Typographic logos are the most traditional and simple types of logos consisting of typography only. These logos rely heavily on typographic style and are usually quite strong and bold. These logos are often used in more conservative and corporate industries such as finance and law.

Initial black and white sketches

Let’s go with an iconic logo for our example client as it will allow us to use the symbol concept we thought of using our matrix earlier on. Now we’re ready to start sketching our logo in black and white. It’s important for a logo design to work well in black and white, at both a large and small size, to ensure that it’s versatile enough to be stamped onto a myriad of promotional media . Your logo design shouldn’t rely on fancy special effects, shines and gradients to make it look good, I usually steer clear of any effects and simply keep my logos flat colour.

You can sketch out your concepts on paper or on the computer, whichever works for you. Don’t over complicate your concept and steer clear of design trends to ensure your logo stands the test of time. Try to also keep balance in mind to ensure that the logo is weighted equally on both sides. Here’s my concept sketch for our logo symbol. We don’t need to worry too much about the details as we can polish it up later on.

Typography

The typeface you choose for your logo design is one of the most important elements of the design as it could make or break your logo. Every typeface has a personality and we need to make sure that it reflects that of the business. Try not to use too many fonts in your logo design as this could create an overly complex and unbalanced look and feel, one or two fonts is ideal. If you want to ensure that your typeface is unique you can create your own or simply start with an existing one and change it to suit your needs.Search Free Fonts is a great resource to find the fonts you’re looking for.

Define the colour scheme

Colour is a very important element of logo design as it very quickly conveys meaning and emotion. Our minds have strong subliminal responses to colour so we need to make sure that we use colour psychology appropriately in our logo design. When deciding on our colour scheme we should always consider the meaning of the colours we choose. Luckily there are online tools such asColour Lovers and Adobe Kuler that can help us come up with colour schemes quickly and easily.

Here is the colour scheme I came up with for our example stock broking client: black (serious, bold, classic), blue (secure, success, power) and green(money, fresh, crisp).

Put it all together

We’ve planned out all of our logo elements, now it’s time for the easy part, creating it. There are a few basic logo design principles to keep in mind when creating your logo. Make sure that you create your logo as a vector file using software such as Adobe Illustrator. Vector images can be scaled to any size without losing quality. You should also use CMYK colour mode, this can be set when you create your new file in Illustrator.

Once you’ve finished creating your logo it’s also a good idea to outline fonts to ensure that your file is not font-dependent. Finally check the balance of your design by flipping the logo upside down, it should still look balanced upside down. Once you’re happy with your design simply save it and you’re done. Now it’s time to show the client, fingers crossed they like it!

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The One Concept Approach: How a Professional Designs A Logo

When it comes to logo design, many designers deliver multiple concepts to the client in order to let them to pick their favorite one. Many even have different concept packages and an allotment of revisions.

But what is the purpose of these multiple concepts? On what merit are revisions based?

I submit to you, if a designer has arrived at two concepts, his work is not done. Design is an iterative process. You start with many ideas and you continually refine. You dismiss the less effective ideas and distill down to the one that best serves the project goals.

It is the designer’s job to establish a process that concludes with the most effective concept. If a designer cannot determine which of two remaining concepts most effectively serves the project goals, then they are not to the point where they should be taking on clients.

The Problem With Multiple Concepts

If you believe that a professional designs a logo for their client, you are mistaken. A professional designs for the client’s customer. You do not design for your client. It is not your job to serve the preferential whim of your client.

This preferential whim is exactly what is being served when you deliver multiple concepts. The client picks their favorite. Their subjective preference. But again, who is the logo for? The client’s customer. It does no good for a client to love a logo that is not effective with their audience or does not meet their project goals.

“If you’re looking for options, I’m not your guy.”

This is precisely what I tell my potential clients. I’m not afraid to be honest and up front with them. In fact, it’s a requirement that I am as straightforward in the preliminary stages if I am to set the right precedent for the relationship.

Options are a disservice to the client. Much like a doctor or mechanic who suggests a myriad of possible operations—I’d much rather their single, professional recommendation. The best solution. The most ideal choice based on their extensive experience. That is where I receive the greatest value.

I conclude by telling the potential client that if they are interested in having someone with experience dedicate themselves towards crafting something that will be effective for their needs, we will be an excellentFIT.

Why Do Clients Want Options?

Clients want multiple concepts because they are conditioned to expect multiple concepts. They expect what designers project.

Because the design industry is rampant with unprofessional practice, clients come to expect such behavior after consistently observing it. Designers perpetuate the expectation because they continue to work unprofessionally. They are not competent enough to establish a process that delivers a single, most effective concept and instead erroneously subject the client to a design decision (for which they are not qualified) and cater to the subjective, preferential whim of the client.

All of this is at the expense of the project’s effectiveness and at the expense of the perception of the industry as a whole. Though these designers may consider themselves professionals, many of them having worked in the industry for years, they are in fact only technicians for the do not provide solutions, but merely “options”.

Removing Subjective Preference
If you present two options to a client, red and blue, and ask them to pick their favorite, they will. However, if you instead position your services as one of providing a valuable solution, the situation looks quite different:

With subjective preference out of the picture, you inform the client that if they hire you, you will tell them which color will make them moreMONEY. The client in this scenario is not concerned about their personal preference for it was never solicited or brought into the picture. He will of course desire for you to deliver the solution that provides the greater value.

This is the difference between a technician and a professional:

• Technicians perform tasks.
• Professionals provide a solution.

When you simply deliver multiple options, you are acting as a technician. The focus is on your time and your output. You are an expense, and you are aCOMMODITY.

When you provide a solution, you are acting as a professional. The focus is on your results and the value you create. You are anINVESTMENT, and you are worth paying relative to the value you create.

Let’s look at how to lay a foundation for establishing the kind of trust that is necessary for this type of client relationship.

Define Roles

It is imperative that you set the groundwork for a successful project at the very beginning. This is done through your communication during the preliminary stages. You must take care to very clearly establish what you and your client are each responsible for. These roles should be defined in your contract and personally communicated to the client.

What is the client responsible for?
The client is responsible for two things and two things only: Content & Goals. This amounts to the information that you will have obtained through your questionnaire. These two things should be acquired before the start of that project and remain constants; they do not change.

(Related: e035: Crafting the Right Questionnaire to Attract the Clients You’ll Love)

What is the designer responsible for?
The designer is responsible for design. The includes any and all design decisions. Selecting the most effective concept is a design decision—one that you should not subject to the client. Your job is design, and as a professional you do not subject others to decisions that pertain to your job.

Set Expectations

Your client should know what to expect at every single stage. From beginning to end, there should be no confusion or unexpected steps. This is where your process comes in. You should have two processes – A General Process, and a Project-Specific Process:

• General Process
  • Your general process is an overview of how you work. It should contain all stages and steps that are common in every type of project you do.
  • A general process can and should be placed on your website where it is publicly viewable by potential clients.
• Project-Specific Process
  • This process is something you create on a client-by-client basis.
  • You provide this specific overview to the client at the onset of the project.

(Related: e024: Finding Clients While Maintaining Professionalism)

Establish Credibility
The General Process publicly displayed on your website lets a client see how you work. This gives them an idea of what they can expect. Your Project-Specific Process takes this a step further and customizes the General Process toFIT your current client’s specific project. This goes a long way in preventing future problems.

Trust
Being transparent and communicative about how you work and when the client can expect things is how you build trust. This trust is necessary to facilitate the type of relationship that will allow you to deliver one, single, most effective concept.

Case Studies
As a way of further establishing credibility and building trust, use Case Studies to show how you work. Case Studies work to provide a multifaceted look at your process. Yes, the client can read your General Process, but the more unique Case Studies you display, the more well-rounded the client’s idea of how you work. Yet again, this is a very important part of building that trust.

(Related: Examples of Logo Design Case Studies)

Begin Designing

Once the relational groundwork has been laid, expectations have been set, roadmap has been laid out, contract has been signed, and you have been paid, you are now ready to begin the design process.

At this point, the client knows that you will be delivering a single concept that most effectively meets their project goals because you have thoroughly communicated this to them in order to make it to this stage.

It’s time to refine, refine, refine. You start with many ideas and you hone it down. This is the only time are ever multiple concepts: within your own process. Your output should only ever be a single solution. This comes from a process that refines a number of explored concepts down to the very best, most effective form. You must possess the design competence to be able to determine this based on the project criteria else you have no business taking on clients.

There are no revisions except within your own process: and there should be many. This is no overnight process. You should be repeatedly taking breaks and returning the next day with fresh eyes and reevaluating. Look at your concept in different contexts and in different light.

Assess the concept’s effectiveness at different scales, refine your vectors, print out the logo and look at it on paper, view it on different screens and different mediums. Even after I’ve reached what I believe to be a candidate for final concept, I typically spend about a week on the refining process.

(Related: My Logo Design Process)

Present Strongly

This is arguably one of the most important steps of the whole process. You should make no small deal about this presentation. This is the result of weeks of research, work, and testing, and your documentation of that process should be thorough and exhaustive.

Let’s first talk about what you DO NOT do: You never simply send over a design and say “What do you think?” That is the mark of a novice. A professional walks the client through the objective design decisions that were made and shows the client how they work to serve their project goals.

This means you should be documenting your process as you go. This typically takes the form of things like taking photographs of preliminary sketches and iterations and explaining why you pursued one direction over the other. Every design decision should be objective. Every serif, every swash, every icon, every illustration and shape should be purposeful. Explain it all in your presentation.

Do you see how this is starting to come together? You laid the foundation for a successful project, you’ve done your best work—the work you specialize in—and now you get to show the client the value that they receive as a result.

The Presentation
What does this kind of presentation look like? Here’s the fantastic part: because you’re putting so much effort into documenting your process and explaining thoroughly, the presentation you send to the client works doubly as a Case Study that you can display on your site. Typically there are only a few minor changes you’ll need to make to such an exhaustive presentation for it to function as a great Case Study.

This means the Custom Type Logo Case Studies I’ve published are perfect examples of what my presentations look like. You would of course address them more personally to your client, but the structure remains the same:

• State the project goals as provided by the client in the questionnaire, and reiterated in the signed contract
• Show your work and how you focused on those goals while demonstrating mindfulness of the constraints.
• Frame the final concept in light of those goals and explain its effectiveness.

Call To Action

Now that you’ve sent the presentation, what’s next? Well you are the designer, which means you should be designing the call to action. It should be very clear what is needed from the client.

Let’s once again restate what you DO NOT do: You never conclude a design presentation with “What do you think?” That is the mark of a novice. You as the professional have thoroughly explained your process and shown the value of the result. This is the service you provide. There are no arbitrary revisions, there are no subjective requests for changes, so do not conclude by soliciting them.

You have positioned your professional service as one of providing an effective solution, and your client has demonstrated that they are on board with that—it’s why you took them on.

Final Payment
The final step is payment. This is the call to action. The presentation contains raster process images. At the conclusion of the presentation, you inform the client that the vector deliverables will be sent upon receipt of the final payment.

Conclusion

No doubt you have some questions right now. I’m aware that these are very challenging concepts I’m presenting. They require an uncompromising approach and without the necessary understanding of design professionalism they can not be put into action. Chances are, these ideas are new to you and you’re still wondering about some things and are looking for answers.

TIPS TO IMPROVE AS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER

TIPS  TO  IMPROVE  AS  A  GRAPHIC  DESIGNER

Graphic design is a field that is quickly changing, both creatively and technically, and while it is easy to get caught up in learning new technical skills, it is just as important to focus improving and pushing the limits of our creativity.

While in design school, it was easy to surround myself with inspiration and engage in activities that helped my understanding of effective design. Once I graduated I feared losing it, since I was no longer surrounded by a learning environment. I made it a point to continue educating myself as much as possible and become more active in the field of design. I was determined not to let my designs grow stagnant, but rather transgress and improve with time. Here are a few tips,EXERCISES and practices that have help me continue learning, strengthen creativity and become an all around better designer.

STEPS

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   Become a collector. Each time you see a design that inspires you, collect it, bring it home and file it away. You can stack them in boxes or folders, allowing you access to them. They're a great resource of inspiration when needed. Even Starbucks gives out creative weekly mini-newspapers. ^[1]
   

   • You can also do this online. Download work which you like. Make a new Map on your computer and name it 'Inspiration'. Save everything you like there. Every time you're stuck or have no idea what to add more into your work, you can always look in your 'Inspiration' map.
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   Buy books. Having an extensive book collection is essential to learning. Try to buy a new book at least every few weeks. Look for a range of inspirational, educational, fun, and technical topics.
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   Read design-related blogs. You will learn a lot by reading other designers' blogs.^[2] The web in an invaluable resource of information -- take advantage of it and actually use it.
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   Look out for tutorials. These will teach you new techniques, and will expose you to new methods and useful tricks. Work through them and then apply the learned techniques to your own designs. There are a lot of great tutorial sites out there. You can also find some on personal blogs. Constantly improve your skills by looking for tutorials and completing them.
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   Start a design blog. Starting a blog will make you more aware of the design community and make you more analytical toward your own work. If you blog well enough, you may also attract attention in the community.
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   Join and be active in the design community. As a freelance designer, joining an online design community is a must. Not only does it keep you up-to-date in the design world, but is also great for feedback and critique. Being your own boss is great, but not having anyone to answer to as a freelancer also has its down sides. If you work alone, there is no one to criticize your work and help you improve. A site you might like to become a part of is DeviantArt. There you can.
   

   • Collaborate with other designers.
     
   • Enter competitions and contests, that will motivate you to become better.
   • Seek comments and advice from other designers to see where you can improve, your own assessment may not be the best.
   • Seek out designs that pique your interest and find tutorials that explain the techniques involved; you can also contact artists and ask about their techniques.
   • Critiques. It’s so helpful to artists when someone critiques their work. Even reading critiques of other designs is helpful.
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   Take lots of photos. Photos solve the problem of not being able to take home designs you like. Camera phones are great for this. Just snap a photo and file it away for later. You can use Evernote for this type of thing; pictures of building designs, textures, shapes of shadows on walls, etc. Take photos of anything that interests you from a design standpoint.
   

   • Photography is also good forEXERCISE in composition, lighting, and color, and your photographs can fuel your artistic designs.
   • Remember to respect copyrights when taking photos. In particular, do not reuse or republish others' copyrighted content without permission.
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   Create sample projects whenever you find free time. Create a fake brand for a company. Design logos, stationery, brochures, websites, the whole nine yards. It’s good to do this once in a while because it keeps design fun and lets your creativity run wild without limitations. It’s often easy to get caught in a rut when clients start dictating and your work no longer remains "yours".
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   Or create a 'real' project for 'free' rather than a fictional project. Get as much information about them as you can and re-brand them. Logo, business cards, letterhead, mock website. It keeps you on your toes. Plus, you might even end up using it in your portfolio. Or, donate free design work to local community organizations, school groups, whoever. they’ll appreciate it, and designing an effective community meeting flier or something gives you great experience and feedback on effective, moving work.
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    Redo other people's designs. Don't want to create a fake brand to design? Try redesigning other people’s projects. This helps you evaluate what "they" did wrong and what you could do better.
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    Redo your old designs. It is important to keep your old work. It will help you see if you’re moving forward and improving your skills. Instead of throwing away or deleting old projects, try reworking them.
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    Attend lectures and workshops. Every few months, make it a point to attend lectures of other designers speaking at local schools and universities to learn new things.
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    Visit exhibitions of visual arts and graphic design.
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    Network with other designers. Attending lectures and events is a great way to meet other designers. You should always try to search out the designers that have more experience and talent than you do. It’s hard to admit someone else is better than you, but networking with people of higher skill levels will push you to work harder and learn more.
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    Take classes. Many local colleges allow you to register for classes without enrolling full-time. It will not only teach you some new things technically, but also put you back in a classroom of your peers.
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    Interview other designers and studios. You can learn a lot from asking questions to experienced designers and design studios. You can also get answers to questions your design school could never answer.
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    Travel. Experiencing new cultures and seeing their artwork opens your mind to a whole new world. It is good for inspiration.
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    Sketch, sketch, and sketch some more. Sketching helps you work through ideas quickly and without limitations of design software. Sketching is a most excellent way to quickly explore ideas and concepts. You can sketch for multiple hours and work out lots of possible variations to the design at hand. This is an essential step in the design process. It will save you time to work through concepts on paper before going to the computer. The process of sketching then moves into digital drafts. Remember,draw first, click later.