Upon first glance, successful logos can appear quite simple visually but the thought behind the logo design process and creation is quite the opposite.
We may have heard about Logo Design Contests on the web where agencies or individuals host a contest with several designers to create a logo for a certain company. The contest host sometimes provides company descriptions, imagery for the logo, vision and mission etc. Also, the entry designs may look good and close to what the contest holder describes, but a lot of things could go wrong, for example:
- A concept logo may have little or no thought at all
- The logo may look similar to another logo, or maybe generic.
- There’s not enough or very little exchange of ideas between the client and the designer (This is important).
- It’s like shooting bullets in the dark, hoping to hit something.
- The winning logo could be far off or does not even relate to the design brief of the contest host.
I know it’s fast, some can close in a day and designs can look really good. But believe me, I have joined some logo contests and it’s really a bad idea. A good-looking logo without any meaning or thought is like a Ferrari with no engine.
The Logo Design Process is very serious business, requires ample time, expertise and several stages of development in order to create a logo that will have a huge impact on the company it represents. Frankly speaking, a Logo Design Contest doesn’t follow these.
The Meet and Design Briefing
Initially, this is the most important step, the first step towards creating an awesome logo. We meet, talk and learn about your business to set goals for the project. In this stage, we ask questions regarding your company and what elements you’d like included in your logo, for example: your long-term goals as a company, who your competitors are, images you want featured, a tagline, the look & feel of your logo, colors, etc. This is the part where we build a design brief which is kind of like a guideline for the design.
Research
After we meet, we hit the books or the internet to learn more about your company and this also includes your competitors. You may ask, why should you study your competitors as well? The answer is simple, we must know who or what your competitors are, especially their logo so as to increase distinction of your new logo from theirs. We gather as much info as we can about your company and we try to put ourselves in your shoes.
Sketch
In this phase, we take up lots of time thinking of ideas based on the information you’ve given us and the research we’ve made, and sketch it out on paper. Basically, we start the sketches as black and white because a good logo should and must look good in black and white. We may also go through a lot of time sketching out concepts but we’ll settle down on more or less 5 choices and develop them further.
Concepts and Draft Production
Usually, we create 3 or 5 concepts out of dozens of sketches we’ve made and recreate them in vector software like Adobe Illustrator and add some effects like gradients and colors. After that, we select ones we think are most appropriate for your company.
Presentation
The Presentation phase is where we show you the concepts, both colored and black & white. We describe everything from what a concept represents, what it means and how can it help your company stand out from competitors. Feedback from the client is crucial. Actually, we really encourage it. Usually, you would pick one or two out of the concepts for the revision phase.
Revisions
After the presentation, we return to our workstations to fine tune the logos. This is the stage where we take your feedback and edit the design, remove unnecessary details and make changes like sizes, colors, etc. We’ll revise the logo to meet your requirements.
Delivery
The final design of the logo is delivered along with some mockups of the products where the new logo with the rest of the branding elements are incorporated. We let you see how beautiful your new logo looks on your merchandise.
Launch
The last step, we celebrate as we show off your new logo to the world! We’re excited to see our collaboration and the work we’ve done for you come to life!
Here at Project Assistant, we value and understand our clients to the point that we become part of your industry. We want to make you feel you’ve made the right decision of investing your time and resources in creating an awesome logo with us.
