If you are a small or medium size business looking at commissioning a new logo design there are a few things worth considering.
If you already have an existing logo design you may want to consider how well recognised it is. If it is already quite well known it may be worth considering evolving your existing logo rather than starting from scratch. This can bring your logo up to date whilst still retaining its recognition. There are different ways this can be done from using more modern typography to refining the image/icon if your logo has one.
If you are looking to commission a new logo try to get a clear picture in your head what you would like the logo design to portray. A questionnaire can be helpful to help you decide what you want. Take a look at the Roskell Design logo questionnaire which may help you clarify your logo design requirements.
A logo design can give a good first impression of a company and can create perceptions of a business. For example a small company which has a well designed logo can (if they wish) portray the impression of being a larger enterprise. This can also work the other way round if a large company deliberately wants to appear a smaller friendlier company.
If you do want to commission a logo design, make sure you use a reputable designer and be wary of designers offering cheap logos. A reputable designer will spend time thinking about your design individually, your logo design will be tailored specially towards your company. I have recently heard a horror story from a fellow freelance designer who took over design work from a company that had previously commissioned a cheap logo designer. The logo designer had used bits of clip art to create their logo which he had also used on other local company logos. It was only after the company had had their logo printed on all their stationery and vehicles that this was discovered. What was first considered a cheap logo had turned into an expensive mistake.
Your logo design will appear on all your literature, stationery and livery so its well worth making sure it’s right for your company.
Last year I was asked to design a new logo for In4systems, a company which creates property management software. The final logo design and stationery is shown below, but I would like to show the process I go through when design the logo.
As my previous post about the logo design process I asked In4systems some questions to find out the type of logo they were looking for. I then started looking at what their competitors logo designs looked like, which were generally fairly conservative. I began by sketching very loosely to generate ideas, try out shapes and designs. I felt it would be a good idea for the company to have a strap line or simple description line which encapsulates what the company does and so included this in the sketches. Once I was happy with some of the sketches I scanned them in.
I then began working up some of the logo designs, just in black and white at first so I could get a feel about how shapes and typography worked together without being distracted by colours.
Using the black and white logo designs that I felt were working the best I experimented with colour combinations and then presented these to the client.
The client made a few changes to their preferred design, the addition of shapes representing windows and a change of colour from orange to an additional shade of blue. The final designs are shown below
I was delighted just before Christmas to be invited by Computer Arts Projects Magazine to contribute an article with my views on logo design. My logo design article appears on the inside back cover “Last Word” in The Branding and logo edition of the magazine which was out in February.
It is an honour to be featured in one of my favourite design magazines.
Stage 1: Questions and Answers About the Required Logo Design
The process of designing a logo involves several stages. Once a budget is agreed with a client, the logo design process begins with a series of questions to find out the type of logo required. The type of questions I would generally ask are:
- Your company name - as it should be used on the logo design
- Please provide a little information about what your company does
- What do you like/dislike about your current logo (if you have one)?
- Who are your competitors?
- “Look and feel” required such as contemporary/traditional/brash/minimal/corporate/fun/
- Any definite ideas you have about the logo design or examples of logo design you like/dislike?
- Your Target audience
- Colour preferences if any. Should the logo be single colour/two colour/full colour/no specific preference?
- How/where will the logo be used?
- Any other information you would like to add
These questions will form the basis of a brief which I can then start to work with.
Stage 2: Researching Logo Designs
I will generally (time and budget allowing) spend a little time looking at competitor logos and logo designs of companies working in similar fields.
Stage 3: Sketching Logo Ideas
The sketch stage is very important for logo design it allows me to explore different ideas quickly and fluidly. I will spend a considerable amount at this stage deciding what designs I think will work best and should be taken on to the next stage
Stage 4: Working up Sketches to Computer Generated Logo Designs
By this time I will have narrowed down my multiple pages of sketched logo ideas to the ones I think have the most potential and at this point I will scan them in and begin working them up on the computer. First I will work on the form and shape of the logo and how letter forms fit together. Once I am happy with the overall shape of the logo design I will experiment with colour combinations.
Stage 5: Logo Design Selection for Client Presentation
Once again I will narrow down the best computer generated logo designs and present them to the client for comment and discussion.
Stage 6: Chosen Logo Design is Refined
Once the client has chosen their preferred logo design, this will be refined and developed according to their requirements
Stage 7: Logo Finalisation and Artwork Supplied
When the Logo design is refined to the total satisfaction of the client it will then be supplied to the client in several different formats suitable for many uses. If stationery is also required then this will be the next stage of design development.