So you've decided you want to invest into designing the logo and identity for your brand, great! But now what?
"Do I just send in my requirements and poof! A logo turns up in my inbox a week later?" I guess for a designer or anyone really who's a specialist in their field, we can sometimes forget that other people outside the industry don't have a clue what we do to get to that end result.
It’s a lengthy post (so grab a drink), but here’s the real process I take to create your perfect logo design.
Ok, right now you might be thinking “Kate, this isn’t something you’re doing, this is what I have to think about…” and you’d be right. If you’re looking to just fire across your business name to me think I’ll send back over a standard logo, I’m not the designer for you. I will pour my creative soul into designing the best logo possible for you and your customers but that doesn’t just happen at the click of my fingers. It requires detailed information and collaboration from us both.
Your logo is the mark that identifies your whole brand and the first impression for your potential customers - I think that’s something worth investing some thought into if you’re serious about your business.
Once you’ve decided it’s the right decision for you and you want to enquire further about working with me, head over to my book now page. There’s a contact form you can fill out to request a call back, alongside my email, phone number or a link to book yourself in my diary for a complimentary 15 minute clarity call at a time that suits you.
Of course location (and pandemic situation) permitting we can meeting in person, but as a minimum before I start any work, we will have a video call to talk through your existing business or brand idea in more detail. I really need to get a feel for you, your personality, your mission and your ideal customer to kick start the process. It’s also a great opportunity for you to get an idea of who you’re working with for such an important step in your business.
I feature packages on my website and I think it’s a crucial stage of the decision making process for my customers. Here’s why my packages are the best solution for you:
All my clients get a VIP treatment with an incredible in-depth welcome page and project management tool Asana (read my blog post on my favourite digital tools). This means there’s no buyers remorse and you feel confident about the process, yes I’m the designer that’s going to bring your brand to life, but it’s your business, so you should feel in control.
Next I’ll ask you to complete your pre-work; this includes filling about your perfect customer questionnaire and branding questionnaire as well as filling up a Pinterest board full of inspiration that sets your soul on fire. All of this will allow me to get in your head to create your perfectly iconic and unique brand.
Probably one of the most important parts of the whole project, because without this, nothing else will go right. I’ll dive deeper into your industry, your customers and complete a competitor analysis - not to copy but in-fact the opposite, so your logo is uniquely iconic.
I’ll then create a moodboard for you to approve, this bridges the gap between you understanding what I’m envisioning. This may include colour schemes, font types, imagery and textures to portray a certain aesthetic or ‘vibe’. It’s here that you’ll be able to feedback to me if you’re happy with the work so far or if we need a change of direction.
Once the moodboard has been signed off, I’ll get to work on creating numerous ‘rough’ sketches with varying concept ideas - many that wont see the light of day. From these, 2-3 design ideas will be chosen to explore further and refine into full concepts ready to be presented to you.
As part of this phase, there is also in-depth research and testing conducted to ensure the correct fonts and colour story are chosen to be part of your design.
We will have another video call scheduled where I can talk through the rationale behind the designs. When you’re happy to proceed with one option, we’re so close to confirming your new logo!
From your chosen design there will be revision rounds so that any tweaks or changes you would like done to your design are implemented.
Once the revision rounds are complete, I’ll send you your new logo files, how exciting!
However, you wont just receive one jpeg and job done, but every file you’ll ever need, beautifully organised and labeled efficiently. Need it blown up on the side of a building? Got to have a transparent background for a flyer? Maybe a monochrome version for merchandise? No worries.
Hopefully this will have provided you with some further insight into my design process to create your logo. And honestly, this is the ideal, smooth process. It’s not taking into consideration that life happens, projects can get put on hold and the vision for the design can change.
Rather than looking at logos as an expensive cost, shift your mindset to see them for the investment they are. Not only are you investing in a designers style, time, quality process and expertise, but ultimately, the key point of identification for your business.
It would be fab if you could comment below to let me know if there was anything about the process you didn’t know and don’t hesitate to get in touch with any questions.
