Your Logo draws from the Strength of your Identity

When people talk about Logo Design, they’re often thinking about a nicely-styled symbol that represents…well, represents what? On the surface, the logo should be distinctive and attractive, but it should also mean something. And that means the you should also know what your company or practice is about. If you don’t define this, you will end up with a weak logo that leaves no impression or gives the wrong impression. The discovery of identity is at the heart of this process.

I offer identity/logo design services to clients who are highly motivated to understand their identity in context with their service offerings and company mission. I develop in affordable stages that delivers something you can use directly in your business plan, your marketing, your RFPs to other vendors, or your products.

My Identity/Logo Design Process

First Stage: Gathering Information and Intent

There’s a one hour meeting in person (or phone call, if the client is remote) where I ask a bunch of questions about the entity that needs the logo. These questions are designed to provoke the values of the company, what the company is particularly proud of, what you know about the values of the people you’re reaching, just how we can tell who we’re reaching are the people we want to reach, and your preferences on emotional tone. The result of this session is me taking a lot of notes and distilling them into a background document (the “Identity Brief”) that I email to you to see if I’ve gotten it right, with suggested approaches to effectively communicating the core ideas that emerge. You may have additional thoughts or reactions, and these are incorporated into the document. This is the first deliverable: a document that states our position, the core ideas, and suggested directions. This phase typically is about 2-4 hours of work. The document you receive is useful for making an RFP for logo design from graphic designers, if you choose not to go with me.

Second Stage: Logo Concept

If I am involved in the graphic design phase, I’ll collect the list of things that you need to be logo-ized: letterhead, business cards, packaging, envelopes, etc. Typically the logo needs to work in monochrome and color, on dark background and light backgrounds, and perhaps have some variations along with it.

We start with some basic color palettes and policies that draw directly on the Identity Brief. For example, if one of the things in the Identity Brief is “we are corporate, cool, and vast”, that suggests a range of blue hues that are tinted into the deep colors of the ocean; it’s an association that works, assuming that the ocean is not a topic we’ve determined we have to avoid for some reason.

Typography is also considered. If there is need for a font that reflects your corporate identity, I’ll start the search for it. However, I defer final font selection until after the logo/identity is firmly established, because the font will need to work with the logo, not dictate its form.

Third Stage: Comp Phase(s)

After the usage and colors are determined (and these of course may change), the logo ideation process begins. I do these in “Comp Phases”, which are comprised of “sketch, finish, present, and react”. Essentially these are rough pencil or pen sketches or comps that are then refined into something in Illustrator that is closer to what the final would look like, using solid color or black and white only. I then show the comp and this refined piece, and gather the client reaction from that (preferably in person, or on the phone). I do one idea at a time, and each Comp Phase is billed for as a complete unit. At this point the client may choose to have another idea made (or perhaps, they buy 3 Comp Phases up front, and I present them as they are ready). The reason I do Comp Phases is because every reaction from the client, witnessed in person, gives me a clue as to where the design should go. Making three “stabs in the dark” is expensive; making one “stab in the dark” and then seeing in the client’s reaction where NOT to helps save time and money later. You could think of the “one comp at a time” approach as analogous to a “binomial search strategy” as opposed to “random sampling”. The cost of a Comp Phase is 1-2 hours apiece.

Fourth Stage: Finished Comp(s)

The winning Comps are then selected for finishing and refinement to create a “Finished Comp”. This is a separate phase from Comp, and involves making all the little tweaks to bring the illustrator vector artwork (which looks good, but not as good as it could) into a final form. An example of the kind of finish work would be adding subtle curves and varying line weights, adjusting proportions, and specifying the exact colors using a color matching system. Fonts are also presented at this time, comparing the finished work with a variety of typefaces in typical uses: headlines, body copy, and labeling at a variety of sizes (from web resolution to billboard resolution, if necessary). Logos and typefaces look different at different sizes and distances, so we do this to make sure that our logo is identifiable from a distance just as well as it is up close. These are also billed individually, based on the difficulty of the finish work. Typically, it would be about 2-4 hours per finished comp.

If there are several Finished Comps, the client then chooses The Winner.

Fifth Stage: Logo Packaging

I then create the final vector outlines for all the versions required, suitable for use by web and print designers, as flattened vector files that will cleanly import into all software systems. I will also provide the Pantone color reference codes for any colors used. If there are additional requirements such as Powerpoint Templates, Word Templates, and so on, these can be added to the work order. The deliverable is a ZIP archive that contains the source AI files, flattened vector files, and a brief instructional manual that explains when to use which file for what purpose. If we have also picked some new typefaces for you to use, these will be included in both Macintosh and PC format, and you will be billed for the licensing of these fonts. This phase is billed based on the amount of time it takes to create all the assets needed, and is charged at the design rate. Typically it’s around 2-4 hours for a small set.

The Billing Cycle

Please read [[General Terms]] for a description of my billing terms and process.