Designing A Logo — How To Get To First Base

Jun 6, 2012 by Jennergy    2 Comments    Posted under: Logo design

In logo design, as with all other design, the solution is not simply what you like or dislike. While this plays into the decision-making process, the primary concern with a logo is it’s functionality for the brand. There are some crucial steps in the process to creating a successful logo, and we’ll go over the most important of these steps today.

The first question the designer must ask is, what problem is the client looking to solve? This seems like a very loaded and open question, one of those transcendental questions like “what is the meaning of life?” The reality is that the answer is usually (and should be) very simple. The simpler the answer you can find, the more effective and direct the logo will be. This first step, although it may seem minor, is the most important in the logo design process.

The next stage is where the big brainstorming comes in. Based on the “answer to the problem,” every conceivable solution is sketched out, and eventually narrowed down to it’s most effective solution or solutions. Here’s where all of the push and pull begins. Once the client agrees on a basic concept, the floodgates of preferences, dislikes and requests open wide. A client who may have stated that they have no preferences in the design of their logo will suddenly develop very strong opinions about the work in progress that is presented to them.

Once all of the tweaks and changes have been made, a well-designed logo looks like it was effortless because of the perfection of the solution. Typically, this is where color starts coming into play. We’ve talked about color in logo design in one of our previous posts, so we won’t go into depth about color selection, but color choice is a crucial part in finishing a logo, whether it becomes a four color illustrated logo, or stays as a simple black or white shape. Color sets the mood of the logo’s identity — a slight change and the entire logo can change in its personality.

These are the most basic steps in logo design, and there’s almost nothing in the process that has to do with subjectivity. Every decision is researched and backed up, every concept proven by deduction, and even color choice is a strategic solution. The design process of a logo is very deceptive — while it appears that very little effort was put into it’s design, it is actually one of the most thought-out and painstaking jobs in the design world.

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