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Your logo is your brand signature and one of your company’s most valuable assets. It is the one item that will symbolize your brand more than anything else. A well-designed logo is one that reflects your business and communicates your message. It has to be simple, unique, memorable, versatile, and able to work without color.
To choose a logo, there are important steps you need to take, both yourself and with a graphic designer. In this post, I outline the logo design process and some important guidelines to keep in mind when choosing a logo that’s perfect for you.
For the creation of your logo, you can choose between a freelance designer, a design company or perhaps an advertising agency. Throughout this post, for convenience and readability, I will use the term “designer” to include any type of business or individual that applies to you.
Choose a budget
First of all, you need to decide your budget for your new logo. They can cost between $300 and $1500 (USD) and sometimes more. Just remember that you get what you pay for, and a designer’s fee will reflect experience, client track record, and professionalism. Investing in a logo (and a corporate identity to go with it) is one of the most important first steps you can take when building a brand. A logo is worth much more than the hours it takes to create it.
You can find logo banks and contest sites online and get one for around $150. There are even different freelancer sites where people offer incredibly low prices like $50. Just keep in mind that picking a logo for a cheap price online can be disastrous. Inexperienced designers can take forever, not communicate well, use clip art (a definite no-no), and may not give you the correct files you need for both print and web use.
locate designers
There are so many places where you can find graphic designers. Choosing the right designer for you is definitely a lot harder (and we’ll talk about that in a minute). You can locate many candidates using different methods.
- Ask around. If you know someone with a great logo, just ask them who made it. Most of my freelance design work comes from references.
- Look for graphic design firm directories like the one at GraphicDesign.com.
- Explore design galleries and portfolio communities like The Behance Network.
- Search for “logo design” and “logo development” on social media like Twitter, Google Plus, and Facebook.
Choose a suitable designer
After contacting several designers and asking for quotes, be sure to consider more than just price when deciding who gets the job. Consider the designer’s previous logos and the corporate identities they have created around those logos. Look for good design presentations because it shows how much they care about their own professional appearance. Please read the descriptions that accompany each of your logo projects because a logo can look cool and all, but it must meet specific design requirements to be effective.
More importantly, choose a logo designer whose design style matches your own preferred style. By doing this, you’ll be happy with the logo you end up with, and the designer will be happy because that style is the one he’s most comfortable with.
You can judge the professionalism of a graphic designer by the following points. Not all of them have to apply, but keep an eye out for at least some of them.
- They are polite, direct, informed and efficient communicators.
- They walk you through their design process and tell you what will be delivered upon completion.
- They will ask relevant questions to understand your business.
- They have some kind of contract or service agreement to sign before you start.
- They require a specific upfront payment before starting.
- His grammar, spelling, and punctuation are at least satisfactory. (As in any industry, bad writing says a lot about a person.)
One crucial note here: if the designer presents you with a contract or agreement, make sure that ownership of the logo is transferred to you at the time of final payment. If there is nothing in writing that mentions the property, ask your designer to give you this agreement in writing. It is imperative that you own your logo design so that you can legally use it however you want in the future.
Inform the designer in detail
Whether you’re briefing your designer face-to-face or emailing a summary, it’s essential to spell out what you want in detail. Answer these questions first:
- If you currently have a logo, why don’t you like it?
- What does your business do?
- Who is your target market?
- Who are your main competitors?
- How are you different from your competitors?
- What qualities do you want your company to project?
- What feelings do you want your new logo to incite?
- Do you have a slogan that should be included in the design?
- Will your logo appear on videos? If so, will it eventually need an animated version?
- What specific logos are your favorites and why?
- Are you a fan of typographic logos (FedEx or ESPN), symbolic logos (Nike or Apple), or a combination of both (Pepsi or Adidas)?
Let the designer know exactly where you plan to use the logo. Sure, you’ll have business cards and a website, but will you also be seen on billboards and your social media profiles?
Ask if the designer will provide a logo usage guidelines document, outlining how the logo can and cannot be used. For example, which logo variation can be used on which background color? Finally, it asks for a favicon. This is the small image that appears in your browser tabs, in your bookmark manager, and on your computer when you save a web page. They typically come in one of three sizes: 16×16, 32×32, or 64×64 pixels. Request a 64×64 pixel favicon, so it looks sharp everywhere.
Armed with all this knowledge, your designer should be able to deliver an accurate visual representation of your business. Solidifying your vision before reporting to a designer will definitely save you time, money, and headaches in the end.
When I entered the logo design industry, I met some clients who expected me to know all these things and offer a perfect solution to a problem that was not clearly expressed. Inevitably, it led to continual revisions to their logo and tired faces all around. That’s why I decided to start submitting a list of preliminary logo design questions before even considering a job. If you don’t know what you want at first, you may continue to change your mind as the project progresses. It’s definitely okay to change your mind, but keep in mind that the designer will probably ask you for more money before proceeding.
Choose a logo concept
The designer will then do the necessary research and experiments, then come back with some concept designs. This will take about two to four days, depending on the specific job. Ideally, you will be presented with three to six hand-drawn sketches. When you first see the concepts, choose a logo that immediately catches your eye. This is usually the one your gut tells you to choose. Continue the decision process by asking yourself some essential questions:
- Does it represent my product or business?
- Does it convey my message?
- Is the design simple enough?
- Does the design have enough contrast to stand out?
- Does it work without color?
- Will it work when super small?
- Does it look too similar to any other logo?
- Will it be relevant in five or ten years?
After that, sleep on it. Do the exact same thing and ask yourself the same questions a second time. Do your answers change? It’s also a good idea to ask friends and family what they think.
Give helpful feedback
After the first draft, your designer may come up with a logo that’s close to what you’re looking for, but it’s not often that they hit the nail on the head right away. Therefore, it is up to you to communicate your needs to the best of your ability. Provide your designer with feedback that is helpful. Simply saying, “I don’t like any of them” doesn’t really help the process. Express why you don’t like something or what you’d like to see differently, such as “I don’t like how rigid and symmetrical this is. Can you make it move or livelier?”
It is necessary to give a clear direction, but try not to become the designer yourself. You’ve hired a designer for a reason, so let him do what he does best. If you have chosen a good designer who communicates well and matches your preferred style, then you can be sure that they will present you with quality work.
accept deliverables
Upon final payment release to the designer, you should receive the deliverables that were promised to you at the beginning of the business relationship. This should include vector files that can be resized, as opposed to raster images that cannot be resized without becoming pixelated (blurred).
You need files that you can start using on the web right away (usually PNG, JPG, or GIF). Please request a GIF PNG if you want the background to be transparent (no white box around your logo). You also need to get the original source files (usually AI or EPS). You definitely want to have the source files in case someone else needs to modify or extend your logo one day. For example, if one day you hire someone to create a video for you, then a source file is required to embed your logo; a JPG just won’t cut it.
When it comes time to choose a logo that’s perfect for you, keep in mind that it’s not a simple process. It takes a lot of thinking about your type of business, your target audience, the message you want to send, the feelings you want to incite, as well as open communication with your designer.
However, a strong logo design is definitely worth striving for, as it’s the first thing your audience sees and will stay with you for a long time.