logo development: a 3-part series
Friday, June 11, 2010
part 3: revisions, finalization & launch!
the finished product of a logo, if done well, is a deceptively simple and effective mark, revealing very little about the process that goes into its development. clients and friends often think we designers sit down, play with a few shapes, choose a typeface and within an hour or so an effective logo is born, but it’s actually a much more involved process. last month, we examined creating a brand brief from planning and research, and the design process. in this final issue, we’ll go through revisions, finalization, creation of a style guide, and launch.
presentation time
so, your designer went into the studio with your research and brief in hand, worked some ingenuity and magic, and is now ready to present the strongest, most viable options they came up with. i usually suggest a 3-option setup depending on the client’s budget. in my 3 options, i always have a favorite, which is usually representative of a balanced message culled from the brief, and often the most unique, boundary-pushing piece. for the other 2 options, if the client hasn’t asked for something specific they want to see [which sometimes they do, and when they're great ideas in line with brand strategy, i flesh them out], i work out options that either explore one area of emphasis more than the others, or provide an option that is more conservative if i’ve sensed that they want a fallback option. the secondary options basically orbit the main idea in ways that i think the particular client in question will respond to well.
review & revisions
once the options have been presented and discussed, the client will want to give consideration to each and imagine identifying with it and using it. they’ll also want to show it to any main decision-makers for review. my suggestion here is to define beforehand who this team will be, and if possible, limit it to 5-6 people who are fully involved with the brand goals and have the designer meet with this group directly to moderate the discussion. sometimes during this process, there will be varying opinions about what works, or who likes what. doubt can set in, and without a moderator who is impartial to anything but the brief, you can have an entirely unnecessary redesign on your hands. it is essential to refer to the brief to reiterate stated goals and explain how each option fulfills them. i usually have the client select their preferred option to either accept or revise further, so if the client gravitates to one, great! if not, get them talking about what ideas they’re seeing and describing what they see in each of the options, what’s missing?
if there are revisions requested that are in line with the brand strategy, this is when they are made. sometimes it’s tweaking an angle or color, sometimes it’s a slightly different font. i do this through a process of 2 rounds, making the adjustments and then meeting with the client to either get approval or further revisions. 2 rounds seems to be the magic number, clients often want to have some input, but beyond 2 rounds is usually overkill. it’s important to make the distinction here that revisions are limited to adjustments made to an existing design, and not an entire reworking from scratch. if the presented options are in line with all previous discussions, your designer has done their job well. a redesign is often the result of a lack of communication, at which point the designer and client must back track to a place of research and discussion so they can come to an acceptable option.
creating a style guide
once the revisions are complete, the client should approve the final for delivery. mission accomplished! but there is still final preparation to be done. a good designer will deliver your master logo as a vector file so it can be sized for any use, along with a style guide that describes how it should be used for brand continuity. usually this document shows the logo in full color and black & white, with notes about the typeface, what colors were used and how they break down into each color space [spot colors & cmyk for print, and rgb for web] so the always appear the same in any platform. there should also be notes about how much space should surround it when it is placed into ads or with other information. many style guides also indicate a complimentary color palette that work well with the colors in the logo, complimentary typefaces that work well with the type in the logo, and a diagram of correct and incorrect usage [such as, do place the logo with this much space, do not place it in a box, do not size it disproportionately, etc.] with visual examples.
trademark & protection
it’s a good idea to have your client trademark their logo so no other businesses can use it or anything too similar. this isn’t something a designer does themselves, it’s done by an intellectual property lawyer. if your client doesn’t have a relationship with a lawyer, it’s best to research some to refer for them.
final launch!
when the client is ready for a final launch on the public, there are some things to keep in mind. always launch in-house to employees and stakeholders first, explain the process you went through to those not involved and explain what the new logo means and how it’s intended to be perceived once it’s in action. your employees are some of your best brand messengers, so get them on board with the next step. this is the time to set expectations about what a new brand can do, and what it can’t. obviously, it can’t change everything overnight, and it’s up to the business itself to roll it out, stay on message, and stay true to it to make it effective. the best way to launch a new logo is to do it within the bigger context of a campaign, where the introduction of new brand strategies have been worked into expertly-worded copy, so your target market gets the whole picture of what you’re doing and sees the new mark with it.
and that, my friends, is what goes into a logo development. as you can see, there is a lot more work behind the scenes than there would appear to be when you look at the finished product. sure, there are some logos out there that are very effective marks that didn’t use this process, but they’re the exception to the rule [ever moreso as the digital age has evolved]. the best way to put meaning, integrity and authenticity into your brand is to start with the message first, write the brief, and let the design follow from there.
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[...] process is underway, it won’t be long before the designer has some comps for presentation. next month, i’ll describe the revision process and talk about how the designer formulates a st…. if you have any questions, please let me know so i can address [...]