Everything It Takes to Make One Little Logo
Thursday, November 17, 2016
by Holly Aguilar
Marketing
Everything It Takes to Make One Little Logo
We hear the line all the time: “It’s just a logo.” One of the great misconceptions about branding is that because a logo is small and simple, its creation will therefore be quick and easy.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
It is a logo’s very smallness and simplicity that make creating one a long and difficult process. So few lines of text or iconography must say so much, must do so much. It must not only be attractive, memorable and evocative – it has to be a workhorse, becoming the visual shorthand for everything your brand is, does and stands for.
Which is why, instead of a mere 10 minutes of sketching, the logo-creation process takes nine highly involved steps.
1. Creative Brief
We start by defining the problem and understanding the goal. Do you already have a logo? Why do you need a new one? What do you like or dislike about the current logo? What do you want the new logo to accomplish?
2. Research
Next, we gather info from other sources. We look at your company, your competitors, your industry as a whole, and your customers. What are they interested in? What do they care about? What do we want them to feel when they look at your logo?
3. Visual Inspiration
We dig into visuals related to your industry. We’ll look at iconography common to your business and cause. We’ll look at logo and design trends in your industry and outside of it.
4. Sketching & Conceptualizing
We might spend hours sketching dozens of different iterations of the same visual concept. We’ll doodle, develop thumbnails, use mind mapping, brainstorm with others on our team, and get feedback from other designers.
5. Refining Ideas
When we have some sketches we like, we go digital, taking our ideas to the computer to explore more stylistic executions, fonts and colors.
6. Presenting the Work
First, we show the logos in one color only, so you can focus on the shape and the content. Next, we’ll show multiple color options so you can see the logos’ flexibility. We may even mock up images of the logo on bus benches or billboards, hats or pens, to help you visualize how your brand will look in the real world.
7. Incorporating Feedback
We finesse the designs according to your feedback. We strive to do enough background work that the first round of options includes exactly what you were looking for, but if you want colors or fonts tweaked, here is where we’ll do that.
8. Delivery
We deliver the logos in all the forms you need: different file types, colors, sizes and orientation (such as a horizontal version and a vertical version). We’ll also adapt the logo for specific uses, like embroidery or animation.
9. Additional Materials
We create a whole suite of additional materials you need with your new logo: business cards, letterheads, email signatures and more.
Your logo isn’t your brand – it’s one small part of a greater brand strategy. Learn more about Balcom’s process for building that strategy with our other branding and advertising services.
Tags: Branding & Advertising