A professional logo designer’s creative process

Design Brief:

A summary of the completed questionnaire and project’s scope, including:

• Deliverables
• Time frame
• Resources
• Estimated cost

(1-2 hours)

Research and inspiration:

I research your business, product, industry, and competitors, then create a Pinterest board of relevant reference imagery, which later helps to build the mood board for your brand guide.

(2-8 hours)

Sketching & Concepts:

With pen and paper, I sketch out concepts. I also rely on a word web, which fosters interesting visual associations.

(4-12 hours)

Ruminate:

This is where brilliant ideas are produced. With adequate time, I plant the seeds from Step 3, typically during dog walks or before falling asleep.

(4-8 hours)

Presentation:

I present polished sketches of my top concepts within a series of 4-5 themed pitches. This is a differnt approach than most designers who take their sketches into the computer and present fleshed out designs. I find well drawn sketches with supportive reference imagery, saves me time and saves you money.

Each pitched concept I break into three parts:

• A sketched concept
• Reference/inspirational imagery
• My thoughts about the concept (e.g., what I love, why it works)

(3-6 hours)

Design:

I take the approved concept into the computer and draw several vector versions.

(6-12 hours)

Font study and Typography:

This is extremely important, difficult, and time-consuming. With millions of fonts available, it should be no surprise that it will take time to discover a font that can complement the logo’s tone. I look for fonts that mirror the logo’s style and characteristics plus communicates appropriately (i.e., your values, status, industry). Through typography, I study a font’s letterforms and their relationship to the new logo’s elements. I then layout these elements in a visually pleasing and cohesive way.

(2-6 hours)

Color study:

Color is powerful and deserves care. I study color theory and the psychological effects of color. For logos, I generate color palettes based upon research and the Pinterest board created in Step 2.

(2-6 hours)

Refine:

I tie together all the elements above, leading to options that need to be refined.

(2-6 hours)

Revise:

Logo design is subjective. Revisions are a part of the process. With trust, there are few revisions throughout the creative process as I keep clients up to date on my progress, so there are no surprises.

(1-4 hours)

Variations:

A logo’s usage and placement will dictate the need for several layout variants and color variations (i.e., vertical or horizontal layout or solid black or solid white version).

(2-4 hours)

Finalize:

I finalize the logo and its variants by cleaning up the shapes, tweaking the scale, outlining fonts, and defining color swatches.

(2 hours)

Formatting:

I create and deliver all the necessary logo versions in the following formats for print and web: pdf, png, jpg, svg.

(1-2 hours)

Brand Guide:

After the creative process is complete; after the approval of the primary and/or secondary logo, color palette, and fonts; a montage to the work, effort, and care is created. I display all the new elements along with a mood board into a deliverable called a Brand Guide. It serves as a guide for those who will be creating your branded content.

(2 hours)

Why this matters: Branding is a profoundly transformative process – it changes how your clients perceive your business and how you see yourself.