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Before beginning the design process, I research competitor logos, industry trends, and a basic SWOT analysis of both the company and any existing or previous brand designs. During this process I take notes on ideas I have in regard to design, what I can do to best position the brand within the industry, and what other brands have successfully implemented in their creative. By identifying areas of strength and weakness I am able to make the logo part of the brand's strength in industry positioning.
Coinciding with the research, I also get a comprehensive understanding of what the client's vision is. Depending on the resources available, this could involve a few different approaches. Oftentimes, I help conduct focus groups with the client, the employees, and various other stakeholders in order to discover how they view the brand and how they want the brand to be represented going forward. We get insight on the brand's values, culture, and their perspective on the brand's SWOT points. We also included creative and personality driven questions in order to set a starting point for design and get the stakeholders thinking outside of the box in terms of new possibilities that may expand past previous branding.
After gathering research data, I begin to play with different ideas on paper, in my head, and eventually in Adobe Illustrator. This initial step involves a lot of internal imagination and experimentation. It is the step when I start combing through typefaces, colors, shapes, and other design elements, and collect all my ideas in Illustrator to be refined into an initial draft for review. My initial sketching and drafting usually goes a bit deeper and more worked through than how some designers might approach logos. I always make sure that what I am giving the client is well thought out and the design executed with purposeful precision.
After my initial thoughts are down, I narrow the drafts down to around 4-8 logos to fine tune. The client has input at many stages along the way, but their feedback on the drafts is what drives the refining process. As a designer, it can be easy to feel as though the work is "yours", but in my logo and branding work I recognize how important the brand is to a client. It is truly theirs, and not my own, so I always work to bring their vision to life instead of my own. With my input on what the optimal design choices would be in the refining process, the client and I are left with a logo that both speaks to their vision and is visually and logistically effective.
