Logo Design Process

When we look at the great world wise brands logos, we see that it is not the beauty

of the logo or the relativity of the nature of work makes the logo great. “So, if none

of these things are responsible for making a logo great, what is? It’s

distinctiveness”(1). To achieve the distinctiveness of the logo a process of designing

is need, without going through a clear process it is like driving a car without a clear

road. The logo design process goes through 7 phases (1). The 1st phase is Client

Discovery, 2nd phase is Industry Discovery, 3rd phase is Application Discovery, 4th

phase is Sketching, 5th phase is Draft Design, 6th phase is Refinement, and finally, 7th

phase which is Identity Development. All of the phases will be discussed in details.

Figure 1 illustrates the process.

Figure 1: Logo Design Process

Phase 1: Client Discovery

The logo is the representation of the company and its values, people and culture

and it what distinguishes the company from another as discussed earlier. So, to

know the values and culture of the company, good conversations with the client is

required to obtain the enough information to know what logo must express and to

inject the values and culture of the company into the logo. Shinealight logo as seen

Client Discovery

Industry Discovery

Application Discovery Sketching Draft

Design RefinementIdentity

Developm-ent

in Figure 2 is an example of how the logo expresses the values of the company.

About the company as taken from their website is as the following

“ Shinealight provides refreshingly simple solutions for all your living needs. We are

Property experts and strong advocates of sustainable design and construction. We

provide a full range of energy efficient technologies and solutions for both

residential and commercial applications.” (2)

Figure 2: Example of a Logo

Phase 2: Industry Discovery

After knowing the client, then the audience and competitive are required to be

studied, who is going to see the logo? and are the company is competing with?,

these questions must be studied. By knowing the audience, the style of the logo can

be selected. For example, if the audience is teenagers, the logo can be mainstream,

loud and catchy, and if it for old peoples the style can be traditional, easy on the

eyes, etc.

Figure 3: Example 2 of a Logo

As seen in Figure 3, the go is for a gaming company and it is defecated for teens,

the logo shows loudness and eye attractiveness which can be representing the

teen. So this is why it is important to know from the client his customers, what they

buy? how they think? and what they like? so logo will be design in a way that they

will love it. The second part of this phase, is to research the client competition so

the design of the logo will not be a like or near in similarity, this is very bad for the

identity of the client company.

Phase 3: Application Discovery

All what is needed from this phase and what is meant by application discovery, is to

know where the logo is going to used most of the time. “Different usage of the logo

is typically referred to as logo application.”(1) Knowing the where the logo is going

to used most of the time can tell what can be done an cannot be done the design of

the logo. For example, if the logo is for an airline company and place of the logo is

going to be in tail of the airplane, the logo cannot be a horizontal wide, or any shape

that cannot be fit in the tail. Another example is if the company is web-based, then

the logo can be full colored, because the printing of the logo is not an issue, Figure

4 shows an examples of airlines logos.

Figure 4: Example of Airlines Logos

Phase 4:  Sketching

After having all the need information, a basic logos design is made, at to come up

with these basic logos design, a lot of sketching is required, the more the sketching

the better, “Sketch, then sketch some more, so you can really separate the wheat

from the chaff. That’s how professionals do it.” (1). When having a good amount of

sketched logos, then only the best of them is selected to present to the client.

Phase 5:  Draft Designs

In this stage, after presenting to the client the chosen sketched logos, 5-7 of the

best logos are picked to make initial designs in software, for example, illustrator.

The design should not be detailed or even colored, only the idea and shape of the

design must be clear. Then they are presented to the client for review and

feedback. Figure 5 bellow shows the drafts of Jecob Cass for UKE logo.

Figure 5: Jecob Cass Draft for UKE Logo.

Phase 6: Refinement

In the stage, one logo or even more than one is selected for final refinements, “the refinement

stage is the longest one” (1) and this is because of the details designed. The details are

designed and redesigned for frequently until the final shape of logo is defined.

Phase 7: Identity Development

After finishing the design of the logo, it is not the end, after having the logo an

identity of the company is shaped based on it. The logo will be developed and

represented in many communication tools to form a great brand identity. For

professional logo design company, this is stage is considered as optional. Figure 6:

shows how the logo is developed to be an identity of the company. By the end of

this phase, the logo design process is finished, and the logo is ready to be used.

Figure 6: Identity Development Example

References

(1): http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2012/11/14/logo-design-process-how-

professionals-do-it/

(2): http://www.shinealightsolutions.com/about-us