It’s worth noting from the start that your logo is not your brand. Your brand is the bigger story. It involves every element of your business from the tone of voice through to colours, typography, strategy, market positioning and much more. Your logo should sit right at the centre of this, and is more often than not, the first visual representation of your brand.
Here’s how the Tann Westlake team weaves its logo design magic, broken down into five simple steps.
Briefing
First things first, we get to know the client. A comprehensive brief is taken outlining the company history, objectives, competitors, along with some finer details. Conversations take place to gain a deeper insight into the business, followed by industry research and competitor analysis. This planning and preparation help us to develop a moodboard which is referred back to throughout the process.
Concepts and Idea Generation
When we get to a point where we have gathered enough information and knowledge, we move onto the concept stage. By this time we usually already have a few ideas starting to flow, and we quickly scribble them down on paper. This is usually in the form of pencil drawings and words, which seem to develop and take shape at a fairly fast pace.
Throughout this stage of the process we ask lots of questions:
- Should we use a badge icon, word mark, or both?
- Can we build a story or meaning behind the logo?
- Does it hit the brief and represent the client?
- What makes it stand out from competitors?
This is the perfect time to work closely as a team and decide on the strongest concepts.
Screen Time
When we have chosen four or five of the most exciting logo ideas, we start to develop them on screen. This is when we dive deeper into typography options, iconography and start to think about a colour palette. At this point it usually becomes clearer which concepts are working and which aren’t, and we condense down to two or three final designs.
Presentation
When we are satisfied that we have at least a couple of strong options, we add them to our presentation template which is annotated to explain the story behind each concept. This usually includes some mockup visuals of the logo in situ. A client meeting is booked and the logo options are presented.
Refine and Finalise
The next step is to work in partnership with the client to decide on a final logo. Sometimes this will be more of a journey, mixing concepts together or trying fresh ideas, and sometimes it is an immediate decision. It is most important to get it to the point where everybody is happy with it – after all, you might be living with it for the next 50 years! When a design is chosen, we refine the file, and export it in various formats and supply, along with a simple user guide.
We’ve worked on many logo and branding projects over the years, and love the fact that every project is unique, each with different objectives, challenges and purposes.
Are you in need of a brand refresh or logo update? Get in contact with our creative team today to get started.