Getting Your Business Identity Right

Often, when a new business approaches a design studio, freelancer or third party crowdsourcing site to have their new logo and identity created, the new business owner has very little in the way of understanding about their new brand, what they stand for, and the core values of the business.

When seeking an experienced logo design Brisbane based providers will likely have both experience of the industry and client profile being targeted, and an understanding of the qualities that should feature in a logo design in order to appeal to the target audience. However, all too often the core parts of the process are simply not factored in and, whilst the results may seem like good eye-candy to you, are they communicating the right qualities to your potential customers?

To help with getting this process right first time, we have outlined a few of the key stages that you should ideally be involved in as part of most design related processes:

First and foremost, is the briefing stage. Whilst it’s not essential to know what you want your design to do, a great designer will be able to meet with you, and with gentle interrogation, get to know your business and product, and the audiences that you’re planning to target.

Once the briefing is complete, often a process of research follows which helps to fill in any uncertainties about the industry in question, to profile potential competitors that you may be up against, and other factors that are likely to impact the route to market.

Now loaded with clear information about the who, what’s, whys and where’s, the brainstorming process begins, where ideas are conceptualised, and focus starts to point to potential directions that the designs might take. The process is of course two way, and a good designer will maintain dialogue with the client throughout the process to ensure that they’re on the right track at each key stage.

Ideas then start to become reality. The illustration process starts with basic sketching of ideas with potential, and early design concepts are explored and developed, whilst continuously referring back to the original brief and research to ensure continued focus on the desired outcome. Usually, at this point there are numerous ideas to consider, and in order to progress the brief, the weaker concepts will be removed from the selection to reduce the total list to a selection of the most promising ideas.

The design execution stage now follows, where the chosen ideas are digitally illustrated and honed until there are a handful of options that can be presented to you, the client. Most useful at this stage is the ability of the designer to present their ideas in the context of applications that are relevant to your planned marketing and promotions. What might ‘this’ design look like in ‘that’ instance, and so on. Quote often, little consideration is give to for example how the design will look in small sizes on a website or in an email, or should it ever need to be reproduced in a single colour such as gold leaf on a diary or one colour t-shirt print.

This process isn’t of course an exact science, and, in most cases, what subsequently follows is a process of design revision until the chosen artwork is approved and signed-off. Ultimately, if your business is of a size that demands it, the delivery the final logo artwork will ideally include a set of identity guidelines, basically the do’s and don’t of using your logo, fonts, colours to maintain a professional identity.