Great logo graphic design should do many things. It should transfer you to a good place, bring a smile to your face, remind you of great times you’ve had, all in the blink of an eye. There are tons of online services out there that offer dirt cheap design, sure you’ll get a passable logo for your business, but it won’t help build the brand and it won’t have the impact that your company needs.
Essentially, brilliant graphic design should captivate the audience, but the big question is, how do you create captivating logos?
Research
It all starts with the why of it all. A really good graphic designer worth their salt will take account of all the outlying factors. What does the company do? What does the client envision? What has worked in the industry? What hasn’t worked? Why? A solid logo design starts with a thorough analysis of all these factors and then moves to mood boards.
Moody
A mood board lays the foundation for a logo design. It helps to pinpoint the exact tone that the brand will take, whether that is fun and playful, light and lively, or austere and professional. The mood board will be a combination of colours, shapes, words, and oppositional research that will help inform the development of the logo and all associated print materials.
Etch-a-sketch
The design process requires a number of iterations, starting with conceptualizing and sketching, distilling the research and mood board into graphics and wordmarks. The initial sketches will provide the base for the overall brand. This is one of the most important steps in building a brilliant brand, but it is also the part of the process that requires the designer to be the most free and open. Creativity tends not to happen in a vacuum, the sketching process is what helps to open up the creative process.
Get Digital
Once the sketches reveal some solid designs, a skilled graphic designer can take the blueprints and digitize them using Illustrator. This where the client will review and offer their own comments, questions, and concerns. This is such an important part of the logo design process, but it is also one of the most tenuous parts, where solid and open communication skills are vital. After consultation with the client, the designer will create multiple iterations of the logo before deciding on the winner.
Support
The final step in the process of designing a truly terrific logo is delivery and support. This is where many designers can fall short. Once the logo has been designed and all the necessary files have been delivered to the client, then what? Are there logo usage guidelines in place? What about marketing materials? Business cards? Letterhead? This is the step where a great logo can be turned into a brilliant brand with one designer developing all the branded print material the business could need.
The graphic designers at talonX are always available to create captivating logos, but we’re also always happy to offer the support you need to turn that great logo into an engaging brand. Need some help with your logo design? Get in touch, we can help!