Questions to ask before you start a logo design

0:00if you're working on a logo or any kind of design project in fact nailing the brief is key in this video i'm going to give you nine questions to ask your client to help you do just that let's go [Music] welcome back to flux where we talk design and freelancing my name is matt brunson and today we're going to figure out exactly what you need to know before getting started on a logo design in fact if you're working on a website or a campaign you can translate these questions into your context and integrate them into your process we're not going to talk about the how of

0:36designing a logo we're going to talk about the how of speaking with clients and creating a great brief now i can already see some of you thinking or getting your comments ready logo design no no we should be designing whole corporate identity schemes or even working on detailed brand strategy and i hear you i know how deep these things can go as well as working with my own clients i also freelance with some of london's leading design studios and advertising agencies and they create these incredibly detailed decks of brand strategy with lots of market research behind it and style guides which cover endless applications does anybody read these

1:17things maybe yes maybe they do they are necessary for some larger companies but i want to cash your mind back to march 2020 when many of us i know in the united states and europe went into lockdown and a famous graphic designer in the united states named aaron draplin i've got his book here actually his pal came round to visit him and his pal as i remember the story he had been laid off he was working at a bar here's aaron i wonder if who's as friendly as that when his friend came to his front yard and he was working at a bar and he was

1:51running a food truck and both of these things got shut down and this guy was unable to work at all so aaron said to him well i'm booked up for the next six months but after that we'll do a bit of market research and then we'll do a 360 degree brand strategy pro no he didn't say that he just said let you get get you up and running we'll just design a logo so they created this thing the lawn tender and off he was going cutting grass and staying busy and working throughout the pandemic and the lockdown and it's not always necessary to develop huge schemes you might just be doing a

2:28logo or that might just be your part of the process so there is a time when you just want to ask the questions that are mainly related to logo design or an identity and even the big boys like some of the high profile agencies like i think of uh chemief geisma and havive in new york and they are famous for this as it says development of trademarks and identity programs and it's particularly their logos like the us open and chase bank national geographic and the american bicentennial that for decades i've put them as the go-to people for icons for logos so there are some key questions that you

3:10want to ask and the key thing over everything is to understand your client and what they need so if these questions are answered by the existing brief they will help you create a stronger brief so here we go number one tell me about your project so first of all you want to put your client at ease just ask them an easy opening question tell me about your project tell me about your business tell me about your organization tell me about this initiative just some get some idea of how they talk about it and if they don't go into this detail ask them about the past present and future the history of

3:48the company what they do at the moment what their offer is and their goals get some idea of that and it's a great way to kick off the conversation number two is there an existing logo is there an existing logo or any other visual assets if so you'll want to review them and then ask the client what do you think about them do you have brand recognition with this logo is there any equity built into it so you there might be elements that we're going to need to retain or reference as we evolve it what isn't working what do you want to change why do you want to

4:24change what prompted this change you need to be wise in what you change and what you retain when it comes to a rebrand i think of collins in new york when they rebranded spotify they decided to keep that icon that designers love to hate it's not the most attractive proportions but they felt that icon and the green was already recognized as a brand so they kept that but what they did was extend it with a wider color palette to make it more dynamic and more interesting similarly dixon baxi from london when they rebranded the italian football team ac milan they kept the badge now fans are very passionate about their team and

5:06the badge can often be a symbol which holds a lot of those passions and a lot of that strong feeling so they didn't mess with the iconic badge they left it but what they did was use the shape of the badge the oval as a graphical device to then create and extend a system so think about what's there and what needs to change number three who are your audience so you need to know who your clients customers are or who are the key stakeholders the key people who are going to be the audience for this design i would presume that preschool children probably have different preferences and

5:44different aesthetic to university students so get some idea of the demographic who the target is for this work and that'll help you design something that is appropriate number four who are your competitors so if you're designing a logo for a classic rock or metal band often we see these same elements like lightning bolts and these angular type and often word marks in all caps and sometimes 3d effects so these are things that are common to the category so when we look at competitors we want to think about parity so that helps us to demonstrate our category credentials that we belong within it but we also want to think about difference so how

6:34are we going to stand out within that category so it pays to be deliberate about those so find out who your clients competitors are and if they're giving you too few or too many maybe ask them for who are your three main competitors to narrow it down that will give you enough context for your work number five where will the logo appear so you need to find out what the key applications are is this primarily a digital thing or will it also have physical form whether it be print or will there be things that are being created physical products so find out where it's primarily going to live good logos are

7:11flexible enough to work across a range of applications but knowing the key applications will help you make sure it's working hard in those areas and even provide mock-ups for the client so they can see it in context car manufacturers are a good example because recently a lot of them have been making their badges simpler and simpler in their rebrands and that's because simple and solid logos tend to work better in physical form and across a range of applications i think a great example in that category of a new brand that's entered it with a great mark is pole star and they have a really strong striking simple mark and identity system

7:53that works really well in digital it works at small sizes it also works on the side of a building and it also looks great in the physical products in the vehicle design of the cars number six what is the brand name what is the brand name as it should appear in the logo now this seems obvious but it's amazing how many times this has got wrong or there's a breakdown in communication so things like spelling needs to be checked and also perhaps a company has a long name so there might be a shortened form of that that appears in the logo try not to you know shoehorn in too many like

8:31taglines or the shorter the better really and ask the client if there's any scope to change it as you go through the process you're going to be thinking of creative ideas so you might want to use their initials and create a monogram or a shortened version of the word sony were originally known as the tokyo telecommunications engineering corporation or whatever the japanese version of that is and that's a very descriptive name but it wouldn't really fit on top of your camera so sony has worked really hard for them over many decades so if the scope to change a bad name try and get them to change it

9:08number seven are there any must-haves or must-nots now sometimes clients aren't sure for a moment but then when you begin to prompt them there are things that definitely need to be retained or definitely you shouldn't do like perhaps it shouldn't be in all caps because that would feel too shouty for their brand or colours is a good one definitely prompt them and ask them about colours must-haves and must-knots is there a colour that we have to retain and think about the context because in different sectors or different cultures certain colors are associated with different political ideas or religions and things like that that you might want

9:46to avoid so be conscious of that too number eight what feeling are you trying to evoke so if you go to the store and you're looking for a drink when you see monster energy it's a very intense looking brand but if you want to relax you might be more likely to reach for lacroix now if these can designs were switched that would be confusing and it wouldn't fit with the moment at which you might drink these beverages so think about the feeling think about the personality of the brand try and prompt the client and pick up a few adjectives if you've got a big brand brief if brand strategy has

10:27been done you'll have this but if you don't just talk to the client about the feeling they want to evoke their adjectives to describe their business and who they are and how it comes across and finally number nine what will make this a successful project and then pause and the client might need to think about this for a while but let them think and listen clearly to their answer without a goal it's difficult to score so setting up beforehand what will make this a successful project will help it to be so make sure you agree on the process the timeline and the deliverables find out what they're expecting and then maybe

11:12clarify for them or help them understand what should be and what needs to be delivered during the logo design process and then when you get to the end it'll really help you to refer back to that and show them that you've delivered what they've asked for and also what they need so there you go nine questions to ask your clients i hope this was helpful for you please let us know down in the comments which of these were particularly helpful any questions you might add this isn't intended to be exhaustive and also if you've got more questions about logo design let us know and if you want to see how the pros do

11:46it and some best-in-class examples of brand identity design then check out our brand identity reviews on this channel until next time happy designing [Music] you