Artist Brief & Research Phase of Logo Design

[teal pecan]

After doing some additional research this is what I found:

When you receive a brief from a client make sure they hit the following points...

Define your Business

• How your business started
• Where you're located
• Industry and scale of your company
• Description of your products or services

Target Audience

• Age Range
• Families? Singles? Couples?
• Culture
• Lifestyle

Brand Style (scale between the following)

• Classic <-> Modern
• Mature <-> Youthful
• Feminine <-> Masculine
• Playful <-> Sophisticated
• Economical <-> Luxurious
• Geometric <-> Organic
• Abstract <-> Literal

References

• 3-6 images / samples that best represent the aesthetic the client is aiming for.
• Pinterest Board or similar is acceptable

Do's & Don'ts list

• Inform the designer what you want to avoid, what you want to aim for, this can be anything from shapes, colors, fonts, style, etc.

Let me know your thoughts! Should I add anything? Remove?

[noble trout]

I'm confused. Are you trying to build a brand or are you trying to create a logo only? Unlike a brand, a logo is primarily the brand's identifier and as long as it can signifies the brand's existence and is legally available, that's more than sufficient.

A lot of the information you are trying to seek can be unnecessary for designign a logo. For example, when it comes to understanding the Target Audience, how do you think the audience's "Age Range, Marital Status, and Lifestyle" is going to affect the logo? Does Apple's logo resonates more with people in their 20s than people in their 50s? Does Microsoft's logo makes more sense for male audience than female audience? You get the point.

The Brand Style scale thingy is also unhelpful. If anything, I've always hated these scales as "Classic" and "Modern" or any other terms such as "Sophisticated" or "Luxurious" can mean a lot of different thing for different people. Think of the logo of "Louis Vuitton." For many, it seems straightforward. For others, it signals LV's style. But do people think of it as "Sophisticated" or "Luxurious"?

Try to think of what information you truly need when designing a logo and work from there.

[teal pecan]

@noble trout How much time would you recommend taking during the research phase?

[noble trout]

it depends on the expected quality and the scale of the organization.

For example, a small brewery with 10 employees may take one day to interview the people working there and another 1 - 2 days to review the business overview, history, heritage, and the products, etc.

On the other hand, a business with 500 - 1000 employees will take a few weeks to schedule interviews with representatives at different levels, and a few more days to review everything about the business.

That's for the business discovery process. Then you will also want to give yourself a few more days to research what other businesses in the same sector is doing to think how you can effectively craft a logo.

Remember that a logo should be legally available. That is it should be registerable at the business's local/regional office and for every region it has a leg in.

[teal pecan]

I'm looking at potentially working with a startup company in its very early stages but he's an experienced business manager so I suspect the business won't fail. So I'm trying to figure out price range and timeframe for this project. I'm estimating 25 - 30 business days and despite being relatively new to JUST focusing on Logo design I'm considering going as low as $5k considering how green I am but the benefit is I understand his target audience because I would be one of those consumers.

[noble trout]

I don't know if you are influenced by Chris Do (seeing how you mentioned "created value") but realistically speaking, if you are relatively new to Logo Design and Branding as a whole, charging $5k is... unrealistic especially when it comes to a startup at an early stage. Early-stage startups are very tight with their budget, and prior to their IPO, or prior to their Series Funding, most won't risk spending too much early.

From my experience (founding and managing an agency that works primarily with startups), while those that've already passed their Series B funding (and are usually ready to redefine and polish their brands for the mass market) are willing to spend $100k+ on their brand identity, earlier stage startups will spend at most$10k for the entire brand identity package so that they have something they can work on and present to investors. And by the entire brand identity package, I mean the naming, logo, color system, typography system, graphic motif, primary packaging system (samples). Usually the individual price for a logo won't exceed 10% of the total package, meaning even for an agency like us, we would not charge an early stage startup anywhere more than $1k for the logo.

Another thing I would mention is 25 - 30 business days for a logo may... also not workable for startups. Usually, after the initial discovery stage (that's around 3 - 5 days), we strive to get the first drafts ready for presentation in 10 days. So that's a 15 days at maximum by the time the client get to see something on the table. Of course if it's also something to deal with legal registration, the process will take more time but I doubt that's something you can do alone.

[teal pecan]

@noble trout I do actually follow Chris Do among other designers on YouTube. Very much in a season of learning so thank you for the feedback. I really appreciate it! Everything you brought up made perfect sense. My previous job was paying me $53k / yr as a graphic design generalist so another challenge I'm facing is figuring out what my rate should be now. I also didn't go to school exclusively for graphic design, I went to school for 3D Modeling and I'm very much considering going back to school. But of course learning for myself by taking courses at a discounted price or for free is an option and I've been doing so since two months ago. The 30 days is the total time I estimated from start to finish. I'd be more than happy to take on a mentorship but as it stands I've got roughly 3 years of experience doing graphic design exclusively.

For your convenience here's my portfolio on Behance: https://www.behance.net/UrLocalMaverick

I should also state I have worked on some logo designs for my previous job, but still very much self taught. The process as a whole was very different in comparison to what I've learned through Satori Graphics' Logo Design Process Kit. It gave me a pretty in depth approach on how to go about logo design but didn't cover timeframe or cost calculations.

I'll likely use this to refine old logos I did for my previous job especially since so many corners were cut.

[noble trout]

I believe many other veteran designers here will agree with me that YouTube isn't necessarily the best source of learning if you want to do something seriously.
For example, Chris Do is a veteran but his advice can sometimes be a bit removed from what the major of the industry looks like. There is a huge difference between how an agency does things and how a freelancer should tackle a project. From legal procedures (contracts and payment model) to fees and others, agencies have to deal with a lot of stuffs that give them the justification to charge higher than a single freelancer. Agencies with accolades and awards are also leveraged to bump their price tag upward for a single project. On the other hand, as a freelancer, you won't have to deal with as much paperwork as you have to as an agency and you can take multiple projects at one time. This is why people would expect a cheaper price tag if they are asking for a freelancer.

As for the logo design process, the thing that most YouTubers fail to mention is the legal aspect of Branding where you have to ensure that a logo is available (can be registered) across the business's operating markets. Furthermore, most YouTube videos tend to say: here is how you ideate a logo's design but fail to mention how they must test the logo against the business's applications (packaging, printed materials, manufactured products, digital applications, etc.) and that a logo must always be able to accommodate those. If a logo fails for even one application, that logo will be scrapped and adjustments will need to be made time and time again until everything is working flawlessly.

I have never looked at Satori Graphics' guides and what not but from his YouTube videos, I would assume that his kit will be very lacking for serious clients.

[teal pecan]

I can say having gone through it it really only discussed the process but all things considered helped me understand things more cohesively. I suppose you get what you pay for in that regard. But still steps in the right direction. What resources or courses would you advise for me to pursue as a relatively new designer with at least 3 years of experience? I’m currently spending time on logo design and learning as much as I can on that, looking into taking some courses on udemy and/or skillshare and considering going back to college but would prefer not to stack up more student debt all things considered.

Oh Satori did bring up testing and judging the logo. Seeing if it’s scalable and applying the design to mock-ups for every use case both digital and physical.

[noble trout]

Just a reminder that sometimes, applying things to a mockup isn't sufficient. Strictly speaking, you can apply anything to a mockup even if it's "impossible to manufacture." For example, there were occasions when we have to design stamps using the logo and it was impossible to manufacture due to some details being too small for production.