This is where we deep dive into the ‘why’ behind your brand. We explore the inspiration and story behind your business. If you have a name, what inspired you to choose it? Who is your ideal target market and what are your goals for the next 5, 10 years? These are just a few of the questions we will explore and will help me get an idea of who you are and your vision for the future.

If you currently have a logo but it isn’t working for you, we explore why it isn’t working and what can be changed to better reflect your brand as a whole and attract the customers you should be attracting. Your logo and branding should do most of the work for you, and finding out the story behind your brand builds the foundation for a successful design.

Finding out who your direct competitors are is key to creating a successful brand. Your branding should be unique, make an impact and accurately represent your business. By ensuring your logo stands out, the design is giving you an advantage even before your customers know anything about you or the products and services you provide. Every industry is different and understanding what is trendy and what is timeless within specific industries is a key part of the design process.

Your time is precious and you need as much of it as possible to pour into your business. After years of experimenting with different design processes I’ve discovered a smooth and efficient way of creating a successful design. Creating a collaborative moodboard streamlines the process and reduces the amount of time spent on design revisions down the road. Your idea of ‘professional and minimal’ may be different from mine so building a moodboard of examples of other logos that accurately represent these concepts is important to make sure we are on the same page.

Colors

Color is one of the main components to creating the overall feeling and vibe of the design. Green is associated with growth and safety while red reflects passion and energy. I’ll delve into the colors that best reflect your brand and the feelings you want to evoke. 

Illustrations

For all logos I sketch out pages of ideas with pencil first, then refine them down to the strongest concepts. Depending on the style of logo, it may involve creating custom hand-drawn illustrations. I create these first by drawing them in pencil then refining them digitally creating a cohesive look with the rest of the logo. 

Fonts

A typeface can make or break a logo. I have a extensive collection of high-quality typefaces I have purchased throughout the years that I can draw from to find the perfect font that suits your brand. If it’s not in my library, I’ll purchase a new one or even create it from scratch if I need to. 

Once I’ve created the design(s) I’ll gather feedback from your exact target market regarding their thoughts on the designs. I found this step to be incredibly insightful. It’s not only important that you’re in love with your brand, your target market should love it as well. Based on this feedback I’ll make any revisions and changes as needed. After this, the logo is sent to you for review. 

Once the logo design has been approved, I’ll create any additional brand assets to compliment the main logo. These can include alternative logomarks, patterns and imagery. It’s important all of your branding is cohesive throughout your communications. This can include business cards, social media graphics, website, packaging and newsletters. United branding creates a strong and impactful presence. 

Have you ever seen a business where their website logo is a slightly different shade of color than the logo on their packaging or signage? Maybe the font used on their website is opposite of that used on their business cards?

Having brand consistency is a major key to ongoing success. A brand styleguide is a reference document for all of the brand assets that will be created down the road. It includes things such as the color palette, names of fonts, logo usage, alignment specifications and imagery guidelines. It’s an essential resource for any brand looking to keep their designs uniform moving into the future. 

Having all of the standard logo files for your brand is essential. A complete logo file package consists of files such as:

• Vector formats for use in print such as PDF and AI
• Raster formats for web use such as JPG
• Transparent background
• A wordmark as well as a logomark only version
• Horizontal and vertical formats
• A black and white version

It’s important for me to make sure you have all the files you’ll need in the correct formats so you can feel confident in sending your files out as required.