The logo design process: Part 1

25 Nov 2008 | Angie H

Most business owners know the importance of having a good logo for their company / organization. A logo needs to communicate to the company's audience (which includes staff) the feel of the company. But most folks -- especially those just starting out -- aren't sure what goes into creating a logo (which sometimes leads to sticker shock). Do a quick Google search and you'll find plenty of articles explaining the process. David Airey has one of the better articles out there. This one you're reading isn't too different. However, what I haven't seen a lot of (other than in design books), is articles that use a real-world example. So that's what you'll see and read here in this first part of a 4-part series.

And without further ado...

The client

WILLCO Painting & Construction has been a 420 Design client since 2004. At the time, Primo Williams, President and founder, started WILLCO needed a completely new brand since the company was (obviously) a start up. We created a logo for him then that has become recognizable in his market within his industry.

Click thumbnail to view larger version.

Recently, however, WILLCO began undergoing some marketing and strategic changes that have left Primo feeling like he needs a new logo. That's when he turned to us again and commissioned us to do just that. So in order to give a more "real-world" example for the logo design process, we'll be using his brand new logo as an example (which will be revealed at the end of course).

The process

Our process for logo design is pretty straightforward:

Discovery and research
Brainstorming / sketching
Concept exploration
Review and revisions
File prep / delivery

Most other designers have a very similar process which is key to ensuring the project is a success. No process and things can get hairy on various levels. And if there's one super-important step, it's probably the first one: Discovery.

Phase 1: Discovery and research

It can't be emphasized enough -- the discovery phase in our process is absolutely crucial. It can take 30 minutes, it can take 2 hours. It just needs to happen. The discovery phase allows us to make sure that no time is wasted later on on ideas that don't fit a client's vision. It ensures that we keep your business and branding objectives as the underlying foundation of what we're creating.

Our discovery phase usually happens in person whenever possible, but with non-local clients and the busy nature of many of our clients, sometimes a phone call is more feasible. In the case of WILLCO, we met with Primo for about 30-45 minutes going over his feeling of needing to change his logo despite it having worked well for 4 years. His thoughts boiled down to a few key things:

Since WILLCO serves both, painting and construction (for both, residential and commercial customers), it was starting to get difficult from an advertising and marketing perspective to target one or the other rather than both.
WILLCO's marketing efforts have become more targeted to segments within the painting and construction subsets, including further division within the residential and commercial segments. And since painting and construction don't always overlap on projects, clarity was needed.
Less emphasis needed to be placed on "painting" or "construction". Instead, "WILLCO" needed to stand on its own.
The current logo was just taking up too much space, especially in smaller ads.

In asking him more detailed questions it became clear to us that simply refining the existing logo wasn't going to be enough. It was time for a full redesign. So with our notes and brewing thoughts, we were ready to move on to Phase 2: Brainstorming.