This is a frequently asked question we often get from our new clients. While filling out a brief and just answering the questions is simple enough, it can leave out some vital information which is really key to how a designer thinks about your project.
So here are our 7 steps to writing a high quality logo design brief.
1) Describing your business
The description of your business is the main piece of information that your designer will have to understand who you are. You should cover:
- Your industry
- Your main product/service
- Your unique selling points
- Any important brand values or stories important to your brand
2) Logos you like
This is the main way your designer will understand what sort of taste you have, and what kind of style of logo you might like for your own company. It’s also worth mentioning anything else you find inspiring, or sending us a mood board (Pinterest is a great way to organise this, or you can send a word document to [email protected])
- Try to give at least 3 examples of logos you like
- Mention any logos you dislike
- Ensure that the logos you include are similar to the sort you want to see (i.e. don’t send us Apple’s logo if you don’t want your logo to be in a minimalist style/mention to us which ones are your personal taste and which are appropriate for your company)
3) Your ideas
It’s ok if you don’t have any ideas and you wish to leave this to the discretion of our designers, but the more of an idea you can give us of the sort of thing you might like the better.
- Are there any concepts or inspirations which you think will work well?
- Do you have an idea for an icon?
- Do you want to upgrade to an illustration?
4) Feelings to convey
This is very important as the feeling you want to convey makes a big impact on the style, colour and font choices of the designer.
- Let us know if one feeling is most important
- Don’t feel restricted to emotions – you can relate it to how you would want a customer to react to your service offering, for instance, or mention which of your USPs is most important to convey.
5) Colours and fonts
You don’t need to give specific colours and fonts, but this is very useful for understanding the feel and style you are going for – and if you have a specific vision of what you want your logo to look like then this will help us to get it right first time around.
- Colour lovers is a great site for picking colour combinations and palettes
- Font Squirrel is our recommended source for high quality free fonts
6) Where will your logo will be used
This is very important for your logo designer to understand what sort of layout and sizing will best suit your logo. It’s a good idea to think about not just where you will be using your logo, but what you might want to use it on in the future also. The more specifications you can give us the more effective the design will be. Think particularly about:
- Stationery
- Products and equipment
- Signage
- labels
7) Who is your target market?
Your target market is very important for us to understand the style needed to best promote your company. Are you:
- Targeting a particular industry?
- Targeting specifically men or women?
- Targeting a particular age group?
Remember that you don’t need to have a perfect brief in order to end up with a strong logo design, but the higher quality your brief the fewer revisions you will need and the quicker you’ll be able to start using your logo.
It’s also true that the more thought you put into your brand then the stronger and more focused your logo will be as a result.
Take a look at our blog on the relationship between your brand and your logo design here for our top tips on developing your brand.
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