Apr 02

Five things to avoid when getting a new logo design

Hiring a designer or an agency to create a new logo for your business can be a fun process, but it can also turn unexpectedly complicated. From initial design concepts through revisions and finalization, taking into account the opinions and feedback of possibly several stakeholders, as well as making sure that every box is checked on your list of requirements and considerations, there are many ways in which a logo design project can get derailed quickly.

However there are a few tried-and-true tips and tricks to keeping a logo design project moving along smoothly, helping you navigate this process smoothly while avoiding common pitfalls.

Here are 5 things to look out for (and steer clear of) to make sure that your project yields the results you want without the headaches of a longer and more stressful process.

1.

Too many first-round design concepts

Many designers base their starting process on a certain minimum number of initial design concepts to be presented, followed by a set number of included revisions. Usually this means that you will see at least 3 initial designs, and as many as a dozen or more in some cases depending on how the designer or agency works. Some designers take the approach of wanting to show you every possible idea so that hopefully something resonated with you and can then be taken into the revision process for further development.
 
The problem with this method, especially on the higher end of the number of concepts presented, is that creating so designs leaves very little room for thought or consideration as to whether any of those designs will actually translate well across your entire brand. Most often, bulk logo design processes result in pages of rough design concepts with no context in which to truly see how those designs will look in real-world scenarios. 
 
If a designer offers you more than 3 initial concepts, pass. Any designs presented to you should include some product mockups, contextual previews, color palette development, and a look at the logo designs with supporting imagery or other relevant brand system visuals. And a designer or agency should be willing to include these in their process because that process should also have included a discovery process to narrow the scope of the project from the beginning, and not necessitating more than 3 initial concepts and related mockups.

2.

Sloppy type

This one may be harder to spot if you aren’t used to looking at the tiny details of fonts and typefaces, but look for any obvious signs that a designer made font selection or letter customization an afterthought.

The font choices, letter shapes, and fine details of type in your logo should get just as much consideration as any symbols or graphics. A good word mark can even stand on its own without a supporting graphic or icon, and if the text in your logo looks like it was just keyed in using default letter spacing, you were deprived of a very necessary part of the logo design process.

All type requires some amount of customization and fine-tuning to make it ready for logo presentation. This can include small adjustments to spacing, line weight balance, adding or removing elements of a letter shape, or making changes to the letter shapes to better fit the overall look of the logo.

Very few professionally-designed logos include lettering exactly the way that it appeared when typed on the screen during the initial design layout.

3.

Generic or meaningless symbols

A logo design is supposed to serve as the face of your business. It does not need to explain what you do, but it does need to reflect some core value or concept of your brand. Generic or meaningless symbols might look nice in a logo, but they have no place in your logo or representing your brand if your designer can’t explain why they chose that symbol for you.

The meaning behind the symbol can be abstract, and needing to explain it is not a bad thing. But if the symbol in a logo design is there just because it looks trendy or exciting, that isn’t good enough to put it in front of your brand or on your building.

4.

No competitive analysis

If one of the logos in the initial presentation looks a lot like the logo of one of your competitors, it is likely that the designer did not do any research into other companies in your space. Finding and avoiding obvious conflicts in logo design is a good way for a designer or agency to make sure they aren’t wasting time on a design that one of your competitors already uses, but it is also often overlooked.

In the initial design phase, there might be a push to quickly get some ideas on-screen and get the creative process moving. This can be a costly mistake, though, either for the designer who wasted time working up a concept that has no chance, or for you to have to now possibly pay for an additional design concept if this competitive research wasn’t included as part of the standard process for the designer or agency that you hired.

Similar to the discovery process mentioned earlier, early research will help avoid wasted time on concepts that you can’t move forward with because they are too similar to a competitor’s brand.

5.

Black and white

Logo presentation should include comprehensive color analysis, color swatches, and examples of color used in various settings and in logo mockups. Some designers and agencies prefer to work in black & white until late in the process, and that is fine to a point. But going deep into the design process without thought given to color could end up being a costly decision if introducing color drastically changes perspectives about the design, especially if those perspectives shift towards negative feelings about where things are headed. 

Don’t feel like you have to commit to color decisions in the first round of design, but also don’t wait too long to start the color conversation if your designer is holding back. Color can sometimes be a bigger element of a brand than the logo itself, and it should not be treated as an afterthought in the logo design process.

Leave a reply