Think of a brand, and the first thing you recall is the brands logo design. Even though the logo alone does not define a brand, the logo is the defining element of your brand. And that is the reason, it needs tons of hard and smart work in making and an extensive thought process is needed to put into action.
Making a unique personalized logo is a challenging and a time taking task. It requires a perfect mix of creativity, skill, finesse, and instinct to make your brand stand out from the rest. Even though it may sound overwhelming, the breaking down of the logo design process into steps makes it all the while easier.
If you want to design a logo or get it prepared for your band. So, then the following step-by-step guide will help you use your creativity to the fullest, brainstorm ideas, and make your logo the one that truly identifies and resonates with your brand.
Before we get on with the steps, here are a few things to notice. Firstly, the brands have more opportunities for visual branding, providing them the opportunity to go for a combination logo mark – which involves a name or letter mark, a pictorial mark, an abstract mark, or a mascot. With this arise endless opportunities to make the logo stunning.
Secondly, a good logo design requires teamwork and solid communication. The entire logo design process has to be smooth and error-free.
Now that we are done with the basics, let us move on to the steps that make any brands logo design a breeze.
10 steps to creating an effective branding logo:
Step 1: Whom to involve?
As your logo is the prime and vital tool that communicates your brand, the process has to include the approval and input of all strategic decision makers. You need to make sure that before finalizing the logo, you keep them in the loop and take their valuable feedback.
You will need to identify which people and stakeholders will be active at what stage. It is always better to be ready with the necessary approvals before being sorry at a later stage.
Step 2: Up-close with your Brand
Conducting an initial brand audit will enable you to revisit and refresh your brand’s purpose, mission, values, and goals. It enables you to identify your brand’s persona, the message it wants to convey and the visual identity you are looking to create.
With all this ready in front of you, you can now create a logo that perfectly syncs with and resonated with our brand and identifies it truly.
Step 3: The Most Crucial – The Creative Brief
The creative brief is the anchor that grounds everyone on the team on the same core values for the logo. It ensures that everyone knows where to look back for evaluation. It also enables you to align your team and keep them together in the correct direction for your brands logo design. The brief is the summarization of your brand’s requirements and is usually created by the creative director. It should also be ensured that the team is well aware of and familiar with the brief at all times.
Step 4: Brainstorm Ideas
Brainstorming ideas before hopping on to the logo designing process can be a relief. It reduces chaos further down the logo creation process, several sessions of the brainstorming process will enable your brand to have a refined set of ideas to work with. Getting valuable deliverables from the session that can be used in the next process is an exciting element of the whole process.
To do so, you will need to gather your whole team and describe the brief and what the logo should be representing. When everyone starts pouring in their ideas, the best ones can be selected to work with further.
Step 5: Sketch and Sketch
Now that you have enough initial design ideas to work with, now is the time to start putting those ideas into an art form. That means it is time to sketch a logo. If you plan on getting a combined logo, work on getting the logo mark first and then move on to the word mark later. Remember to keep your brief intact to look back to. It is shown that different shapes change the audience’s perception of your logo. It is incredibly crucial to consider what your logo is trying to communicate. Start sketching to see what visual appeals the most according to the creative brief.
Different elements can be used to represent different sentiments and words that are there in your brand identity. Visualize different shapes and elements and see what works best for your brand. You need to be able to translate your ideas and concepts into sketches on paper.
Step 6: Vectorize your Sketches
Now that you have several design concepts sketched to choose from, the next step is turning those designs digital. The design you choose has to be converted into a vectorized design and it should be clear and simplified. Vectorizing a logo enables it to be design in any resolution and size. Be it a banner, visiting card or a full fledges billboard display.
The initial design should be in a black and white vectorized logo. This is so because the logo had to work without adding any color to it. If the symbol holds a strong foundation, it will work regardless of it being black and white. Adding color to the logo can influence opinion in the decision-making process.
Step 7: Value Opinions
Select a focused group that will review the logo design, it is best to mix up a variety of people primarily creative designers who know the design process and can identify mistakes and issues. Gather the opinions and feedback of the group for the selected logo options you have chosen, and work on those ideas and opinions that have developed from the group. By now you should be able to have 4 to 6 logo designs to finalize from.
Step 8: Choose your Stars
Now that you have enough criticism and positive feedback on all your logo options, choose your top 3. It won’t be hard since you can always compare it parallel to your brand’s ideology once more. Choose the ones that most effectively communicate the ideology of your brand.
Choose the ones that reflect your brand the best and what your brand wants to communicate.
Start adding wordmarks to it to see which one has the x-factor for your brand. At this stage also add color to see which logo suits your brand the best.
Step 9: Testing
Now that you have your logomark and the wordmark combined in colors, get more opinions and honest reviews on the top three choices you have. The best idea is to create mockups to see which logo design suits your brand and represents it truly. You can also get a branded landing page for each of your logos and see which works best by running targeted ads for a week or so. This is also part of audience testing. No feedback is as honest and brutal as the audience. Note down and see the conversion rates for each logo separately.
Step 10: Choose your brands logo design
You now have conversion rates after completing adequate examination and testing, conversations, and views. By now it is pretty much self-evident which logo has sparked joy the most. With the logo that gets the trophy, finalize it and decide how the logo will be select. You can take measures to use the logo effectively to build your brand.
Conclusion:
After the finalization of the logo design, build a brand identity that is there to stay with your brand. The visual identity of your brand should be cohesive, easy to relate to, and should go well with your brand. And finally, reap the benefits of your brands logo design!
