How to Design a Perfect Logo – A step by step guide to design a Logo

As the market grows, the number of customers also increase. In this competitive world it is most important to have a logo designed to create a uniqueness of your business. As a freelance logo designer Singapore, I have detailed the most important steps to create your business logo designed in this article.
Be it manufacturing a unique product or building your unique marketing strategy or be it creating your unique logo, uniqueness is the essential factor. When it comes to logo creation, being unique and standing out from others is utmost important.

How to Design a perfect Logo – A step by step guide to design a Logo in Singapore

There are multiple common and generic logos of the brands which might be easily forgotten. There are few more which are unerased from our memory even after years. Such an impact is a favourable breeze for any business. People identify the brand by just seeing the logo design, these type of logo designs are said to be a successful one. If you are the one who is creating a logo for your company then you are at a special position who is creating a powerful impact on how consumers would perceive your product.

Steps for logo Design:

1. Design Brief – Start with the story of your business
2. Research  
3. Brainstorm 
4. Sketching – Sketch ideas based on these words
5. Design execution
6. Presentation
7. Revisions / Approvals
8. Delivery

Design Brief: 

“Sell yourself before selling your product”. Initial stage for logo designing is accumulation of information from the client. As a logo designer or a logo designing company you need to gather as much information as possible from the client. It all starts with your client describing the story of their start. Why have they started this business would be a key factor for your design. Hence this “Why” is essential root to your story. Users can relate themselves more when it is explained as a story rather throwing basic facts about the product. It is always good to have a story in your logo. You might have to ask few branding questions from your client to understand what their business is. Three basic questions to be posted to client are

1. Where would you go in future
2. What are your marketing goals
3. What distinguishes you from the crowd or peers in the same field.

Keep in mind, that the more you probe to your client on their business, the more you will come up with designing solutions for logo creation. Understand the organization’s vision, mission and its target audience before proceeding further with logo design.

Research:

This is one important phase which cannot be overlooked while creating a logo design for your client. You might have to invest loads of time in it. You must research further its industry, its history and its competitors in broad. For eg: your client may be in the textile industry, you may have to open google to find out similar industry products and its branding designs, techniques and all that. Also, you may have to find out similar words related to your clients services and you could later create a concept by picking a few related words from google. Doing such type of research will enable a logo designer to get a sense of the environment in which the logo is going to go live in. 
Finding out about your client’s competition would help you understand the broader area on what would really work with your client, what really differentiates your client from its peers. This understanding may be obtained when you look your client from customers perspective. The goal must be to get the picture of where your client fits into the larger competitive environment.
This insight should be gained from competitors environment. Internet is for all now a day, any one can research over the web and obtain all possible information but surfing over the web just would not help in providing design solutions or answers. Interpreting data is an art and skill in itself.  How to use these information that you obtained from web is where you will find a solution to logo creation.
In addition to client’s business research, perform visual research too. It as a logo designers you have to be equipped with fresh and new ideas which are in comparison and prevailing with current market. You would have to research the logo of similar business and assess it constructively. Ask yourself, why this logo looks good, or why this particular logo works and why do you like or dislike particular logo. With this questioning within yourself you may get an inspiration for the generation for new designs.

Brainstorming:

Based on the research you have done, brainstorm for words that would describe your clients brand. Try to bring those researches that you have done into conceivable format or pieces. Organize the information you have received from your research. Mind mapping is necessary at this stage, where in you can find for any key words from your research to help build the logo that should associate with clients business. These keywords should set as a base for your logo designing concept. 
Once you find these keywords, you may have to look for visual representation of these words for the creation of mood board. This would help you to stay focussed on the same direction and make further decision on possible designs. 
In the whole process of researching and brainstorming, do not forget to stay in line with client’s objective. Never move away from client’s objective of business. Making a professional and formal logo is essentials but making a logo which communicates clients business is a challenge. As a logo designer you would have to address the limit or the boundary of the client who comes to you seeking for visual identity system. It is not about you or the other designers, it’s always about the design which lays close to business objectives, its products and services. 
In this stage of brainstorming, you have to define a problem and consider that particular problem as a challenge and come up with solutions. Every logo designers, in mind has key questions which becomes a necessity to address, one such question is do the client or the defined problem needs a design or only the memorable typography is sufficient? You may have to come to a conclusion if the client would need an icon or a graphic image that matches or appears with the name of just a word mark is enough for visual identity.

Sketching:

Now that you are equipped with “why” of the business and few essential keywords from brainstorming session, you have got a direction as to how to proceed with further steps. Put forth a pencil and a paper and simply sketch down all ideas that is flowing in your head. Though there are few sketchbooks and few might start up with computer right away, traditional method of paper and pencil always work as to create a logo design. 
Sketching is a phase where creativity comes into scene. This is the place where thoughts and feelings take form. The research whatever you have done and the science whatever you have learned so far would meet here as an art.
Allow each theme and concept to evolve on its own. Do not easily give up or get frustrated if your sketches are not working out. Sketching is a time consuming process. As there is a famous saying that “ best ideas comes in a least expected moment”. Taking a break at this segment is necessary as your idea would grow and mature at the back of your head. Give the idea its own time and try to use the older ideas as an influencing factor for the new ones. As the sketching concept keeps going keep few of the below things into mind.

Shapes to be simple:

Keep the shapes as simple as possible. If a logo designers can sketch the most symbolic concept in 7 seconds or less, then you are good going. Any clip art or generic symbols should be avoided because these will be easily forgotten. The more you are creative at this phase you will have simplified steps for your final logo design. You have to be honest in your artwork, as logo is something which your consumers will remember for long.

Colors:

Colors play a vital role, they can be your best friend or your enemy. Choose it wisely as per the business line, as per the industry segment most of all as per your client’s expectations and objectives. Be mindful or your client’s target audience. For example, if you are creating a logo for kindergarten , you can choose attractive, catchy and current trending colors. As a hard and fast rule, do not choose more than three colors for your logo created by logo designer. Make a choice of set of colors which will help your clients stand out from the competition and please for the love of marketing do not use the whole set of rainbow in it.

Execution: 

You need to test your top sketches with your buyer personally, Once you are done with sketching, you should be having handful of sketches on place. Go ahead and pick top three from it. You don’t have to think very hard on it. Just pick those logo designs on which your eyes keep going back to. Select those to show to others, remember the sketches you select should be promising. Share these sketches with your colleagues or with similar customer profile. Appreciate feedback from them and never take negative comments personally. Always be prepared to receive honest feedback only then your logo will become better at final phase. Put all the opinions and feedbacks together to select one final concept to develop into design. Remember to select only that concept which would work effectively for the client.
In the phase of execution you have to judge the concepts based on the following criteria

1. Is it appropriate? A successful logo is the one which act as a vessel which can hold associations relevant to the company rather than actually or literally illustrating them.
2. Is it simple? It should be simple and flexible enough to adapt to a wide range of size and media
3. Is it memorable? While it should be simple enough it should also be distinctive and unusual one to be remembered throughout.

Presentation:

Congratulations! You are on your way to having an awesome logo design. You need to present this concept on real application whichever is relevant and applicable to client. You must ask your client on where would these logos apply on real time applications. For eg: It may be a business card, T shirts or stationery. You can navigate to any step anytime and any number of times in logo creating process until you get satisfactory results. Presenting logo on a blank piece of paper is never a case, the logo can appear anytime and anywhere based on business services and requirements.

Revision/Approvals: 

Conversing with the client after logo creation is the best way to decide on if its the right thing to go ahead with. Your client is an expert in his field hence he may be able to help you with that additional information or extra spark that you need to put into the logo design. You can sit with your client and review the advantages of every design and arrive at a decision. If you had followed the earlier steps with full dedication, your clients would definitely be very impressed by your design. Few clients might say, they do not want blue color as it is very common, or dots are very boring. But after it is officially adopted the audience will embrace it and with the time they would associate it with the feelings of the company

Delivery:

After the final decision is made by your client, it’s time to work on your deliverables.
The presentation you showed to your client are the mock ups, now it is the time to polish those and combine it up to create a brand identity. Your freelance logo designer would provide you with different variations of the logo design files to be used in Web, Print. More information contact as our Blog.