Regrets. Indeed, you, Frank Sinatra and I all have
had a few. And while Ol’ Blue Eyes did it his way,
the designers featured in this article have learned
over the years that maybe, sometimes, there’s
another way. Which is a roundabout way of saying
that, in our formative professional years, when we
think we know it all, we often enter into uncharted
territory and occasionally fumble. The best thing
about hindsight is that we can look back on the
errors of our ways and learn from our mistakes. We
made them, so let’s hope nobody else is doomed to
repeat them.
Logo design can best be summed up as “business
strategy made visual.” It requires the fullest
understanding of a client’s business objectives, then
translating that into a unique, memorable and distinctive
identity. The most common pitfall, then, is
not understanding this blend of business and design.
Lose sight of a project’s strategy and you’re designing
for yourself.
Client relationships can present a big stumbling
block for young designers. While your ability as a
visual designer is often the sole focus of schooling,
it’s how you bring the client into your work process
that often defines whether a project will succeed or fail. Even the savviest of clients will reject good work
that wasn’t explained properly. If they don’t get it,
the design is dead. The best advice to new designers:
Keep your focus on the problem presented by the
client—and how your design solves it—and you can’t
go wrong.
Our test subjects, including yours truly, were
willing to dredge up some bad memories and shed
a little light on the back stories behind some earlyin-
our-career logo projects. It’s important to realize
that a logo mistake isn’t always visible. And truly,
most of the work shown is quite attractive in its
visual form. As you’ll see, it’s the marriage of business
and design, and how these designers handled the different
aspects of that relationship, that led to some
good lessons learned.
THINK STRATEGICALLY,
NOT AESTHETICALLY
One of Ted Fabella’s (Molecule Brand Consultants)
earliest projects was a logo for a children’s section of
Atlanta’s High Museum. “I designed this icon with
a fairly straightforward concept of a child’s face with
glasses,” says Fabella. For flexibility and variety, the
logo incorporated different background treatments. Fabella thought he had it nailed. The client had
other thoughts, though, disliking its resemblance
to Bart Simpson and lack of gender-neutrality, so
the client rejected it. While Fabella disagreed at the
time, he realizes now he was working toward his
own aesthetic sense and not considering the client’s
strategic goal. “Twenty years later, I can still appreciate
the symbol, but it fails as a logo from a strategic
standpoint,” reflects Fabella.
Learning the point at which an attractive design
isn’t necessarily a good design is a standard milestone
for a young designer. Clients aren’t roadblocks to a
successful design. They are important elements of
the process. Client feedback isn’t personal, according
to Fabella. “They are working toward an objective,
and you should help them get there.” In reality, had
Fabella listened to the negative feeback and worked
to mitigate it, the design would have been better and
also achieved the client’s goals, he says now.
It’s much more than aesthetics, he argues.
Strategic thinking involves seeing the project as a
problem to be solved. Focusing on developing a cool
symbol is the wrong approach. Before you even start
designing, consider all the strategic issues and familiarize
yourself with them. Ask the client tons of questions
about their goals and audience, and how the
end user will interact with the logo. Then, and only
then, do you have the proper foundation on which
to design your logo.
THE KITCHEN SINK
Many things are best in moderation. Red wine.
Hot dogs. Logo designs. It was a logo hangover
that was the source of Sam Potts’ (Sam Potts Inc.)
difficulties in designing a logo for Brasserie 360,
a NYC French/sushi restaurant. “I chalk it up to
youthful exuberance,” says Potts. “I was young and
eager, and really enjoying the making of logos,”
he says, reflecting on the 15 different logos he presented
in the first round alone. He says he definitely
wouldn’t do that again.
Choosing a logo is already difficult for most
clients, so showing three to five is the preferable
amount. Unless you’re the second coming of Paul
Rand, show less than three and the client won’t feel
like there’s adequate choice. More than five and
things get confusing. It definitely made more work
for Potts, as the second round of design involved five
logos, each with differing combinations of elements
the client liked. It became less about finding the perfect
concept than forcing all these different elements
together into a single logo, he says.
The final kicker of the whole process is that the
client chose the logo Potts least liked. “Back then, I
was just happy to have a client,” Potts says. The idea
that he could actively push for a favorite design was
furthest from his mind. Instead of being part of the
decision-making process, he let the client lead and
dictate the direction. “Now, I’m much more willing to push for a favorite when I feel it’s the right
choice,” he says.
It’s the meeting of the minds between client and
designer that generates the best work. Each brings a
unique perspective and combining the two—finding
the common ground—can lead to better solutions
for both.
WE DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’
CREATIVE BRIEF
In our bloodlust to rush off and put pencil to paper,
sometimes we miss the first, most important step:
the creative brief. Without a brief agreed upon by
both client and design team, there’s no clear criteria
for success. Designer likes concept A, but the client
wants concept B. Who wins? The creative brief is
the best arbiter of that decision. It’s the designer’s
key weapon to make sure logos aren’t judged purely
on form alone. A proper creative brief lays out the
strategic goals for the project, demographic information,
the key attributes the organization wants to
be known for and specific visual criteria—like an
overview of competitors within the client’s business
category. Missing this means the project can quickly
become all about the serifs, and no designer really
wants to be in that position.
Yet, that’s right where UnderConsideration
cofounder Armin Vit found himself in one of his first
jobs. The client had given the directive, “Design us a
logo for our new partnership. Here are the names.”
No brief was ever given to the design team, which
set them adrift in the search for appropriate visuals. As we can see, that search led down a too-wide path.
Interestingly, all four initial concepts are certainly
appropriate for an asset management company: precision,
focus, trust, accountability.
Vit now wonders how a Spanish galleon and
a Zen turtle could represent the same company.
Without the guidance of a creative brief, Vit and
the other designers simply grabbed on to any icon
that made sense, without knowing whether it fit the
partners’ personalities or represented their investment
strategies. They designed logos for an asset management
company, but were they appropriate for this
asset management company?
Subsequent rounds of revision failed to produce
any more focused direction for the team. It’s a tough
predicament for a designer to be in: that feeling
you’re chasing the Holy Grail without any map of the
ancient world. And while it wasn’t necessarily a situation
to walk away from, it could have benefited from
some limitations, says Vit.
The biggest lesson for Vit was in how to build
a presentation for a client. “I like to show extremes
when I present logos—something loud, or soft, or
traditional—to get a quick sense of what the client
is comfortable with. It’s a great way to shake the tree
and see what falls,” he feels. He reiterates, though,
that parameters are necessary to avoid wasting precious
time with an unfocused, far-flung exploration.
THE FRIENDSHIP JOB
As much as we’d like to blame the client for every
misunderstanding and poor logo choice, sometimes we have to admit that we can get in our own way.
Take this project I did several years back for a
friend. Reread that sentence and you’ll understand
where this is about to go.
I think it’s safe to assume that we’ve had many
a friend ask out of the blue, “Hey, can you do a logo
or something for me?” That’s usually followed up by,
“Don’t make a big deal out of it; just do something
quick.” At that point, no matter how good of friends
you two are, put on your business cap and treat it
like a real job. Because I didn’t.
As we’ve learned earlier: Put together a real
creative brief and both agree to it. For my “quickie”
logo project for the Diabetic Food Critic, there was
no brief. There were no parameters beyond, “It’s a
new blog I’m starting.” So, these logos may have
been clever, but I really had no idea if they were
appropriate or not.
Another lesson: Do a real presentation. Don’t
whip off a logo and send your buddy a JPEG. He
won’t understand it. Would you do that with a big
corporation? Of course not, but the friend equation
constantly throws designers off their game. So which
logo did my friend choose? I think we all know the
answer is “none.”
It seems like the easiest trap to avoid, but we do
it repeatedly. Combining a personal relationship with
no money and a lack of desire to invest the necessary
time leads to disaster. Design is a business. Make sure
your friend understands this, even if you aren’t charging
a fee. Of course, you should charge a fee, because
your friend intends to make money with his business. Why forego that with yours? Money is a key to
responsibility and mutual trust in a business relationship.
Your friend is spending money, so he’ll take it
seriously, and you are receiving fees for your services,
so you better act in similar good faith. It’s just smart.
ALWAYS CONTINUE TO LEARN
Have these stories of design-gone-awry scared you
into changing careers? Fear not. All of our participants
continue to thrive in the design field running
their own studios. Youth is made for mistakes. Our
energy and ego allow us to stand tall, dust ourselves
off and get back on with it. It’s the designers that
continue to make the same mistakes who are in the
most trouble. Learning doesn’t stop when you graduate
or get your first job. It’s a lifetime effort. And
if you ever get to the point where you don’t make a
mistake, call me and tell me how you did it.
