Logo Design - Modern Art at it's finest.

Designing a timeless, memorable identity for something or someone is a subtle art often unappreciated. To create one single graphic which represents everything a company does, in a fashion which sticks in the mind for the future is no simple task. Sadly, today, general consensus strays away from logo design and is geared more towards getting your web site up and running - think about the logo later, or heck, don't even think about a logo at all. And while that might work for some projects, it is generally not a good idea. Of course, picking a designer to create your logo is no easy task either, but this is one particular of your business that you do not want to forgo or be stingy with.

The logo is the single most important graphic your company/business will ever have. The logo is your companies identity, it alone decides how people will perceive your business right off the bat and hey, we all know how important first impressions are, right? Your logo will be visible on all of your stationary, your web site, your employees uniforms and maybe even your fleet of trucks. From your logo inspiration will be drawn for the design of your web site and in fact your entire corporate identity. Your logo will be responsible for peoples understanding of what you do, and could be the difference when they come to hiring your services - they either manage to remember you, or they don't - your logo plays a key role in that. For the logo to be a success, it has to be well designed and accommodate every potential medium, whilst looking good for years to come and being an accurate representation of you and what you do. The logo will also be an integral part of your branding - another aspect of recognition. If I were to ask you what you would associate with a "swoosh" graphic, I'm pretty sure you'd mention words like "sport", "speed", "agility" - Nike is a good example of how a logo, branded properly can be a powerful tool. And hey, I know your brother-in-law can put some clip-art together for you for 50 bucks, but how is that going to look, huh? Think about it.

It's sad for me as a designer to lose out on a client because my "prices are too high", or because the client "expected to pay around $200". It concerns me that people can care so little for their company so as to not invest enough time/money into giving it a proper identity. All I can think is that perhaps people simply don't understand the art of true logo design, or it's importance in their companies success.

A great logo takes time to create; hours need to be spent on various tasks such as preliminary research, looking at competitors, colour research and shape association with the company in question. Time needs to be spent merely thinking about the logo. Preliminary ideas need to be thought and sketched out roughly to further explore their possibilities and potential functionalities. From this further ideas will spawn which will lead the designer down various paths before coming to terms with the best set of ideas, and even these will then have to be honed and revised. This first step alone will generally take several hours - more than $200 work on it's own and this is something that I can only assume people don't generally understand? A good logo cannot just be plucked from the designers brain in 5 minutes, be drawn up and ready to go in 10.

These ideas must then be discussed with the client after which it's direction might shift or new ideas may be introduced, and so the process continues until eventually, usually after several hours the designer and client can be happy with a final idea, this is before you've even opened your drawing application...

This preliminary process of brainstorming/sketching/researching is the most important part of the logo design process but also the most overlooked one. People seem to find it hard coming to terms with paying a designer to think, research and sketch, expecting that the first thing the designer draws will be the final logo, and time spent on anything else is time wasted. The best comparison I can think of for logo design is architecture. When an architect is hired, I am fairly certain his first steps are not to go out onto the building site and start construction immediately. We all know what happened to that poor dude who built his house on the sand. The architect, much like the logo designer will spend time researching, making technical drawings and generally finding the best solution for the project. Every last detail must be considered. These steps cannot be rushed and if they are it is generally a recipe for disaster, whereas if the necessary time is spent then the project will be a success and stand strong for years to come. It is exactly the same deal with logo design.

So when it comes to hiring a designer for your logo, please don't look for the cheapest clip-art merchant you can find - take a few moments yourself to consider how important your logo is, formulate any ideas you may have yourself and then get in touch with a designer who produces quality, relevant logo work. Just don't be offended if he/she quotes you more than $200 for the job.