IntroductionWelcome| 00:04 |
We're all well aware of the larger
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(music playing)
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branding agencies and their well-oiled
systems of developing and promoting their
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clients' brands.
But not every client is a multinational
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corporation that can afford to have a team
of designers from a big branding agency
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working on their behalf.
In this course, we'll be covering working
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with clients while managing their
expectations.
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How to do meaningful research in
preparation for design, exploring
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potential concepts and directions.
Understanding craftsmanship within the
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design process, effective formats for
presenting your work, managing and
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replying to client feedback.
So whether you're an independent designer,
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a boutique design firm employee, a
marketing person, or an in house creative
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at a larger company.
You can take the information I relay and
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easily adapt it into your own creative
work flow.
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| What is logo design?| 00:01 |
Logo design is arguably the most
well-known aspect of graphic arts.
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If you asked a non-designer what a graphic
design is, more than likely their response
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would include a reference to logo design,
and rightly so.
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Visual communications is one term used to
classify what our industry does.
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And logo design is all about communicating
through an image that will represent a
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company, a product, a service, or even an
individual.
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But this idea of relating a visual image
to a person, place, or thing Has been
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around since the dawn of time.
One could easily argue that the ancient
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culture of Egypt branded their rulers in
God-like manifestations such as the Sphynx.
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Native cultures all around the globe have
applied tattoo designs to their bodies in
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order to communicate positions of power
within their sphere of tribal influence.
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Early Christians used a fish symbol to
associate and fellowship with like-minded
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people during times of persecution.
The Roman Empire used an official stamp
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designed to denote their rule and
ownership, and heraldry is all about
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branding a family with the unique crest
that represents and distinguishes them
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from others.
But the term branding finds it roots
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specifically in cattle ranching from the
1800's.
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Open ranges meant cattle would sometimes
wander into other herds, so to help avoid
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confusion, ranchers designed their own
unique brand marks.
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Logos that they would then seer into the
hide of cattle to claim their ownership of it.
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And thus branding, in its truest sense,
was born.
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All of these historical attributes have
led to our modern definition and practice
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of branding.
The popularized phrase, brand, and it's
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association with logo design and
commercial-oriented art, however, What's
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originally coined by advertising legend,
David Ogilvy, in the 1950s.
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But brand logos aren't anything new.
There are commercial oriented brands that
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have been around for a very long time.
Baker's Chocolate is the oldest American
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brand founded in 1780 and is now owned by
Kraft Foods.
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Coca-Cola established their famous logo
type brand in 1886 and advertised their
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product using many of the same
methodologies put forward by David Ogilvy.
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The term branding is thrown around a lot
when discussing logo design, but a logo
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should never be confuse with a brand.
A logo puts a face on a brand, but a brand
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will be what tells people who you are,
what you do, and explains all the detail
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related to those services and convictions.
And this is done through a website through
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customer service, through print
collateral.
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The experience a client has with a
company, product or service.
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How well a business performs and
communicates through the totality of their
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marketing efforts, etc.
Most of these channels of communication
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will come after a logo is designed.
A logo exists in the midst of all of it,
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but it's not the brand.
It just represents the company, business
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or service.
It's part of the brand, but it doesn't
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tell the full story on its own, nor should
it.
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Therefore, a logo is not a brand, but a
logo is most definitely the capstone in
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the arch of any brand.
Logo design is all about developing and
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creating an engaging personality through
visual identity.
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When done well it will effectively
represent and communicate your client's
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brand to their audience.
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| Using the exercise files| 00:01 |
I've provided some exercise files and some
extra creative resources that'll be
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available to all Lynda.com members to help
you get the most from the movies in this course.
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They can be found in the Exercise Files
tab on the Course Details page.
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There are examples of forms in this course
that have taken me 20 years to create.
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All these resources are thoroughly
documented, and you'll be able to learn
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and use the methodology in your own
creative projects.
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So let's get started.
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|
|
1. The ClientThe client introduction| 00:01 |
What came first, the client or the
designer?
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I'd argue that the client came first.
And after a period of time, the need for a
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designer became self evident and the new
industry was born.
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In all reality, our jobs wouldn't exist
without clients.
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So, how you interact with your clients
affects the creative process and the
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ultimate result of that process.
If your work on behalf of your client
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proves to be unfruitful, then you can
easily lose that client.
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So in this chapter, we'll cover the
various facets of the designer-client dynamic.
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Gauging perceptions, scope of work,
auditing a request, quoting a project,
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agreements and term.
Honing these skills will facilitate a
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smoother working relationship with your
clients.
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And help you produce better design
results, as well.
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| Gauging perceptions| 00:01 |
Making first contact with a client is kind
of like, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
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At first, you are unfamiliar with the
species, and you need to determine if it's
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going to abduct your time and resources,
or be a good fit for your business.
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Many people, myself included, Have made
the mistake of ignoring tell-tail signs
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because we didn't want to turn down any
work.
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Gadging perception is one of the first
things you want to do.
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Ask yourself these questions when
approached by a new potential client.
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Does this client have unrealistic
expectations?
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Does this client appreciate and value
creative work?
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Do I align with this client's business
goals and services?
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Does this client view us as a mere
extension of their arm?
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These questions and more will help you
evaluate if you should move forward with a
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client, or at least clarify need to look
closer at areas of your creative
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relationship, and address them ahead of
time to avoid problems later on.
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You need to decide whether you're going to
work with a client or pass on a project.
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So pass close attention subtle cues.
Take time to get to know them.
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Engage their perceptions on a wide range
of areas related to business; how they
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perceive a successful outcome, what
marketing strategy they'll support their
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identity with the personality of the
people you'll be working with, et cetera.
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Some clients have very unrealistic
expectations regarding logos.
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A logo won't improve poor customer service
or fix a bad product.
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It won't relay information through your
website's copyrighting or communicate
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every attribute about a brand.
For more information, see my logo and PDF
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included in the exercise files for this
course.
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A logo is not a brand.
A logo puts a face on a branding project.
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But, in essence, a brand is everything
related to the business.
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Everything a business does builds a story.
That story is created by the experience of
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those who interact with it and what they
come away with.
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A business is like an iceberg.
What you see above the water is their logo.
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It represents the totality of the iceberg,
but the majority of the iceberg, their
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brand, and who they really are, is
submerged.
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Of course, all analogies fall apart at
some point, so if you throw the Titanic
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into this specific analogy, the brand
story can get really weird.
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It would be easy for me to say that, if
you're following everything I'm sharing,
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you'll never have any creative hiccups,
but that isn't true.
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I've run into issues with my own clients'
perceptions, and I'm going to share one
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with you now.
I was approached by a client called New America.
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And when they approached me, they asked me
to design their identity for a new social
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media site they were going to be
developing.
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And, in the process of all the upfront
information, I like to gather for any type
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of logo project and the research I do It
came out that one of the comments the
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client made to me was we want to be the
next Facebook.
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Now, what also came out within the
research phase is the fact that they
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wanted to be distinctly American,
Patriotic, and positive all at the same time.
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That's fine.
So when I set forward and created my
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initial design directions these were four
of about eight total concepts that I'd
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showed the client to begin with.
The client saw these and.
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They didn't like any of them.
Matter of fact, they really went out of
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their way to say how much they hated
these.
| | 04:15 |
And the thing that they didn't like about
it is, ironically, they didn't like the
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fact that they were so patriotic.
So that was one problem that they pointed out.
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And the other aspect that they, they They
kind of clarified for me at this stage was
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they wanted it to be more social.
So that's fine even though I felt it was a
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little misguided from the initial research
and information they provided, we, we went
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ahead and move to stage 2 and we worked
out a mark that was more in line with a
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social media type of look that they had
said they wanted and not so patriotic.
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So, this is more fun.
Now, they saw this one and they didn't
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like this one either.
They thought it was still too patriotic,
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and they didn't like the reference, to the
flag that was embedded in this direction.
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Now, they also wanted me to shift away
from the distinct patriotic colors, and
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they felt it still needed to look more
social and, Less happy, so what we did is
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we kept moving forward and we worked out
the next direction shown here.
| | 05:29 |
Now on this direction, the client thought
it was still too happy that it was;he
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didn't like the reference to this logo.
And the client didn't understand the colors.
| | 05:43 |
Now, when the client was looking at this,
I try to, you know, gauge what he was
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looking, for and at this point he just
threw out how about you just did an icon
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with the letters N and A and just use
that, kind of like a favicon.
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And this is the point where in my mind I
started to get red flags and it, it, get
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that alert symbol where I'm just going I'm
not sure about this, because now the
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client is playing art director.
But I went ahead and did it anyway and
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this was the direction I showed em And, no
surprise he didn't like this one either,
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and he felt that, now, it wasn't (LAUGH)
American enough.
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And this is the point I've gone well, yeah
it isn't very American, so the client,
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reiterated that he wanted this to be all
about revealing a new America.
| | 06:39 |
And that there's opportunities that are
being uncovered.
| | 06:43 |
And I said, well I can, I can play with
that.
| | 06:45 |
I like, I like that concept.
And so, I worked out this design direction
| | 06:50 |
based off of that insight and I really
like this.
| | 06:54 |
I thought I had something going here, It
had a nice kind of new media social media
| | 06:58 |
feel to it, and the client saw this one
and they didn't like this one either.
| | 07:05 |
The client says it's about a bright
future, but it still needs to be fun and positive.
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The client asked if I could actually work
in the face again, even though he
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initially said he didn't like it.
So I said yes, I can go in that direction,
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make it bright, about the future, and work
a face back into it.
| | 07:27 |
So I created this and I also like this one
too.
| | 07:32 |
I really like the colors.
I thought the colors were nice on this,
| | 07:35 |
but once again the client saw this one and
they didn't like this approach either.
| | 07:41 |
They said it wasn't american enough now,
and the client asked that if it could be
| | 07:46 |
more patriotic and fun.
So we're kind of ping ponging back and
| | 07:51 |
forth here during the creative process.
But I stuck with it.
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I wasn't willing to just give up on the
client just yet.
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So, I decided to move forward, and this is
the iteration I created next.
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Now, this didn't have distinct patriotic
colors, but I thought it was still
| | 08:09 |
patriotic since it references the nation
of the United States.
| | 08:14 |
And he's just going, we're number one.
I like this.
| | 08:19 |
It actually was my favorite approach out
of all of them.
| | 08:22 |
But, when it was all said and done, the
client still didn't like this.
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Matter of fact, the client didn't like
anything I created.
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And it was at this stage that I had to
basically let the client go and tell him
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that I think he'd be better served to find
somebody else to work out a visual
| | 08:38 |
identity for him.
And all of this happened basically because
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I didn't do my upfront work in terms of
gauging perceptions.
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Very well.
So make sure your client's perceptions of
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what a logo can do are realistic and
aligns with what they want to accomplish
| | 08:58 |
as a business.
Truth be told, a brand can be successful
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without having a well-designed logo.
And a brand that is failing, can do so
| | 09:09 |
even with a great logo design in place.
The challenge is to do both well, and
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understanding your clients perceptions
will help you to accomplish this.
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| Determining scope of work| 00:01 | Once you've decided a client is someone
you can work with, you need to determine
| | 00:05 | the full scope of work that
your project will require.
| | 00:09 | A scope of work, or SOW, is a list of
deliverables and schedule outlining a
| | 00:16 | client's expectations from the
designer that holds both parties accountable.
| | 00:21 | I always let the client be the
first out of the gate in this respect.
| | 00:25 | I don't want to cede their
thinking at this point or hedge their
| | 00:29 | expectations either.
| | 00:31 | I want them to provide what they
determine is important to their business.
| | 00:37 | Letting them fully vet their defined
vision of what they need identity-wise
| | 00:42 | without any preamble from me will elicit
an open and honest sharing of their ideals.
| | 00:49 | This will go a long way towards
accurately gauging perceptions and ultimately
| | 00:54 | itemizing their creative needs.
| | 00:58 | When I work with agencies they do a
very good job specifically defining the
| | 01:03 | scope of a project and
its itemized deliverables.
| | 01:07 | That's because they did this work all the time.
| | 01:11 | When it comes to small businesses, or
even in-house design departments, the
| | 01:16 | process can be less structured, so
it's good to develop a system that will
| | 01:21 | define the big picture of who they are,
what they need, and where they want to
| | 01:27 | ultimately go as a business.
| | 01:30 | It's at this stage I ask my
clients to itemize the creative needs by
| | 01:34 | providing me with a simple list of deliverables
so I can adequately audit and quote the project.
| | 01:42 | The list I request from a
client doesn't have to be complex;
| | 01:46 | it just needs to be complete.
| | 01:49 | A simple bullet list of what they
expect to have when the project is
| | 01:54 | finished will suffice.
| | 01:57 | A sample bullet list might look like this:
| | 02:01 | logo design, business card design,
direct mail postcard, vehicle wrap.
| | 02:10 | Simplifying the process like this
will help improve your communication and
| | 02:15 | manage the expectations of your clients.
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| Auditing a request| 00:01 |
Once you have the client's itemized
request for design work in hand, you'll
| | 00:04 |
want to audit it with the bigger brand
picture in mind.
| | 00:09 |
Three primary questions to ask are, do
they need everything they've listed, is
| | 00:14 |
this all they need, or should there be
something added they haven't thought of?
| | 00:22 |
Does their request align with their
perceptions or expectations regarding the object?
| | 00:29 |
In this state you want to think beyond
where your client has seemingly stopped.
| | 00:33 |
Consider what could be done to better
facilitate and deliver on their
| | 00:37 |
perceptions and increase the overall
effectiveness of their branding.
| | 00:43 |
If you think of other assets, notify the
clients and itemize them in your quote.
| | 00:50 |
This type of early state early thinking is
rarely talked about in our industry.
| | 00:56 |
It's creative paradox of sorts.
We have to give away some creative work,
| | 01:01 |
our thinking.
For free, in order to properly frame how
| | 01:05 |
the relationship between the client and
the designer is going to work.
| | 01:10 |
All this is done before any contract or
quote has been approved.
| | 01:16 |
Here is one example of how I audited a
client's request for work and turned it
| | 01:20 |
into a complete rebranding of their
company.
| | 01:25 |
The company called Trampolines Australia,
hired me to create a custom pattern design
| | 01:30 |
they could use on their new trampoline
safety pads.
| | 01:35 |
After I finished this project, the company
owner asked if I would re-design their
| | 01:39 |
corporate identity.
I audited his request and discovered their
| | 01:44 |
company wanted to move into other markets
outside of Australia, so I recommended a
| | 01:49 |
complete name change and rebranding of his
company.
| | 01:55 |
The new visual identity we created was
VULY Trampolines.
| | 02:00 |
We then rolled it out into other design
assets like a catalog.
| | 02:04 |
Trampoline games, sponsored athelete
promotions, and uniforms.
| | 02:10 |
We also developed other unique products
like deck designs.
| | 02:16 |
We even transformed his corporate
headquarters to align with the new brand aesthetic.
| | 02:22 |
If I wouldn't have audited the client's
original request, none of this brand
| | 02:26 |
development would have happened.
Remember what logo designer extraordinaire
| | 02:32 |
Saul Bass said, design is thinking made
visual.
| | 02:35 |
So take the time to audit what your client
is requesting and think beyond it.
| | 02:41 |
And you'll discover new realms of design
opportunities.
| | 02:45 |
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| Quoting a project| 00:01 |
I'm a big believer in playing to your
strengths when it comes to creative skills.
| | 00:06 |
We're all well aware of our own creative
proclivities in regards to designing logos
| | 00:11 |
as well as how long it might take us to
finish a logo project.
| | 00:17 |
But value as a designer is more than
merely billing for our time to lay out graphics.
| | 00:23 |
It's also about the value of the final
work in context of the client's use.
| | 00:29 |
I always try to quote a little higher than
what I think the client will be
| | 00:33 |
comfortable with so I can always negotiate
down and still land on a fair market value
| | 00:37 |
for the work being produced.
A whole course could be done on quoting
| | 00:43 |
design projects, so I'll speak in
generalities and not specifics when it
| | 00:47 |
comes to how much you charge for a logo
identity project.
| | 00:53 |
The most important thing to do when
quoting any design project is to itemize
| | 00:57 |
all the deliverables.
What you're going to create and how much
| | 01:02 |
you'll be paid to create it.
Nothing about a quote should be vague.
| | 01:07 |
It should be all clearly defined so both
parties fully understand what it includes,
| | 01:12 |
and how much it'll cost without any doubt
on either end.
| | 01:18 |
Here's an example of a quote form I use
with my own clients.
| | 01:23 |
Most larger agencies in general, contact
me with a budget already in mind, and
| | 01:28 |
usually ask, we need X, and can you do it
for this amount?
| | 01:33 |
Sometimes the price is fair, but most
often they're trying to be cheap, and I
| | 01:37 |
have to counteroffer with a more realistic
fee.
| | 01:42 |
Here's an example of how I arrived at a
price for a project I worked on.
| | 01:47 |
This example isn't specifically a logo
design project but the same principles and
| | 01:52 |
methodologies can be applied to any type
of design project, logo or otherwise.
| | 01:58 |
Nike asked me to quote a project to design
their official 2011 World Series T-shirt.
| | 02:07 |
I had never worked with Nike before, but I
was very familiar with who they are.
| | 02:12 |
In order to formulate a fair market value
to use in my quote, I decided to reverse
| | 02:16 |
engineer the swoosh money machine.
This may sound complicated, but in reality
| | 02:24 |
it only took me about 30 minutes of Google
searching the topics of World Series, Nike
| | 02:29 |
T-shirts, baseball fan attendance, and my
past experience with the sportswear company.
| | 02:38 |
From that, I pulled together the following
deconstructed facts.
| | 02:43 |
The World Series is a huge money making
event, 2010 winning team attendance per
| | 02:51 |
game was 48,721.
The guesstimate on nationwide fan base for
| | 02:59 |
the winning team was 12,000.
Total potential fan base of buyers for the
| | 03:07 |
T-shirt Was 60,721.
Average price Nike sells the T-shirt for
| | 03:14 |
online in their store, $30.
Cost to produce per garment for Nike:
| | 03:21 |
around $5 per shirt.
Nike profit if sold to only 10% of the fan
| | 03:28 |
base $151,800 dollars.
My design fee of a 2% cut of the total
| | 03:36 |
would then be $3,036 dollars.
I quoted this Nike project at $3,500 dollars.
| | 03:45 |
You always want to quote higher.
Nike approved a $3,000 budget.
| | 03:52 |
This is how the final project turned out.
I use the same method to quote almost all
| | 03:56 |
of my design projects, and like anything,
the more you do it, the better you'll get.
| | 04:04 |
And don't be afraid to provide a quote
that may shock your client.
| | 04:08 |
Just be sure to let them know you're
willing to negotiate the price.
| | 04:14 |
Flexibility goes a long way in arriving at
a price that satisfies you, and meets your
| | 04:19 |
client's needs.
| | 04:22 |
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| Establishing terms and agreements| 00:01 |
The purpose of having a contract is to
protect yourself.
| | 00:04 |
Some creatives call it a contract, others
refer to it as a work agreement.
| | 00:09 |
And some just itemize the deliverables on
a provided quote and have the client sign
| | 00:14 |
off on it to green-light a project.
Whatever you call it, never start a
| | 00:21 |
project without having a signed agreement
ever.
| | 00:26 |
The point is to have the mutual
understanding and clear communication
| | 00:30 |
between you and the client.
By this I mean the clarity on what you're
| | 00:36 |
hired to create, how much they'll pay you
to create it.
| | 00:40 |
How many rounds of revisions are included,
what are the usage rights to the work
| | 00:45 |
being created?
Who owned the final products when it's
| | 00:49 |
done and if it's okay to display the work
you create on your own website, once it's public?
| | 00:56 |
I'd like to say I've never have issues on
this arena but that wouldn't be true.
| | 01:02 |
I've learned the hard way.
So, I highly recommend you start putting
| | 01:05 |
your design projects in writing and let
your client sign off on them before you
| | 01:09 |
invest any of your time to work on them.
This may not be creative oriented work,
| | 01:16 |
but it's part of running a smart, creative
bussiness.
| | 01:20 |
Here's the work agreement form I use with
my own clients.
| | 01:25 |
I recommend you talk to a business lawyer
and explain to him or her what you do so
| | 01:29 |
they can consult on what would work best
for your business.
| | 01:34 |
Please take a look at Terry Lee Stone's
course on Designer Client Agreements for
| | 01:39 |
more detailed information on this topic.
| | 01:42 |
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|
|
2. Project CSIAn introduction to Project CSI| 00:01 |
The creative process should be guided by
well-informed thinking and much of that
| | 00:04 |
thinking is gleaned through investigation.
I call it project CSI.
| | 00:09 |
I'm not saying every logo project is a
graphic crime scene, but let's face it,
| | 00:14 |
some are murderously bad.
When you're called in to audit an existing
| | 00:20 |
identity, at times you'll discover nothing
short of a design corpse.
| | 00:25 |
The skeletal remains of an old logo, stiff
rigamortis graphics and maybe even Comic Sans.
| | 00:32 |
Whether it's a refresh of an existing
brand identity that has served its purpose
| | 00:37 |
or something completely new.
The same level of creative cultivation
| | 00:42 |
through thinking is required in order to
discover ideas that will solve the visual
| | 00:47 |
challenge you're faced with.
For the most part, designers are never
| | 00:52 |
taught how to do research.
How to gather appropriate and critical
| | 00:57 |
information from a broad range of sources
and process it effectively.
| | 01:02 |
Most often, this is a skill set developed
over a period of time via work experience.
| | 01:08 |
In this chapter, we'll cover various
research methods that'll fuel your
| | 01:13 |
creative thinking.
Such as client profiling via custom
| | 01:17 |
creative briefs, follow up questions,
developing a brand name, mood boards, and
| | 01:22 |
slow boiling.
Remember anyone can learn a tool, so what
| | 01:28 |
will improve your design to a greater
level will be your ability to load your mind.
| | 01:34 |
With the appropriate information, so you
can problem-solve more effectively through
| | 01:39 |
your thinking.
This is a vital skill-set in the pursuit
| | 01:43 |
of creating well conceived logo design
solutions for your clients.
| | 01:48 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Profiling clients via customer creative briefs| 00:01 |
Using a custom creative brief is all about
moving past the surface information and
| | 00:06 |
diving deep into the psyche of a client.
You're after the emotional and intuitive
| | 00:12 |
essence of your client's business,
product, or service.
| | 00:17 |
Determining your client's profile is all
about documenting and analyzing their business.
| | 00:22 |
Product or services in terms of it's
psychological and behavioral characteristics.
| | 00:29 |
Now that may sound intimidating but it can
be greatly simplified.
| | 00:33 |
In order to implement it for a small
business client, for example, spend the
| | 00:38 |
necessary time to carefully craft
questions.
| | 00:41 |
That will elicit a more in depth
understanding of who your client is and
| | 00:45 |
how they think about themselves.
Force your client to view themselves from
| | 00:51 |
an uncomfortable position.
Help them to see their company from their
| | 00:55 |
audience's point of view etc.
The whole point of custom creative brief
| | 01:01 |
is to unearth unexpected information that,
in turn, will help you make some
| | 01:05 |
conceptual connections that you can
leverage for design solution.
| | 01:11 |
Your questions will, of course, vary
depending on the specific type of business
| | 01:15 |
your working with.
But some good general in depth questions
| | 01:20 |
you could use in a custom creator brief
could be, what is your company not doing well?
| | 01:26 |
Explain why.
What is one thing you wish your company
| | 01:31 |
was doing that it isn't?
What animal would best represent your company?
| | 01:37 |
Explain why.
What is your worst fear about developing a
| | 01:41 |
new logo design?
Creating a personality profile for your
| | 01:46 |
client doesn't have to be complicated.
There's a reason why they call a brief a brief.
| | 01:52 |
It should be a to the point synopsis of
key, condensed statements that clarify
| | 01:56 |
specific categories of information.
When I reviewed the creative brief for a
| | 02:03 |
project I worked on for Tyson chicken it
was clear that the intended audience was
| | 02:07 |
more sophisticated.
The new food product required an approach
| | 02:12 |
that would fit a very specific market.
So, my exploratory visual identity
| | 02:18 |
reflected the ideals revealed in the
creative brief personality profile.
| | 02:23 |
The final design solution came out very
classy thanks to accurate, upfront information.
| | 02:30 |
That said, a client's personality profile
revealed through a creative brief might
| | 02:35 |
disclose that a client is very open to a
more risky design solution.
| | 02:40 |
A good example of this is a recent logo I
designed for a local roller derby team.
| | 02:46 |
Their personality as a team is already
some what fringe, compared to a normal
| | 02:50 |
small business.
So they desired to push the limits with
| | 02:55 |
their identity, and it allowed me to
create a fun, irreverent, skull and bones
| | 02:59 |
design they now love.
So, get to know your client.
| | 03:04 |
Understand their personality profile by
gleaning information through a
| | 03:08 |
custom-created brief.
It'll help you discern, then design, great
| | 03:13 |
concepts for your clients.
If you want to learn more about creative
| | 03:18 |
briefs in general I encourage you to watch
my Creative Preparation chapter in my
| | 03:22 |
drawing vector graphics course on
Lynda.com
| | 03:27 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Asking follow-up questions| 00:01 |
Once you have a creative brief back in
hand and filled out, you need to audit it
| | 00:05 |
so you can identify points to follow up on
with additional questions.
| | 00:10 |
Let's face it, due to expediency, some
clients will attempt to skirt the task of
| | 00:15 |
filling out a creative brief thoroughly in
order to just get it done.
| | 00:21 |
If that happens, it defeats the whole
process.
| | 00:24 |
So, asking follow up questions is very
important.
| | 00:28 |
When asked what logo they like and why, a
client might say, I like Nike because it's cool.
| | 00:36 |
That's all well and good, but it's shallow
thinking and you need to encourage them to
| | 00:40 |
dive deeper and analyze their own
pentiance for visual identities.
| | 00:45 |
A good followup question might be, what
specifically about the Nike logo do you
| | 00:50 |
like, explain to me why you like it.
Even on a custom created brief where you
| | 00:56 |
try to elicit in-depth information, a lazy
client will try to truncate his answers
| | 01:01 |
with abrupt meaningless responses.
So, it's your creative responsibility to
| | 01:08 |
follow up this type of shallow feedback
with more poignant questions.
| | 01:13 |
And don't be afraid to call them out on
it, this just shows that you take your job
| | 01:16 |
seriously and you have their best interest
in mind.
| | 01:21 |
Use follow up questions to pinpoint areas
needing more clarity.
| | 01:25 |
And then, dig deeper to break the surface
thinking mentality and mind the clients
| | 01:30 |
core for more useful and enlightening
data.
| | 01:34 |
Two types of information that are very
important to identity development and
| | 01:39 |
ideation are Contextual Data Mining.
What the client knows about their business.
| | 01:45 |
Current facts or statistical information,
perceptual data mining.
| | 01:50 |
What the client expects about their
business, the future potential, and their
| | 01:54 |
dreams and vision.
You want to dig deep, so they'll tap both
| | 02:00 |
conceptual and perceptual levels of
thought from your client.
| | 02:06 |
And you'll uncover the raw conceptual
material needed to help you formulate a
| | 02:11 |
great concept and logo design.
| | 02:15 |
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| Developing a brand name| 00:01 |
When you audit any brand identity project,
one thing you may discover that other than
| | 00:05 |
the need for a new logo is a new brand
name.
| | 00:10 |
Whether a business is just starting or re
branding, it's a perfect time to
| | 00:14 |
scrutinize the name of the business.
Naming is another area off identity work
| | 00:20 |
rarely covered in design school, because
it's not commonly associated with Graphic
| | 00:25 |
Arts proper.
Since it's not visually oriented.
| | 00:30 |
Most often it's assumed you'll just be
given a name by the client anyway.
| | 00:35 |
I think this is unfortunate and only
reinforces the poor public perception and
| | 00:40 |
stereotype that designers are mere image
makers and not thinkers.
| | 00:46 |
A strong brand name can add equity over
time regardless if the visual aesthetic of
| | 00:51 |
the logo design itself shifts.
And the Coca-Cola logo is a perfect
| | 00:57 |
example of this.
So whether you're rebranding or starting
| | 01:01 |
from scratch with a new business, the
naming should be strongly considered in
| | 01:05 |
the overall logo development, since it'll
play a critical part in the communication
| | 01:10 |
efforts moving forward.
Years ago I met with a local client.
| | 01:17 |
Their business was delivering latex gloves
to local surgeons, dental offices, and
| | 01:22 |
health clinics.
The name of their business was simply the
| | 01:26 |
owner's name.
They had see other businesses I'd designed
| | 01:30 |
logos for and wanted to hire me to
redesign their corporate identity.
| | 01:35 |
I recognized immediately that their
business name could be vastly improved upon.
| | 01:41 |
So, when I met with them in person I asked
two distinct questions regarding their
| | 01:45 |
business and its name.
I asked, would you like to sell your
| | 01:50 |
business in 15 years if you could?
They answered, yes.
| | 01:56 |
I explain that their current name will
have no value to a potential buyer because
| | 02:00 |
they'll just change it.
And then I ask how do you customers
| | 02:04 |
describe or define what your business
does.
| | 02:09 |
They said my clients nick name me the
Glove Mobile.
| | 02:14 |
To which I replied that should be your
business name.
| | 02:18 |
Having a brand name like Glovemobile build
equity over time.
| | 02:21 |
So if they do decide to sell their
business in the future, the name of the
| | 02:26 |
business itself will now have value
because it's built recognition in the community.
| | 02:34 |
So in the long run your business will be
worth more to further reinforce the
| | 02:39 |
concept of the new logo design, we took
the client's baby blue van and repainted
| | 02:44 |
in white to look like an ambulance.
And thus the client's glove mobile was born.
| | 02:52 |
We also added the number seven to give the
perception that a fleet of Glovemobiles existed.
| | 02:58 |
That's called truth in advertising.
A short-sighted view of naming can make a
| | 03:02 |
lot of marketing headaches down the road
and cause expensive changes as a business
| | 03:07 |
grows and expands into new territories.
So when you work on any logo project, make
| | 03:14 |
sure to review the name.
And if warranted, share your concerns with
| | 03:18 |
your client before you begin the design
phase.
| | 03:22 |
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| Communicating through mood boards| 00:01 |
Mood boards are an easy way to establish a
creative foundation for a project.
| | 00:06 |
What tone and style you want your
aesthetic to adhere to, so that you can
| | 00:10 |
communicate them easily with your client.
It's an easy way to compile a wide gamut
| | 00:17 |
of appropriate content that defines the
visual voice, the personalities.
| | 00:22 |
The style and aesthetic of the business
product or service.
| | 00:27 |
It's not about creating the content at
this stage.
| | 00:31 |
It's about gathering and collocating found
content that reflexes the emotional feel
| | 00:35 |
and mood you want to pursue in the
exploratory stage.
| | 00:40 |
It doesn't matter if the specific imagery
directly relates to the genre you're
| | 00:45 |
designing for.
Sometimes you'll find mood boards embedded
| | 00:49 |
with finished creative briefs.
This is how most projects from agencies
| | 00:53 |
show up in my inbox for identity projects.
The purpose of a mood board is to get
| | 00:59 |
people in the correct aesthetic mood for
where a project could go.
| | 01:05 |
Whether your mood boards are virtual, in
the form of pdf files, or actual poster
| | 01:09 |
boards, with clipped samples from
magazines, photos Colo swatches and
| | 01:14 |
patterns affixed to it.
It's a great way to encapsulate and
| | 01:19 |
collage a visual language that imbues the
feel that you and your client can agree on
| | 01:24 |
before exploratory and development work on
the logo and identity begins.
| | 01:32 |
Having the mood boards and printouts
hanging up in your design environment
| | 01:36 |
while you work also serves as a nice
reminder to stay creatively focused and
| | 01:40 |
stylistically consistent as you create as
well.
| | 01:45 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Slow-boiling ideas| 00:01 |
Once you've taken in all the research and
information you've gleaned and discovered,
| | 00:05 |
I recommend you sit on it for a while and
let the information steep.
| | 00:11 |
Brewing ideas is like brewing tea.
If you poured hot water over the tea bag
| | 00:15 |
and immediately pulled the bag out of the
cup and drink the tea.
| | 00:20 |
It wouldn't taste very good because you
didn't give the ingredients enough time to
| | 00:24 |
steep and form the flavor that you enjoy.
The same is true with logo development.
| | 00:32 |
You have to collect the right information,
but that isn't enough.
| | 00:36 |
You need to let the information steep long
enough that you can glean a tasty design
| | 00:40 |
from it.
It always bugs me when an agency dumps a
| | 00:44 |
ton of content on me, such as a dense
creative brief, or a gallery of images, or
| | 00:48 |
a virtual mood board.
Then, a few minutes later, after I receive
| | 00:55 |
it via e-mail, they call me up and ask, so
can you have something by the morning?
| | 01:01 |
This makes me creatively cringe.
I know myself.
| | 01:05 |
I need time to take in information and let
my brain process it adequately.
| | 01:11 |
We all hear the saying, necessity is the
mother of invention.
| | 01:15 |
And although truncated timelines can
inspire unique ideas at times.
| | 01:20 |
It shouldn't be the normal modus operandi.
I've told client, I need to think through
| | 01:25 |
the ideas over a few days.
Then, I'll start literally working on them.
| | 01:31 |
Some people call this procrastination.
I call this slow boiling.
| | 01:36 |
I have all the ingredients to create with
but I need to let them slowly come to a
| | 01:41 |
conceptual boil and let my mind take the
information and begin to freely associate it.
| | 01:49 |
Digest it, work out connections, and
eventually start to formulate ideas from them.
| | 01:55 |
When I quote projects and provide ETAs on
deliverables for each stage, I keep this
| | 02:00 |
in mind and allow myself the time needed
to let the thoughts perculate and brew ideas.
| | 02:07 |
Sometimes I don't have the luxury, and in
those cases, I do the best I can with what
| | 02:12 |
I can.
This is where brainstorming is great for
| | 02:16 |
truncated situations.
Because two brains are almost always
| | 02:21 |
better than one.
Once ideas begin to formulate on their own
| | 02:25 |
through slow boiling, that's when I start
officially harvesting them.
| | 02:30 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
3. Exploratory ProcessExploratory process intro| 00:01 |
The creative process isn't as organized or
delineated as this course may portray.
| | 00:07 |
Many of the topics we're covering overlap
each other and cross pollinate, creatively speaking.
| | 00:13 |
But for the sake of communication and
brevity, I've systematized it.
| | 00:19 |
One thing is for sure, the creative
process is an exploratory one.
| | 00:24 |
So developing a coherent approach is
paramount in your pursuit of solving
| | 00:28 |
visual and strategic problems.
Think of exploratory as a creative engine,
| | 00:34 |
and the research you've done is the fuel
that will enable that engine to drive you
| | 00:38 |
to a successful design.
If you don't do enough research then your
| | 00:45 |
depth of exploring is limited to a smaller
realm of ideas and potential you can glean from.
| | 00:52 |
The more research you do, the more fuel
you'll have to explore a greater range of
| | 00:56 |
potential ideas.
During the research stage you'll get to
| | 01:01 |
know your client and their industry.
This will no doubt spawn ideas on the fly
| | 01:07 |
in order not to loose those ideas its good
to harvest them as you proceed.
| | 01:13 |
You can simply do this by writing them
down doing impromptu thumbnail sketches, etc.
| | 01:20 |
Anything in order to capture the concept
so you don't forget it later in the
| | 01:24 |
exploratory stage.
Harvesting ideas is all about tapping the
| | 01:29 |
minds power to take that information and
make it useful by turning into relevant
| | 01:34 |
related visuals that communicate the
intended message.
| | 01:40 |
The whole purpose of explorator work Is
mining potential directions, not refining
| | 01:45 |
any one specific direction.
So, any direction is appropriate when
| | 01:51 |
you're doing exploratory work, and rabbit
trails are your friend at this stage of
| | 01:55 |
the design process.
In this chapter, we'll cover the following
| | 02:01 |
topics, concepting method shape
association.
| | 02:05 |
Picking appropriate styles, ideation
through sketching.
| | 02:12 |
Isolating directions.
Only the strong survive.
| | 02:15 |
Exploratory work should be unbridled.
Free range creative thinking with no hold
| | 02:21 |
barred pursuit of creative ideas.
So, let your creative imagination run wild
| | 02:27 |
on your next logo project and see where it
leads.
| | 02:31 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Concepting methods: Shape association| 00:00 |
One simple concepting method is shape
association.
| | 00:05 |
We've all done this at one point or
another as kids.
| | 00:08 |
You lay on the ground, look up in the sky,
and you spot a cloud and think, hey, that
| | 00:12 |
looks like a dog.
Training your mind to analyze and process
| | 00:18 |
visual information in unorthodox and
unique ways through shape association will
| | 00:22 |
help you condition your mind to formulate
conceptual ideas.
| | 00:29 |
After you collect information from a
client regarding their business, product,
| | 00:34 |
or service, your mind will process those
bits of information and begin to associate
| | 00:38 |
them with shapes.
This is just one clever way design
| | 00:43 |
solutions are created.
Here's a few examples from my own design projects.
| | 00:50 |
A food distribution company was installing
chicken wing bars at various college food
| | 00:56 |
courts around the country.
And the name they wanted to use to brand
| | 01:01 |
it with was Wing Nation.
In my mind, I saw four components the type
| | 01:06 |
Wing Nation, a buffalo chicken wing, a
chicken, and a map of the United States.
| | 01:14 |
My mind then associated the shapes with
those elements and it helped me form the
| | 01:18 |
final Wing Nation logo design.
Obviously, not all logo projects will
| | 01:25 |
allow you this kind of levity in the
design approach.
| | 01:28 |
But even in a more reserved visual
identity project, you can still
| | 01:32 |
conceptually capitalize on subtler forms
of shape association to bolster a designs
| | 01:38 |
theme and reinforce a core concept.
I designed this brand logo for an
| | 01:45 |
investment fund.
The name of the fund had a nautical theme
| | 01:49 |
that played off the overall concept of a
captain steering his ship and pointing to
| | 01:53 |
the future.
The aesthetic is iconic and simplified,
| | 01:59 |
but I was able to utilize shape
associations in three different ways on
| | 02:03 |
this project.
Part of the shape of the logo reflects the
| | 02:08 |
bow of the ship that the captain is
steering.
| | 02:13 |
The shape of the banners nesting the type
mimics the shape in order of signal flags
| | 02:18 |
on a ship.
And I also used the wheel of the ship to
| | 02:23 |
shape associate with the letter c to form
a secondary brand graphic.
| | 02:30 |
To help train your mind in making visual
associations, I've designed an easy
| | 02:34 |
creative exercise called what do you see.
This is provided in the exercise files for
| | 02:40 |
this video.
All you do is look at the scribbled sheet,
| | 02:44 |
and using the negative white spaces you
draw what you see they could be.
| | 02:51 |
So, just associate an area, and then
associate its shape into something.
| | 02:56 |
It's that simple.
You can rotate the sheet however you want,
| | 03:01 |
and continue to associate the shapes into
whatever you see them to be.
| | 03:06 |
There is no right or wrong.
Just have fun and try to fill the entire sheet.
| | 03:11 |
For additional concepting methods, you can
use to expand your creative thinking
| | 03:16 |
skills on logo design projects.
I encourage you to watch the Creative
| | 03:21 |
Preparation chapter in my Drawing Vector
Graphics course on Lynda.com.
| | 03:26 |
Combining all the concepting methods I
cover in both courses will help you in
| | 03:31 |
developing unique logo designs for your
clients.
| | 03:35 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Picking appropriate styles| 00:00 |
Design is a style-driven medium, and part
of the logo design process is picking an
| | 00:05 |
appropriate style for your project.
And yes, you can pick an inappropriate style.
| | 00:13 |
Actually, it can be very inappropriate
style.
| | 00:17 |
Style in context of the design works like
a personality, and just like a
| | 00:21 |
personality, it can be one that attracts
those who engage it or it can be one that
| | 00:25 |
distracts or even repels those who
interact with it.
| | 00:31 |
Noodle Girl was a brand exploratory for an
Asian food company that specializes in noodles.
| | 00:38 |
So the style that worked well with this
project was a linear line, a continuous
| | 00:43 |
line style to reflect the idea of noodles.
Old Growth Capital was an identity concept
| | 00:50 |
for a financial investment firm, so the
style is more reserved and iconic.
| | 00:57 |
The logo mark is nested in a wax seal type
of O shape to reinforce the official
| | 01:01 |
aspect of their services.
Skrumps was a custom logo-type design for
| | 01:07 |
a kids TV production of the same name, so
the style is fun and juvenile in nature,
| | 01:12 |
and the shapes reflect many of the funky
characters in the actual show.
| | 01:20 |
This is why it's so important to gather
up-front information through proper
| | 01:24 |
creative research.
It'll unveil those necessary attributes
| | 01:29 |
that will lead you to an appropriate style
choice.
| | 01:34 |
Within the realm of any logo project, you
should have the ability to explore a range
| | 01:39 |
of equally appropriate ideas.
Some of your ideas the client, may not
| | 01:45 |
like, they may hate them, but that doesn't
mean they're inappropriate to show.
| | 01:50 |
More than likely, the designs they don't
like just don't align as well with their
| | 01:54 |
own personal tastes,and, that's okay.
Take the creative initiative and make them
| | 02:00 |
squirm at times.
It's a good creative habit that can lead
| | 02:05 |
to unexpected But fruitful, creative
results.
| | 02:09 |
Here's a project I worked on for a massage
therapist.
| | 02:13 |
The brand name he came up with was Vibe
Shiatsu.
| | 02:17 |
I created a range of ideas to show him and
he absolutely hated the ornamental hand
| | 02:22 |
idea I came up with.
But truth be told, that was my personal favorite.
| | 02:28 |
He did, however, fall in love with the
simple V mark, which, conceptually, also
| | 02:33 |
works to form a wave graphic that
reinforces the slogan we created, live
| | 02:38 |
your vibe.
When you select a style that aligns with
| | 02:44 |
the company's core values, its
personality, services, and industry.
| | 02:50 |
It will resonate with the audience far
better than one that just doesn't feel
| | 02:54 |
quite right.
So take the time to discern who the
| | 02:58 |
intended audience is and what style will
work well for communicating to that
| | 03:02 |
specific demographic.
Remember, a brand is more than a mere logo.
| | 03:09 |
But it's a logo that puts a face on a
business, so choose your style wisely.
| | 03:15 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Ideation through sketching| 00:01 |
I think all designers should be drawers.
Our industry may be digitally driven, but
| | 00:06 |
ideas are still best developed in analog
form via drawing.
| | 00:12 |
A computer is a wonderful tool but a
pencil or pen is far better when it comes
| | 00:17 |
to the exploratory process in ideation
specifically.
| | 00:23 |
Drawing for a designer isn't about
becoming a full blown illustrator or a
| | 00:28 |
fine artist, that's not the point.
The better your drawing skills, the better
| | 00:34 |
your ability to work out ideas and
visually problem solve.
| | 00:39 |
When you're working out logo designs and
concepts, drawing enables you to flesh out
| | 00:44 |
thumbnail sketches.
Small, rough drawings that capture moments
| | 00:49 |
of inspiration spawned from your project
CSI research.
| | 00:54 |
Thumbnail sketches are all about
discovering what not to do as much as they
| | 00:59 |
are what to do.
It's about drawing out hundreds of
| | 01:04 |
rough-hewn ideas in order to glean a
handful of strong directions you can move
| | 01:09 |
forward with.
Thumb-nailing is a drawing process.
| | 01:15 |
You're not refining ideas.
You're mining them.
| | 01:18 |
Remember, nothing is off limits or out of
context at this stage, because you can
| | 01:23 |
always edit out any ideas that aren't a
good fit later on in the creative process.
| | 01:30 |
Drawing more help to expand your creative
potential and the more you use it to
| | 01:34 |
develop your design ideas.
It'll offer you a greater range of
| | 01:40 |
creative possibilities you can leverage in
logo projects and equip you to pull of
| | 01:44 |
design directions you might have otherwise
have avoided.
| | 01:49 |
Combine drawing with concepting skills,
like shape associations, and you open up a
| | 01:54 |
whole new opportunity for visual problem
solving.
| | 02:00 |
So if you don't draw, start drawing.
If you do draw, continue to do so.
| | 02:05 |
You'll only get better with time.
| | 02:09 |
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| Isolating directions| 00:01 |
Your logo design process should easily
produce more ideas than you'll need.
| | 00:06 |
If it doesn't then either your research is
too limited, which leads to shallow
| | 00:10 |
thinking or your design time has been
truncated.
| | 00:15 |
And you haven't spend enough time
exploring possibilities through your sketching.
| | 00:20 |
Once you've roughed out more than what you
need, you have to decide which directions
| | 00:26 |
to move forward with.
The process of picking directions is
| | 00:31 |
simple, only the strong survive.
Never show weak ideas.
| | 00:35 |
If you come up with an idea that is just
okay, and it doesn't truly excite or
| | 00:40 |
captivate you.
Then, don't assume or expect it to excite
| | 00:45 |
or captive your client either.
You need to be fully convinced that the
| | 00:50 |
ideas you're showing are your a game.
This, of course, assumes you're not
| | 00:56 |
phoning in your design.
And you're spending the necessary time to
| | 01:00 |
work through ideas and formulate clever
designs based on a well-established
| | 01:04 |
process, as we've discussed so far.
Sometimes, a great idea captivates you,
| | 01:11 |
but you also realize it's going to push
the client's comfort zone a bit.
| | 01:17 |
That's okay.
Just make sure you have other strong ideas
| | 01:20 |
to show with it.
Pushing a client's brand sensibilities Is
| | 01:25 |
always acceptible as long as they have
other options they can focus their
| | 01:29 |
attention on if they find it too
unconfortable to consider.
| | 01:35 |
In general, it's always a good idea to
show a client directions.
| | 01:40 |
They may have never considered doing in
order to push them into new areas that
| | 01:44 |
would benefit their business and marketing
efforts.
| | 01:48 |
Logo exploration is like the Serengeti
Plain.
| | 01:52 |
Only the strong survive.
| | 01:54 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Challenge scenario: Create a logo for "Adnyl"| 00:01 |
Now that we've covered the various aspects
of collecting, processing and exploring
| | 00:06 |
essential client information in the last
few chapters.
| | 00:10 |
It's time to put it to the test.
In the exercise files for this video,
| | 00:16 |
you'll find a project creative brief for a
new pharmaceutical product called Adnil.
| | 00:22 |
That's Linda, spelled backwards.
Your creative challenge is to read through
| | 00:26 |
this creative brief thoroughly.
Glean insights, take notes.
| | 00:31 |
Do any research you feel is warranted, and
then produce the following, as fast as you can.
| | 00:38 |
At least 40 simple thumbnail sketches, the
more the better.
| | 00:44 |
Then, pick your 3 strongest ideas and
refine the drawings so you have a design
| | 00:48 |
you can build from in vector form.
This is the key phase in the ideation
| | 00:55 |
process, so don't truncate the time you
take to draw out your rough ideas.
| | 01:01 |
You want to open up the creative flood
gates and let your concepts flow out
| | 01:06 |
freely without hesitation.
Don't worry about how appropriate an idea is.
| | 01:12 |
Just keep drawing and explore potential
design directions derived from the
| | 01:17 |
creative brief content.
Remember at this stage, there are no wrong ideas.
| | 01:24 |
Working fast and fluidly is a key part of
this challenge, so see what you can get
| | 01:29 |
done in around 15 minutes.
And make sure to check out my solution
| | 01:35 |
video, where I'll show you my own process
for cranking out logo ideas quickly.
| | 01:42 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Solution: Author logo for "Adnyl"| 00:01 |
The creative challenge I gave you was to
read through the creative brief I provided
| | 00:05 |
for a new pharmaceutical product called
Adnyl.
| | 00:09 |
Once again, that's Linda spelled
backwards.
| | 00:12 |
So how did you do?
Did you draw at least 40 thumbnails?
| | 00:17 |
Did you discover any clever concepts or
visual twists while you were processing
| | 00:22 |
the information and sketching out your
ideas?
| | 00:26 |
Ideation is all about discovery.
Unveiling concepts and meaning through
| | 00:31 |
visual solutions based on a well defined
foundation of information.
| | 00:37 |
Glean from your client and their product
or service.
| | 00:41 |
Let me share with you some of the sketches
I developed for this creative challenge.
| | 00:46 |
And show you the ideas I came up with
based on the same creative brief I
| | 00:49 |
provided to you.
This shows all the totality of sketches I
| | 00:54 |
created for this project.
Since this project, according to the
| | 00:59 |
creative brief is a pharmaceutical product
which is geared for improving cognition
| | 01:04 |
skills and memory and thinking.
I did a lot of research based off of the
| | 01:10 |
human mind and how thoughts are relayed
and transferred and from that I started
| | 01:15 |
sketching out ideas.
And I'm not talking about illustrative
| | 01:21 |
ability here.
This is nothing more then glorified doodling.
| | 01:26 |
When you work out an idea, you might be
playing off an idea that a concept or a
| | 01:30 |
thought that comes to someones mind,
starts obviously in their head.
| | 01:37 |
And so, we might play off of that a
graphic that illustrates that.
| | 01:42 |
That's all that thumb-nailing is all
about.
| | 01:45 |
It's picking up on those subtle cues that
are gleaned through research.
| | 01:50 |
And then, carrying them out in a drawn
form.
| | 01:53 |
Drawing is like a taxi for your ideas.
It takes you from point A and to point B.
| | 02:00 |
And it helps you arrive at some unique and
clever solutions, so out of all those
| | 02:04 |
totality of sketches I'm showing you here,
the ones that I kind of settled on.
| | 02:10 |
I'm going to go over and kind of explain
why I picked these and why these are the
| | 02:15 |
four directions I'm going to Developed
further into final comp form.
| | 02:20 |
The first one is the idea of playing off
of the way that your brain will process
| | 02:25 |
thoughts and connect things.
And so this is playing off of the
| | 02:30 |
connection aspect that triggers in your
brain when you're thinking.
| | 02:35 |
So this is the graphic that kind, I
created to relay that idea and it's locked
| | 02:40 |
up with type.
Now because this idea is so graphic, it's
| | 02:44 |
using circles and simple san serif type I
don't need to draw this out any more tight
| | 02:49 |
than what it is.
This is good enough for me to now, to go
| | 02:55 |
to digital because.
Within a vector program, you have an
| | 02:59 |
ellipse tool to make the circles, and so
this is a relatively easy solution to
| | 03:03 |
build from.
Another idea that I played off with is, I
| | 03:09 |
thought of the quote.
That is, design is thinking made visual,
| | 03:14 |
and it made me think of this little
concept right here.
| | 03:18 |
And I like the idea that within your minds
eye is kind of what I'm playing on here.
| | 03:25 |
You're, you come up with a thought and
that thought interacts in that gives you
| | 03:29 |
insight and that's kind of what this mark
represents.
| | 03:33 |
So I like the way that one came about, so
I'm going to be developing this one to
| | 03:36 |
move forward with.
Another one that I was working on I wanted
| | 03:43 |
to do one that was more type based really
relied a lot on type.
| | 03:48 |
And so, it's this one here that I played
off of and with this one I played off of
| | 03:53 |
the letter form A.
And I also made it graphically represent
| | 03:58 |
the two hemispheres of a brain but also
form a new shape association to form the
| | 04:03 |
letter A in the, the name Adnyl.
So, we're going to do that one.
| | 04:10 |
And then the last one, that I came up with
was more of a linear line, one continuous
| | 04:15 |
line that forms a face and kind of takes
thought in a creative way.
| | 04:22 |
Meaning it's made up of this
circular-shaped scribbled line.
| | 04:27 |
And this is good to encapsulate and
capture the general idea of what I want to do.
| | 04:33 |
But I need to refine this drawing.
And really work it out and draw it out in
| | 04:38 |
a more precise manner before I go to
digital.
| | 04:42 |
And we're going to cover that in an
upcoming movie.
| | 04:44 |
So that's the process I use to come up
with all of these ideas.
| | 04:50 |
And it's simply nothing more than drawing
out ideas.
| | 04:56 |
Related to metaphors, and then pulling
them together, and those are going to help
| | 05:00 |
you come up with clever comments you can
use on your logo design progress.
| | 05:08 |
I like to call myself a designer, because
I fell drawing is design's best friend.
| | 05:14 |
The more you utilize your drawing skills,
the better you'll get at developing visual
| | 05:18 |
identity systems for your clients.
Feel free to share your sketches from your
| | 05:25 |
own ideas via our Facebook page at
vectorbasictraining.com.
| | 05:30 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
4. The Design ProcessDesign process introduction| 00:01 |
The logo design process and its ultimate
success has more to do with good thinking
| | 00:06 |
than it does good computer skills.
The heavy lifting, creatively speaking,
| | 00:12 |
takes place within the ideas that
ultimately form the concept behind the design.
| | 00:19 |
Of course, how well you execute that
design digitally can either strengthen or
| | 00:23 |
weaken the concept.
Coming up with clever and unique ideas is
| | 00:29 |
the hardest skillset to develop as a
designer, because there are no shortcuts.
| | 00:36 |
You can't run a filter or use a plugin to
discover a unique idea.
| | 00:42 |
It comes from hard work based on good
research and investment of time thinking
| | 00:47 |
through ideas.
If you try to cut corners, then it just
| | 00:52 |
leads to predictable and trite solutions.
So, the challenge is to do both well.
| | 00:58 |
Develop solid, well-thought-out concepts
and execute them with precision digitally.
| | 01:05 |
In this chapter, we'll cover refining,
removing the guesswork, creative
| | 01:11 |
craftsmanship, good logo attributes, and
the fresh-eyes effect.
| | 01:19 |
Logo design is delicate balance of
dedicated and purposeful thinking.
| | 01:25 |
It's then explored and refined through
drawing, and executed with extreme
| | 01:29 |
precision via digital tools.
All the while being art directed at each
| | 01:35 |
stage in order to keep the project moving
forward and continually improving.
| | 01:41 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Refining and removing the guesswork| 00:01 |
Once you've isolated your strongest
concepts, you'll want to refine the
| | 00:04 |
drawing design.
Refinement is all about making small
| | 00:09 |
improvements to your work as you go.
An idea might start off as a rough
| | 00:14 |
thumbnail or doodle, then it progresses to
a loose sketch that gets re-drawn into a
| | 00:19 |
tighter sketch.
And redrawn again as you continue to
| | 00:25 |
improve the look and feel until you have
it just right.
| | 00:30 |
This process of drawing then redrawing
will gradually improve its clarity and form.
| | 00:37 |
You may repeat this process several times
before you get the results you're looking for.
| | 00:43 |
I know this may seem methodical to some of
you not used to working this way, but the
| | 00:47 |
more you draw, the better you get.
And the better you get, the faster you can
| | 00:53 |
do it.
So, let's say you've been hired to create
| | 00:56 |
a logo for a company called Snug Bug
Pillow.
| | 01:00 |
They make comfy, oversized pillows.
You've done all your research and project
| | 01:05 |
preparation and have drawn out a bunch of
ideas.
| | 01:10 |
You're now taking one of your strongest
ideas and you need to flush it out in
| | 01:14 |
digital form.
This is your initial thumbnail sketch.
| | 01:20 |
It's too rough to build your vector art
with, so you'll need to redraw it and
| | 01:24 |
refine it with more precision.
You've now redrawn it, and improved it's
| | 01:30 |
clarity, but realized it still leaves too
much guess work to move to digital.
| | 01:36 |
So, back to the drawing board you go.
Once you've finalized your refined
| | 01:41 |
drawing, you'll have an accurate road map
to build upon in vector form.
| | 01:46 |
This type of methodology removes needless
guess work as you move to digital and over
| | 01:51 |
time it'll speedup your entire workflow as
well.
| | 01:56 |
The end result of this type of refinement
is a well crafted final Snug Bug Pillow
| | 02:01 |
logo design you can now present to your
client.
| | 02:07 |
Time for me to take a few more whacks at
the graphic dead horse.
| | 02:11 |
Our industry doesn't need any more
noodlers.
| | 02:14 |
We need more drawers.
Drawing enables you know what to create
| | 02:19 |
before you set forth and create it.
Over time you increase your design
| | 02:25 |
potential because ideas that used to be
unreachable are now more accessible, and
| | 02:29 |
that makes you far more effective as a
designer.
| | 02:34 |
Because you now have a greater range of
ideas you can creatively capitalize on.
| | 02:40 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creative craftsmanship| 00:01 |
A craftsman is someone who practices a
craft with great skill and precision.
| | 00:07 |
Designers should be great thinkers,
consistent drawers, and impeccable
| | 00:11 |
craftsman when it comes to creating their
digital designs.
| | 00:16 |
Prior to the dawn of computers, one had to
possess an innate ability to create
| | 00:21 |
artwork by hand with some level of
craftsmanship and precision to be
| | 00:25 |
considered a professional designer.
The majority of designers in our industry
| | 00:31 |
just 20 years ago depended upon drawing
skills to develop and create their designs.
| | 00:38 |
Be it graphic or more illustrative in
nature.
| | 00:42 |
Today, the computer has made entry into
our industry accessible to virtually anyone.
| | 00:48 |
Seemingly gone are the days of innate
ability.
| | 00:52 |
Use a computer and you can be a designer
tends to be the prevailing attitude with
| | 00:56 |
the general public.
Knowledge of digital tools, software,
| | 01:02 |
replaces the need for analog skills in the
mind of many people, both inside and
| | 01:07 |
outside our industry.
This mentality is reinforced and
| | 01:12 |
compounded by design schools that focus on
tools rather than fundamental creative
| | 01:17 |
skills like drawing and thinking to solve
visual problems.
| | 01:24 |
Since our tools are now digital, there's
no excuse to not have well crafted and
| | 01:28 |
precise designs.
The key to craftsmanship is a balance
| | 01:33 |
between analog and digital skills.
My other course on Lynda.com called
| | 01:39 |
Drawing Vector Graphics is all about the
importance of analog drawing and how it
| | 01:44 |
facilitates vector creation.
A designer's craftsmanship is of paramount
| | 01:50 |
importance because one can come up with a
wealth of great ideas.
| | 01:55 |
Yet, still falls short if those ideas
aren't executed well.
| | 02:00 |
Your craftsmanship isn't an option when it
comes to logo design and development.
| | 02:06 |
It's essential in the creation of branded
visuals.
| | 02:09 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Good logo attributes| 00:01 |
What makes a good logo design?
That's no doubt a loaded question, and the
| | 00:06 |
answer to it could be as diverse as the
people watching this course.
| | 00:11 |
The same exact logo project could be
assigned to two different designers, and
| | 00:15 |
produce very different results once it's
said and done.
| | 00:20 |
This happens because a designer's creative
framework is influenced by a broad range
| | 00:24 |
of the static choices.
Designers tend to lean towards styles that
| | 00:30 |
cater to their own creative pensions in
order to produce ideas they feel will
| | 00:34 |
solve the identity task at hand.
This is natural and it's how a designer or
| | 00:42 |
firm develops their own graphic
personality over time.
| | 00:47 |
So, even though graphic design may not be
as subjective as fine art, it's still a
| | 00:52 |
visual form of communication that is
affected by subjective influences from the
| | 00:57 |
designer who creates the logo.
And the client who has to approve it.
| | 01:04 |
With that said, there are certain
fundamental attributes about logo design,
| | 01:09 |
that makes a logo a good logo.
The attributes I'm about to share aren't
| | 01:15 |
iron-clad non-negotiables, they are simply
characteristics commonly accepted as good
| | 01:20 |
practice when it comes to logo design in
general.
| | 01:26 |
Is it unique?
In other words, is it memorable?
| | 01:30 |
In a marketplace saturated with competing
brand identity systems, your logo designs
| | 01:35 |
need to stand out on their own.
This, of course, is easier said than done.
| | 01:42 |
Regardless if the design is a
sophisticated approach more and more novel
| | 01:47 |
one, it all starts with proper research,
intelligent creative thinking.
| | 01:53 |
And lots of exploratory drawing, because
nothing worth doing ever comes easy.
| | 02:01 |
Is in conceptual?
Of course, this lends itself to a unique
| | 02:05 |
and memorable design, but I'm specifically
referring to the embedded idea behind the
| | 02:10 |
visual being displayed.
Sometimes this is seemingly hidden, much
| | 02:17 |
like the arrow in the FedEx logo.
And other times it's more overt, like this
| | 02:23 |
logo I created for a computerized pen
called Fly.
| | 02:29 |
Both reinforce a premise conceptually in a
clever way.
| | 02:34 |
Does the logo work in black and white?
Many logo designs today would make Paul
| | 02:40 |
Rand and Saul Bass spin in their grave.
This time-tested attribute was originally
| | 02:47 |
established due to limitations in
reproduction technologies prior to the
| | 02:51 |
dawn of digital design.
The founder of LogoLounge.com, Bill
| | 02:58 |
Gardner accurately defines the reality
that logo designs now exist in when he
| | 03:03 |
said, our logos live in an RGB world.
What he meant by that is you can reproduce
| | 03:11 |
a digitally created logo with relative
ease in a wide range of usages with the
| | 03:15 |
technologies available to us today.
So, this attribute has less to do with
| | 03:23 |
reproduction quality and more to do with
the aesthetics of the brand.
| | 03:29 |
That said, I always try to provide a black
and white version of the logos I designed
| | 03:33 |
so their versatility of usage is greater.
Here's a logo I designed for a creative workshop.
| | 03:42 |
Granted this design might make some people
cringe because of its style and use of color.
| | 03:48 |
But I still simplified it down to an
iconic black and white format so it could
| | 03:52 |
be used in different ways aesthetically.
Is the logo scalable?
| | 04:00 |
Of course, this lends itself to
versatility.
| | 04:04 |
But as with all the attributes, you'll
want to consider this before you begin
| | 04:07 |
your design.
The end use of the logo design should play
| | 04:12 |
a key role in how you approach it
stylistically.
| | 04:17 |
Because what works well at billboard size
might not read well when reproduced down
| | 04:21 |
to a postage stamp proportion.
So, paying close attention to how your
| | 04:28 |
shapes and form balance together, and what
spaces they create.
| | 04:32 |
Both negative and positive within your
design should be taken into consideration
| | 04:37 |
and refined throughout the design process
through self art direction.
| | 04:43 |
Does the logo feel right?
This last attribute is an accumulation of
| | 04:48 |
all the attributes working together as a
whole.
| | 04:53 |
How do you know you're done designing?
One way is to look at your design with a
| | 04:58 |
very critical eye.
If something feels off or out of place or
| | 05:03 |
just doesn't feel quite right Then don't
ignore that inner art director.
| | 05:10 |
You'll want to isolate what is causing you
to feel that way, and make additional
| | 05:14 |
refinements to improve your design.
We'll cover this in more detail in the
| | 05:20 |
next video.
Keeping all these attributes in mind as
| | 05:24 |
you design will help you create a logo
that fits your client like a tailored suit.
| | 05:30 |
The end result will be a log that embodies
their business needs by appealing to their
| | 05:34 |
target audience.
Helps them stand out in the industry they
| | 05:38 |
compete in.
And engages the public with an identity
| | 05:42 |
that reflects well on them.
| | 05:45 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Crafting a visual identity: Typography| 00:01 |
When it comes to logo design,
craftsmanship is paramount.
| | 00:05 |
I say that because you can spend a lot of
time researching a clients business,
| | 00:10 |
product or service and gleen information
that will help you uncover insights and
| | 00:14 |
make connections that lead to unique
concept.
| | 00:20 |
But that idea can still fall short and
fail if it's not crafted well.
| | 00:25 |
The lifelong challenge for every designer
is to do both well.
| | 00:30 |
Smart research and thinking combined with
equally impeccable attention to detail
| | 00:34 |
when crafting your visual identity.
Let go over four areas I feel are
| | 00:40 |
essential to creating a strong and well
crafted logo design.
| | 00:48 |
Whenever I work on a logo design project,
one of the first things I do when I move
| | 00:52 |
to vector and I start building out my
designs is I think through the typeography
| | 00:56 |
I want to use.
When selecting typeography, you want to
| | 01:02 |
look for type faces that reinforce a
concept or goes with the style, the
| | 01:05 |
graphic mark you're creating.
So here you can see three different logo
| | 01:11 |
projects I've worked on.
I'm going to zoom in so you guys can see
| | 01:15 |
these better.
This was one for it was like an
| | 01:19 |
interactive virtual surgery application
that doctors can use and practice with.
| | 01:27 |
And so on this one I picked a typeface
that was clean.
| | 01:32 |
I think a clean hospital type environment
so I picked a nice sans serif typeface to
| | 01:37 |
reflect that.
But you can also see that I used shape recognition.
| | 01:42 |
In terms of the letter!
to add this scalpel into the design.
| | 01:47 |
So that's how I used typography to
reinforce the concept of this visual identity.
| | 01:54 |
Now if we go down to the next one this is
a national youth flag football league and
| | 01:58 |
the name of their league is called Play
Flag Football, that's their brand.
| | 02:05 |
And so the type in this one, it's a subtle
reference but using an italicized type
| | 02:10 |
face to represent you know, the motion and
movement of the game that this whole
| | 02:15 |
business represents.
And on the final mark here regarding a
| | 02:22 |
typography and reinforcing a concept Is
this is where I got more customized.
| | 02:28 |
it isn't an existing font.
this specific word for fire started off as
| | 02:34 |
a simple sans serif font.
But I went in on it and added in this circuitry.
| | 02:41 |
Type a detail just to reinforce the aspect
that this group, this mark, what it
| | 02:46 |
represents is a robotic's group and it's
called Friends in Robotic Engineering is
| | 02:51 |
what FIRE stands for.
And so I used typography in that respect
| | 02:57 |
to reinforce the core concept of robotics.
So in terms of the, the next aspect when I
| | 03:07 |
first approach a project though, if I'm
not quite sure what typography to use I'll
| | 03:12 |
just start typing out different font
styles in the words that I need to create.
| | 03:19 |
And that allows me to then Zoom in on
these and really look at how the letter
| | 03:24 |
forms appear.
And this helps me to distinguish which
| | 03:28 |
specific typefaces I want to use on a
given project moving forward.
| | 03:34 |
And on this project, this was for a
company that does trend forecasting on
| | 03:39 |
colors and what colors are popular right
now, and it was called Invisio.
| | 03:46 |
And so these are all the fonts I kind of
took a look at when I was trying to
| | 03:49 |
determine what type face I wanted to use
on the design directions I was going to
| | 03:53 |
provide for them.
And so I was able to take some of those
| | 03:58 |
directions in terms of typography and use
them on this one approach was one of the
| | 04:03 |
directions I pitched to them.
Here's another one, now on this one it's a
| | 04:09 |
sand serif type face.
But if I zoom in on this, you can see that
| | 04:13 |
I've added these subtle these subtle
roundings on the detailing on these letter forms.
| | 04:20 |
And it's that kind of customization that I
almost always do.
| | 04:25 |
When we're talking about typography in
case of visual identity.
| | 04:30 |
I try not to leave it just a distinct font
that anybody could type out, and come up
| | 04:34 |
with the exact same image.
So I tried to always customize letter
| | 04:39 |
forms in terms of that type of detail.
Here's another one where I took an
| | 04:44 |
existing typeface and, on this specific
typeface, if we go back to the ones I chose.
| | 04:50 |
I can zoom in on the one that I derived
that from which is this one.
| | 04:54 |
It was a thinner version than this one,
but you can see the detail on the n letter
| | 04:59 |
form right here specifically.
I didn't want those notches in it so when
| | 05:04 |
I moved to my direction and created my
type, I took those notches out, and I
| | 05:09 |
actually thinned out the type and made it
a little more tall and condensed.
| | 05:17 |
So that's how you can use typography as a
starting point and then go from there to
| | 05:21 |
customize it to really make a custom
visual identity.
| | 05:27 |
Now, sometimes, when I start off, just to
give you an idea of how this process works.
| | 05:33 |
This is the font I started off with.
It's called Banda Bold Font.
| | 05:37 |
And when I typed out this word, this for a
social media A company called exumit, and
| | 05:42 |
this is the word I typed out.
This is what it looks like in the raw font
| | 05:48 |
format, and I didn't want to keep it there
because, once again, anybody could type
| | 05:52 |
that out and get the exact same logo type.
So what I did is I started with this font,
| | 05:58 |
and then you can see how I customized the
letter forms.
| | 06:02 |
By merging them together to form one
distinct logotype made up of almost one
| | 06:07 |
continuous line, and then down here shows
how I detailed it out with color and a
| | 06:11 |
thicker outline just to add a little more
thicker characteristics to it.
| | 06:19 |
And if you look at the specific directions
we pitched to them.
| | 06:23 |
This shows how I fleshed that out with
different colors and different iconography
| | 06:29 |
marks to represent the various services
that this company offers.
| | 06:36 |
Another direction is this one.
Now, this isn't a font.
| | 06:40 |
This didn't start off as a distinct
typeface I just created this just from
| | 06:46 |
raw, basic shapes.
And there's going to be another movie in
| | 06:50 |
this course where I'll go over how you can
do that.
| | 06:53 |
But in this case, I just use simple, basic
shapes, made up of circles and squares, to
| | 06:58 |
form this type solution for this specific
direction.
| | 07:05 |
Sometimes on a logo type project you won't
use a font at all.
| | 07:10 |
So all of these design solutions for, were
for different clients.
| | 07:14 |
This one was for, specifically for a, a
Disney, owns a kid's program called the Skrumps.
| | 07:21 |
So I created this.
It's all drawn by hand and just built in
| | 07:25 |
vector form.
So it didn't start off with any font whatsoever.
| | 07:29 |
And sometimes you'll want to do this.
You won't want to start off with anything preexisting.
| | 07:35 |
You'll want to make it completely custom.
Here's another one.
| | 07:38 |
This was exploratory for an energy drink
by Pepsi called Fuelosphy, and this was
| | 07:43 |
the exploration I created for that.
This last mark was a visual identity for a
| | 07:51 |
collaborative art group down in Southern
Florida and they call themselves Work Happy.
| | 07:58 |
Just a bunch of artists who share the same
space and create a lot of cool stuff.
| | 08:04 |
So, that's how you can think about
Typography, when you start on any type of
| | 08:09 |
visual identiy project, and just make sure
to thoroughly explore all the various
| | 08:14 |
options of, of type styles and make sure
that they align with the graphic you're creating.
| | 08:24 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Crafting a visual identity: Color| 00:01 |
The next thing I want to take a look at
when approaching a logo design project and
| | 00:04 |
is probably one of the most important
aspects of any logo project is the color.
| | 00:11 |
Color can make or break your design.
You want to select colors that work well
| | 00:15 |
with the personality of the company you're
designing a visual identity for.
| | 00:21 |
And you want them to align with an
established equity if that company has
| | 00:24 |
been around for a while for example.
And you want it to reinforce the core
| | 00:30 |
concept in helping view emotion and visual
interest in to your design.
| | 00:36 |
Now, that's going to shift from one
project to the next.
| | 00:40 |
The project you see right now Is for a
financial investment fund and this is a
| | 00:44 |
more reserved client, obviously.
We're not talking about an entertainment
| | 00:49 |
park, for an example.
So the colors here are very reserved.
| | 00:55 |
but they're, they're appropriate for the,
the given target audience.
| | 01:00 |
And for the given for who the client is
and what it is.
| | 01:05 |
So this is what I used on Commodore.
It's just a dark blue, a nice kind of
| | 01:11 |
earthy type of dirty orange, and this
slate blue here.
| | 01:17 |
So a very reserved color palette, in terms
of, of this client.
| | 01:21 |
Now a good polar opposite of this would be
the next project.
| | 01:25 |
And once again it's exumit.
It was the social identity project I
| | 01:29 |
worked on, and because it's social
identity, it's all about people
| | 01:33 |
interacting with each other.
And whenever you have a group of people,
| | 01:38 |
you have all kinds of personalities, all
kinds of characteristics.
| | 01:42 |
And because of that, I use color to
reflect that type of diversity.
| | 01:47 |
It bring diversity into this mark In terms
of the use of color here, and I carried
| | 01:52 |
that through to the iconography I created
for this design direction.
| | 01:59 |
The next project is called vspread.
This is a company that populates sports
| | 02:05 |
metadata in terms of the statistical
analytics drawn from various sports.
| | 02:12 |
And it actually feeds into a system where
people can use it for gambling purposes,
| | 02:17 |
of all things.
And so this is one some fun, but they
| | 02:22 |
didn't want it too juvenile.
So this still has a somewhat sophisticated
| | 02:28 |
flare to it, but the color with red being
in there is definitely an identifier to
| | 02:34 |
capture people's attention.
The next project was for a small town in
| | 02:41 |
Louisiana, it was to brand the whole town.
So this actually played off of their
| | 02:46 |
heritage quite a bit.
Both in terms of the graphics I used, but
| | 02:51 |
mainly due to In regards to the style of
the coloring, is all based off of that
| | 02:56 |
area, and what is associated with that
area.
| | 03:02 |
There's a lot of trees there, so we wanted
a lot of browns in it.
| | 03:06 |
A lot of oak trees, so we brought some
gold into it as well.
| | 03:10 |
This is one direction for that.
And with this specific system we created a
| | 03:15 |
munincipal logo for basically the city and
a tourism logo that also represents the
| | 03:21 |
city but is strictly used for tourism
purposes.
| | 03:26 |
On the second approach, one of the
additional approaches for this specific
| | 03:31 |
project is I kind of harken back to their,
their history it was founded by a Spanish
| | 03:37 |
explorer and that's who this illustration
specifically references is this Spanish
| | 03:43 |
explorer, but the colors I used on this
are kind, are kind of representative of,
| | 03:48 |
of that area where he settled.
with these blues and these, more subtle
| | 03:57 |
tones of tan in the coloring.
Also one thing you want to keep in mind
| | 04:04 |
when you work on coloring is how the
logo's going to be used.
| | 04:08 |
So for example this CPA, they cater
specifically to vineyards.
| | 04:15 |
I Oregon where I come from there's a lot
of wineries around the Willamette Valley
| | 04:19 |
where I live, and they wanted to cater to
that market in terms of their CPA services.
| | 04:26 |
So, their name reflects that, The Wine
CPAs.
| | 04:30 |
And I came up with this mark to kind of
capitalize on a clever concept that plays
| | 04:34 |
along with their message and marketing
effort.
| | 04:39 |
Now, when I color this, I obviously want
to use colors that represent wine.
| | 04:44 |
But I had to keep in mind how this
specific mark was going to work when it
| | 04:48 |
appeared on a, on a colored background.
So the key to this even though white is
| | 04:54 |
technically said to be the absence of all
color.
| | 04:58 |
In this case, I needed to make sure white
was actually part of the color scheme so
| | 05:02 |
that it would work on any type of
background regardless of how they used it.
| | 05:09 |
So that's how you want to thank a color
when you're working on logo concepts.
| | 05:13 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Crafting a visual identity: Shape, form, and details| 00:00 |
The other aspect of working on logos that
we want to pay attention to is shape and
| | 00:04 |
form, and various aspects of detailing.
So, what I want to talk about in terms of
| | 00:10 |
shape and form is, many times when you're
working on a logo project like this one.
| | 00:16 |
I'm going to zoom in so you can see this a
lot better.
| | 00:18 |
This was the name of this client was
Package Genie.
| | 00:22 |
So we're playing off of that whole concept
of the genie.
| | 00:26 |
And the services they're offering has to
do with mailing packages, so obviously the
| | 00:32 |
genie is playing a part in making that
service easy.
| | 00:36 |
Now, when I work on a logo brand mark like
this I really pay attention to the shapes
| | 00:41 |
I'm forming.
And I pay attention not only to the
| | 00:46 |
positive shapes, such as the package or
the body of the genie.
| | 00:51 |
But I'm also paying attention to the
negative shapes, these white gaps in here.
| | 00:57 |
And on this specific design just to, kind
of, show you what I'm talking about here,
| | 01:01 |
I'm going to draw a shape.
And this represents The negative shape.
| | 01:06 |
And you can see what size it is.
I've matched it there with this shape.
| | 01:10 |
Now, if I take this shape and I just move
it down, for example, on the letter I in
| | 01:16 |
the word genie.
You can see that the negative space on the
| | 01:22 |
letter I in the word genie is the same
size negative space used everywhere else
| | 01:28 |
in this graphic mark.
That brings continuity to an identity, so
| | 01:34 |
if you can pay attention to those kind of
spacial issues as you're designing, it's
| | 01:38 |
going to improve your overall design.
Now, another aspect related to how you
| | 01:44 |
create negative and positive shapes is
what I call visual tension.
| | 01:50 |
So, what we're going to do here and this
is kind of to to give you a demonstration
| | 01:55 |
of what I mean when I say visual tension.
obviously I've set this up to make it to
| | 02:02 |
demonstrate what I'm talking about.
If you look at this, this looks great, but
| | 02:08 |
lets say this is what you started off
with.
| | 02:12 |
Now, you're looking at this and your you
might be thinking that doesn't look too
| | 02:16 |
bad but look much better it looks.
When you make sure that all of these
| | 02:20 |
negative spaces are consistent and they're
all falling in line with one another in
| | 02:24 |
terms of.
How thick they are throughout the entire
| | 02:29 |
design in all the various spaces.
So if we toggle back and forth between
| | 02:34 |
this, you can see how this changes.
You can see how it reads better when
| | 02:40 |
everything has a coherent and consistent a
weight in terms of the name and the space.
| | 02:47 |
And how it can be thrown off if you don't
pay attention to those shapes.
| | 02:52 |
So, that's something that as you build,
you want to pay close attention to that
| | 02:55 |
and you want to analyze those type of
spacial relationships.
| | 03:00 |
Now, the last thing I want to touch on
here, in regards to you designing your
| | 03:04 |
logos, is many times when you create a
mark.
| | 03:10 |
because you created on the computer it
runs the risk of looking too computery,
| | 03:15 |
too perfect, or too sharp.
Rounding up sharp vertices brings humanity
| | 03:21 |
to a design built on a computer.
So if we look at the same exact art on the
| | 03:27 |
left-hand side, this is how I initially
built it.
| | 03:32 |
I just built it simply with vector shapes.
You can see his head, and the turban, and
| | 03:37 |
the little flame motif.
But, if I zoom in on this even more, we'll
| | 03:42 |
go into his face here, you can see how his
chin comes to a.
| | 03:49 |
A sharp point, the top part, the apex of
his forehead comes to a sharp point.
| | 03:55 |
And how the negative space on the turban
even comes to a sharp point.
| | 03:59 |
You can see that the top of the flame at
the bottom of the flame, on his nose, so
| | 04:02 |
on and so forth.
Now, if we slide over here, just by adding
| | 04:07 |
these small, little, rounded details on
these shapes, we've removed all of that sharpness.
| | 04:14 |
And it really just make it, it really just
helps to button up a mark and really make
| | 04:18 |
it far more approachable, far more
sophisticated, and what it actually does.
| | 04:24 |
It moves it away from looking like
computer driven art and that's why you
| | 04:28 |
want to do that.
So that's something you want to consider
| | 04:33 |
as you're designing a mark.
And if you combine all these methods
| | 04:36 |
together that I've covered in this video,
I think you're going to see a vast
| | 04:40 |
improvement in your design for visual
identity.
| | 04:46 |
When it comes to your logo designs no one
will care as much about your work as you do.
| | 04:53 |
So, be your own worst critic, don't settle
for good enough.
| | 04:58 |
When craftsmanship is practiced
consistently, it'll no longer be a
| | 05:02 |
creative struggle.
Rather, it'll become a labor of love.
| | 05:08 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| The fresh eyes effect| 00:00 |
Designers run the risk of being too close
to what they create.
| | 00:06 |
They can too easily grow attached to a
design direction and fall in love with it,
| | 00:10 |
even if that idea is a bad one.
This is how bad logo designs get produced.
| | 00:17 |
Whether you're a junior designer or a
creative director, you should be
| | 00:21 |
continuously art directing your work
before you ever give anyone else a chance
| | 00:25 |
to art direct it for you.
At each stage of the project, you need to
| | 00:30 |
take the time to set your work aside, walk
away from it, and approach it with fresh
| | 00:36 |
eyes later.
A few hours or a day is best, but even if
| | 00:41 |
you can only afford 20 minutes, it's
better than not doing it at all.
| | 00:48 |
It's too easy to get used to what we're
looking at.
| | 00:52 |
The more familiar we are, the less
critical we get.
| | 00:56 |
When we set our work aside and approach it
with fresh eyes, we enable ourselves to be
| | 01:00 |
more critical of it.
So, as we discussed in a previous video,
| | 01:05 |
if something about your design doesn't
feel quite right, don't ignore it.
| | 01:12 |
Use the fresh eyes approach to identify
the problem areas then fix them.
| | 01:18 |
The problem with a lot of designers is
they allow their clients to play art director.
| | 01:24 |
This has always struck me as a paradox.
The client may be king, but they shouldn't
| | 01:29 |
be the art director.
This isn't to say that the client won't
| | 01:33 |
have good input to consider.
But as far as the refinement of the logo
| | 01:38 |
design goes, you need to be steering the
graphic ship and keeping yourself
| | 01:42 |
creatively accountable.
I encourage you to be your own worst critic.
| | 01:49 |
Scrutinize your logo design at every stage
in the creative process, and by doing so
| | 01:53 |
give other less of a chance to mess with
it.
| | 01:58 |
Remember, nobody will ever care about your
work as much as you do.
| | 02:04 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
5. The PitchPitching your work| 00:01 |
Developing and designing well-crafted
logos takes a lot of hard work and time to
| | 00:05 |
do it well.
And the same level of dedication you spent
| | 00:09 |
in creating the logo should also be
carried out when you pitch your directions
| | 00:13 |
to your client.
A good design can easily be derailed by a
| | 00:17 |
poor presentation, so it's important to
invest the necessary time.
| | 00:23 |
To communicate your ideas adequately and
keep the project moving forward.
| | 00:29 |
In this chapter, we'll cover close to
final comps presenting brand systems,
| | 00:34 |
sharing a vision and design rationales.
When you present ideas, you don't want
| | 00:41 |
your format to detract from your design's
overall message.
| | 00:45 |
You want to keep your ideas center stage
and prevent any unnecessary distractions.
| | 00:51 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using close-to-final comps| 00:01 |
When it comes to communicating ideas with
a client, I never show non design clients
| | 00:05 |
my pencil sketches.
I found that doing so simply exceeds most
| | 00:10 |
peoples ability to see the potential in
what a rough idea could eventually become.
| | 00:17 |
And that runs the risk of limiting the
creative exploration before it ever truly
| | 00:22 |
begins so I wouldn't suggest you ever do
that.
| | 00:26 |
With larger agency projects it's
acceptable to show pencil sketches because
| | 00:30 |
you are dealing with creative people who
have no problem visualizing potential from
| | 00:35 |
rough thumbnail drawings.
When it comes to presenting logo
| | 00:41 |
directions to clients, non-agency clients
specifically, I show what I call close to
| | 00:46 |
final comps.
All directions look like final art so as
| | 00:50 |
to remove any possibility of the client
not being able to bridge the gap between
| | 00:55 |
my ideas and what the final form will look
like when used.
| | 01:01 |
It helps to even mock up simple items to
show each direction in context such as a
| | 01:05 |
business card or even a tee shirt.
This helps to reveal the big picture view
| | 01:12 |
of the logo and eases the client's
decision making process by disclosing how
| | 01:16 |
their brand would live in the real world
context.
| | 01:21 |
Selling an idea is far easier when it
looks and feels like the real thing.
| | 01:27 |
So, presenting your concepts in a close to
final format will help you communicate
| | 01:31 |
with your client and avoid graphic
misconceptions.
| | 01:35 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Presenting brand systems| 00:01 |
You might have noticed in the previous
video that I was showcasing more than one
| | 00:04 |
design for each direction I created.
That's because I like to present what I
| | 00:10 |
call brand systems.
Each system is presented in a close to
| | 00:14 |
final format, and consists of a primary
logo design, and a secondary logo design.
| | 00:21 |
If the primary is a vertical format then I
might produce a horizontal format as well.
| | 00:27 |
Sometimes I'll produce several versions of
both orientations just to give my clients
| | 00:32 |
a broader range of choices in their
marketing efforts.
| | 00:37 |
My brand systems may also include
secondary brand graphics, such as iconography.
| | 00:43 |
Repeat patterns, logo bugs, or badged
graphics.
| | 00:47 |
These are secondary branding elements that
can be used in context with the clients
| | 00:52 |
primary logo, yet work all together as a
integrated visual identity system.
| | 00:59 |
I only include these types of extra's if
it's appropriate and the timeline and
| | 01:03 |
budget permit me to.
I'll admit sometimes I create these extra
| | 01:08 |
elements on certian design directions
because I happen to like it a little more
| | 01:11 |
than the others.
And that might help gently persuade a
| | 01:16 |
client to gravitate towards this
direction.
| | 01:20 |
But lets keep that between you and me.
As you can see with the brand system it's
| | 01:24 |
not one design, it's multiple iterations
of one design formatted different ways.
| | 01:32 |
So when I quote a logo project and state
that I'll develop three to four concepts,
| | 01:37 |
that's in essence three to four brand
systems each containing these multiple iterations.
| | 01:45 |
Which ever direction the client ends up
choosing, they'll get all the iterations
| | 01:49 |
for that brands system.
I've specifically developed this approach
| | 01:54 |
to help small business owners and
start-ups manage our new brand identity
| | 01:58 |
more effectly as they move forward and
continue to grow.
| | 02:03 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Sharing a vision| 00:01 |
When you present a logo, you're telling a
big picture story.
| | 00:05 |
You want to frame the narrative so you
paint a clear vision of where your client
| | 00:09 |
can go, and how the new logo can play a
part in taking them there.
| | 00:15 |
You want them to capture the same vision,
embrace it.
| | 00:19 |
And get excited about the new
possibilities it provides their business
| | 00:22 |
so that they can elaborate on the vision
and truly make it their own.
| | 00:28 |
If all you're doing is creating visual
choices and saying to your client, here
| | 00:32 |
you go pick one.
Then you're leaving the client on his own
| | 00:37 |
to interpret what a design may mean and
that's asking for trouble.
| | 00:42 |
So take the time to tell a good story so
your client can effectively understand the
| | 00:46 |
vision of what could be if they chose a
given direction.
| | 00:51 |
Here's an example, a local small business
owner approached me about designing a logo
| | 00:56 |
for his new business name Private Label
Bottling Services.
| | 01:02 |
Not a very original name, pretty
pedestrian.
| | 01:05 |
But putting his business name aside for
the moment, I took the time to get to know
| | 01:09 |
more about his services and product.
The owner was passionate about offering
| | 01:15 |
private label bottling for other
companies.
| | 01:18 |
So, part of the vision I shared with him,
explained that by reaching out to those
| | 01:23 |
potential clients would be better
facilitated with a new business name.
| | 01:29 |
I explained that his business competes in
the same visual marketplace, as
| | 01:33 |
multinational brands and is vying for the
same consumer's attention.
| | 01:38 |
So, I suggested we match that same level
design aesthetic.
| | 01:43 |
And because a small business can react and
change faster than a multinational brand,
| | 01:48 |
he could then outmaneuver them on the
strategic end of his business.
| | 01:54 |
He embraced this vision.
And we came up with the brand name Aqua
| | 01:58 |
Farm Water.
And the subtitle we used on this business
| | 02:02 |
card said, eco friendly private label.
Just because a small business is small,
| | 02:08 |
doesn't mean it has to look cheap or
amateur in its professional identity.
| | 02:14 |
It just needs to look professional.
So, be excited on your client's behalf.
| | 02:20 |
Make the experience of creating an
identity for their business and unveiling
| | 02:24 |
your ideas a very positive one.
Encourage them to dream along with you and
| | 02:30 |
embrace the new direction with all of its
possibilities.
| | 02:34 |
Salesmanship isn't always easy.
At times, it can be somewhat confrontational.
| | 02:40 |
More than likely it's going to stretch
your creative comfort zone.
| | 02:45 |
But like any skill, the more you do it,
the better you'll get.
| | 02:48 |
So stick with it, and don't be afraid to
say something stupid, just do it with confidence.
| | 02:54 |
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| Writing a design rationale| 00:01 |
As a designer it's important to be able to
communicate with your client on a deeper
| | 00:05 |
level when you present ideas.
It's not just show and tell.
| | 00:10 |
Design is more than merely a visual
esthetic.
| | 00:14 |
It should have a coherent thought behind
it, too.
| | 00:17 |
The easiest way to relay this type of
narrative is to write a simple design
| | 00:21 |
rationale for each logo direction you've
created.
| | 00:26 |
A design rationale will help a client see
the full potential of where a design
| | 00:30 |
direction may lead and how the logo will
help position and market themselves more effectively.
| | 00:37 |
It might also reveal more subtle forms of
conceptual meaning within a design and
| | 00:42 |
help them understand the graphic from a
whole new perspective.
| | 00:47 |
Remember, your up-front research should
give you a good insight into your client's
| | 00:51 |
perceptions and the audience they're
trying to reach.
| | 00:55 |
And from that, you'll want to formulate
your design rationale.
| | 01:00 |
Here are two design rationales I used with
my own clients.
| | 01:04 |
The first one is a logo identity I created
for a health care center.
| | 01:09 |
My design rationale read like this.
Your health services come together and
| | 01:13 |
form a wellness continuum of care.
This unified mark is active, moving, and
| | 01:19 |
responding to your patient's needs.
Here's another logo identity I created for
| | 01:24 |
a church.
My design rationale read like this.
| | 01:28 |
Our life is linear.
We have a beginning and an end.
| | 01:31 |
The purpose of a church is to draw
together a body of believers that can serve.
| | 01:37 |
In addition to the design rationales Take
the time to walk your client through each
| | 01:41 |
design direction you present.
Don't assume they'll be familiar with any
| | 01:47 |
industry lingo.
Explain why you designed what you designed.
| | 01:52 |
Sharing this type of thoughtful and
intrinsic information regarding your logo
| | 01:56 |
designs will go a long way towards gaining
your clients trust.
| | 02:01 |
Because they'll know you have their best
interest in mind.
| | 02:04 |
And its this trust that will lead to more
creative freedom later on, and
| | 02:08 |
super-charge the work you create on their
behalf.
| | 02:13 |
Once again, if all you're doing is
creating visual choices and saying to your
| | 02:17 |
client, here you go, pick one.
Then, you're leaving the client on his own
| | 02:22 |
to interpret what a design may mean, and
that's asking for trouble.
| | 02:27 |
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|
|
6. Gathering FeedbackClient feedback| 00:01 |
The creative process is rarely a trouble
free one.
| | 00:04 |
Almost always you will encounter hiccups
along the way, and how you deal with them
| | 00:08 |
will greatly effect the final results of
the logo project and the creative
| | 00:12 |
relationships you have with your clients.
In this chapter, we'll cover no Frankensteining.
| | 00:20 |
Revisions, the good, the bad, and the
ugly.
| | 00:24 |
What to do when the client rejects your
design?
| | 00:27 |
Your design batting average, persuasion
techniques, project change of course and
| | 00:33 |
the Island of Misfit Logos.
A client's response to design is the
| | 00:39 |
greatest unknown factor in any design
process, logo, or otherwise.
| | 00:44 |
So learning how to interpret feedback,
reply to that feedback, and keep a project
| | 00:49 |
progressing forward can be challenging but
not impossible as you'll see.
| | 00:55 |
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| No Frankensteining| 00:01 |
Before I jump into this, I need to define
what frankensteining is.
| | 00:05 |
Franensteining is the merger of multiple
designs into one new design, despite the
| | 00:10 |
fact that they don't form a coherent,
consistent whole.
| | 00:16 |
This leads to monstrous design solutions
worthy of crowds carrying pitchforks and torches.
| | 00:22 |
Regardless of how well you itemized
deliverables in your quote in terms of the
| | 00:27 |
scope of work.
A client at times may still try to
| | 00:31 |
Frankenstein the process when presented
with design directions.
| | 00:36 |
We've all experienced this to some degree.
The client likes the style of the mark in
| | 00:42 |
option 1, the type in option 2, and the
color in option 3.
| | 00:47 |
And they want you to play doctor
frankenstein, and sew them all together to
| | 00:51 |
form their own new identity creature.
This type of request is usually prefaced
| | 00:58 |
by the statement, we love it.
But, and what follows is a soul-crushing
| | 01:03 |
problem you have to respond to
diplomatically without stepping on toes or
| | 01:07 |
offending your client.
Some compromise is acceptable, though,
| | 01:12 |
such as a color shift.
But any time a client requests a change,
| | 01:17 |
that contradicts your rationale, take the
time to fully explain to them the contradiction.
| | 01:24 |
Reinforce that it wasn't a random design
decision on your part.
| | 01:28 |
You purposelly picked that style for this
specific reason because it works better
| | 01:32 |
than another style they may be requesting
you to use now.
| | 01:38 |
Gentle but firm is the rule of engagement
with this type of communication.
| | 01:43 |
Suggesting you can address their concerns
without actually wholesale adopting their
| | 01:48 |
request is a reasonable comprimise and a
persuasion technique we'll cover shortly.
| | 01:55 |
You want to direct them to focus on and
define the one strongest direction they
| | 01:59 |
like more than the others.
Even if they're not completely satisfied
| | 02:04 |
with every aspect of it, then you can move
forward from that decision.
| | 02:09 |
Dial in the design, and refine it until
they do embrace it.
| | 02:13 |
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| What to do when a client rejects your design| 00:01 |
Revision should be an expected part of the
creative process.
| | 00:05 |
We're not creating fine art, so our
opinion no matter how reasonable and well
| | 00:09 |
grounded regarding a design, can still be
trumped by a clients decision making process.
| | 00:17 |
So our logo design process should have
distinct stages of development.
| | 00:22 |
This will help keep the communication
between the designer and client clear.
| | 00:28 |
Each party will then know what to expect
of each other at each stage.
| | 00:33 |
And if a problem arises during the course
of a project, it's easier to isolate where
| | 00:37 |
it went off the rails.
And makes fixing a problem easier for
| | 00:42 |
everyone involved.
If your client accepts your design
| | 00:46 |
direction, that's great.
Just make sure you document their
| | 00:50 |
acceptance before you provide the final
deliverables.
| | 00:54 |
If your client can't pick a direction from
the initial logo designs presented or
| | 00:58 |
rejects all of them and isn't providing
any additional information to keep the
| | 01:02 |
project moving forward.
Then, it's time to move into the triage
| | 01:08 |
stage and attempt to improve the
communication and resolve the problem.
| | 01:13 |
The first thing you need to do is to audit
and review your research and creative brief.
| | 01:20 |
Are you in line with the information
provided by your client?
| | 01:25 |
Have you missed some critical information
not considered in your directions?
| | 01:30 |
Did the client fail to disclose important
information upfront that is now being used
| | 01:35 |
to derail the process?
If you can't find anything that
| | 01:41 |
contradicts your visual translation of the
information gleamed from your research,
| | 01:46 |
and create a brief that inspired your logo
designs?
| | 01:50 |
Then some follow up questions are
warranted.
| | 01:54 |
Here's some general questions that can
help diagnose the specific problem the
| | 01:58 |
client has with the designs and help you
find the creative cure.
| | 02:04 |
What specifically is the problem with this
design?
| | 02:09 |
Is it appropriate for your target
audience?
| | 02:12 |
If not what specifically is wrong?
Did I misinterpret something you defined
| | 02:18 |
in the creative brief?
If so, explain.
| | 02:22 |
Is there any part of the design you do
like?
| | 02:26 |
I'm tyring to see this from your
perspective.
| | 02:29 |
Explain to me what's missing.
Really have you taken a look in what
| | 02:34 |
you've been using?
Sometimes all the client needs is a little
| | 02:38 |
encouragement to take a risk.
Others benefit from being challenged so
| | 02:43 |
they can analyze their own hesitation.
And provide useful feedback for the designer.
| | 02:51 |
Once again, they don't teach you this in
design school.
| | 02:54 |
It's most often learned on the job over a
period of time, working in the real world.
| | 03:01 |
But even when you try to facilitate a
smooth creative process through open
| | 03:05 |
communication with your client.
It doesn't always work out the way you prefer.
| | 03:12 |
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| Design batting average| 00:01 |
Every designer has what I call a design
batting average.
| | 00:05 |
Your projects are your at bats and how
well you execute on each project
| | 00:09 |
determines if you get a hit or strike out.
The more hits you get, the higher your
| | 00:15 |
design average is.
Of course, this analogy breaks down if you
| | 00:20 |
look too closely.
Because in baseball, you only have to be
| | 00:24 |
successful three out of ten times to be
considered an all-star.
| | 00:28 |
But if your design is only successful 30%
of the time you'd get fired or just lose a
| | 00:35 |
lot of clients.
When it comes to your logo design
| | 00:40 |
projects, we all like to swing for the
fences.
| | 00:44 |
But, we all strike out at times.
It's just part of a designer's reality.
| | 00:49 |
It's not something we enjoy, but it's
certainly not uncommon.
| | 00:53 |
The reason I'm even bring this up is
because it's too easy to produce a course
| | 00:57 |
like this, and make it sound like if you
follow a certain process or methodology.
| | 01:05 |
You'll never run into problems.
That simply isn't true.
| | 01:09 |
Anytime people are involved with creative
work, you'll always run into problems to
| | 01:14 |
one degree or another.
If you're working with marketing people,
| | 01:19 |
you're guaranteed to run into problems
almost 100% of the time.
| | 01:24 |
Some projects go smoothly, others are a
train wreck, even when the same modus
| | 01:29 |
operandi was used for both.
This happens because, as we covered
| | 01:35 |
earlier, most people, non designers, view
anything art related as subjective.
| | 01:42 |
And that tends to lead to problems when
they try to choose a design direction on logos.
| | 01:48 |
Here's a project I worked on for a
refrigerator company.
| | 01:53 |
I created this penguin character as one of
the initial logo directions I presented.
| | 01:58 |
I also created these additional design
directions As show here.
| | 02:04 |
After it was all said and done, the client
didn't like anything I designed, even
| | 02:09 |
though my directions were appropriate, on
target and even clever.
| | 02:16 |
In other words, I struck out, and my
design batting average dropped.
| | 02:22 |
Improving your design batting average
starts with improving how you approach
| | 02:26 |
your projects.
And I hope this course will help you in
| | 02:30 |
that persuit.
It also improves when you educate a
| | 02:34 |
clients understanding of design as it
pertains to the real world.
| | 02:39 |
So that their perception of graphic design
moves from subjective opinion to
| | 02:44 |
contextual fact.
This, of course, is easier said than done
| | 02:49 |
especially when egos and corporate
politics are involved in the process.
| | 02:55 |
So, I encourage you to keep swinging.
Keep improving your skills and don't get
| | 02:59 |
too discouraged when you strike out
because it happens to everyone.
| | 03:04 |
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| Using persuasion techniques| 00:01 |
Whether you ever realized it or not, your
job as a designer is to persuade.
| | 00:07 |
That comes pretty easy for most of you
when you design with visual graphics and text.
| | 00:12 |
But when faced with a problem, such as a
client not liking any of your logo
| | 00:16 |
directions, persuasion can become an
uncomfortable form of communication.
| | 00:22 |
When you have to use the spoken word
instead of visual images to persuade.
| | 00:28 |
Of course, I'm assuming your designs are
appropriate and on target for the intended audience.
| | 00:34 |
If your logo directions are just lame,
then you probably shouldn't be trying to
| | 00:38 |
persuade anyone to reconsider them.
So, assuming the former, here are several
| | 00:44 |
simple persuasion techniques to assist you
in this type of situation.
| | 00:49 |
The audience argument.
Most solid business people understand
| | 00:53 |
marketing basics and the importance of
marketing.
| | 00:58 |
Mainly because it's driven by a return on
investment, or ROI.
| | 01:03 |
Which makes it fact, not subjective
opinion.
| | 01:07 |
So to help them view design from the same
ROI perspective means you sometimes have
| | 01:11 |
to point out to the client that they're
not the final audience for the logo.
| | 01:17 |
This helps them get out of an I don't like
that mentality.
| | 01:22 |
And into what will the response be from
the people I'm trying to reach mentality.
| | 01:28 |
Getting a client to assess a situation
like this, isn't easy, but this type of
| | 01:32 |
frank communication is necessary to work
through design problems and resolve a
| | 01:37 |
stalled process.
My friend Stefan (UNKNOWN) told me about
| | 01:43 |
the Hero Maneuver.
Everyone wants to be a hero in some capacity.
| | 01:50 |
People like to be looked upon favorably by
those above them.
| | 01:54 |
Whether that's mom and dad or their boss.
So find out what would make your client
| | 01:59 |
become the hero to their superiors.
Or their clients and that becomes the
| | 02:05 |
persuasive argument you need to capitalize
on.
| | 02:10 |
Sometimes all it takes to make your client
the hero and move forward on a project is
| | 02:15 |
by letting them take credit for the idea.
Taking your concepts and re-framing them
| | 02:22 |
in such as way that they become the
client's ideas.
| | 02:27 |
This may sound manipulative, and to some
degree, it is.
| | 02:31 |
But if it removes the pause on a project,
it's worth the sacrifice.
| | 02:36 |
The compliant conundrum.
Your client at times may ask you to make
| | 02:40 |
unreasonable design revisions or changes
that you know will ruin or weaken a design direction.
| | 02:50 |
When this happens, sometimes it's best to
simply respond to the request with a
| | 02:54 |
willing compliance.
All the while making it clear that doing
| | 02:59 |
so means the success or failure of the
project will fall squarely on their
| | 03:03 |
decision you're complying with.
For example, you might respond,
| | 03:09 |
professionally speaking, I don't think
it's the strongest solution.
| | 03:13 |
And it runs the risk of compromising your
identities overall effectiveness, but I'm
| | 03:17 |
willing to make those changes if you
really want me to.
| | 03:22 |
The Jedi mind trick for designers, wave
your hand in front of your client and say
| | 03:26 |
this is the logo that you've been looking
for.
| | 03:31 |
Sometimes humor can bring some levity to a
tense moment, so it doesn't hurt to try.
| | 03:37 |
These are merely suggestions, and you know
your client far better than I do.
| | 03:42 |
So, I encourage you to develop your own
persuasion techniques you can use when you
| | 03:46 |
run into creative hangups and need to push
through them.
| | 03:51 |
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| When a project changes course| 00:01 |
Sometimes no matter what you do, the
client either decides to kill the whole
| | 00:05 |
project or requests to restart the process
with a completely new direction.
| | 00:11 |
This is the second point in the creative
process where you'll be faced with the
| | 00:15 |
decision of whether or not this client is
a good fit for you.
| | 00:20 |
Before you agree to do anything or make a
drastic decision to fire a client, you
| | 00:25 |
need to ask yourself the following
questions.
| | 00:29 |
Does the client agree to cover a new
budget on top of the previous budget quoted?
| | 00:35 |
If not, then it might be time to part
ways.
| | 00:40 |
Does the client have substantial new
information not provided the first time?
| | 00:47 |
If the Intel hasn't significantly changed,
then how realistic is it to expect
| | 00:52 |
successful results now?
What is change to make you feel another
| | 00:57 |
approach will be successful this time
around?
| | 01:01 |
We're talking a big picture change, a
shift in company structure or business,
| | 01:06 |
not merely a personal preference from a
client who can't make a decision.
| | 01:13 |
Is the timeline still realistic to provide
adequate development?
| | 01:19 |
You don't control the time space continuum
so be realistic with your ability to turn
| | 01:23 |
around a project without compromising its
quality.
| | 01:28 |
Do you feel confident you can deliver a
design the client will be able to approve?
| | 01:35 |
This will, of course, depend on how they
answer all the previous questions.
| | 01:41 |
Have you said to the client, seriously,
have you taken a look at what you've been using?
| | 01:47 |
Honestly assessing these questions will
help you make a decision of whether to
| | 01:51 |
move forward with this client.
And trying to provide a design they'll
| | 01:57 |
like or fire the client and let them go.
This is never an easy decision.
| | 02:02 |
But at some point in your design career,
you'll run in to these types of clients.
| | 02:07 |
So, choose wisely.
| | 02:09 |
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| Island of Misfit Logos| 00:01 |
Designers strive to perfect their craft,
but within that pursuit, we all fall short
| | 00:05 |
at times.
I've plenty of my own logos fail one
| | 00:09 |
degree or another.
Much of what I know comes from learning it
| | 00:14 |
the hard way.
Then improving my process to reduce the
| | 00:17 |
risk and increase my design batting
average.
| | 00:21 |
That said, I've created logo designs for
clients who for one reason or another
| | 00:26 |
decided to go in a different direction, or
didn't like the ideas I presented.
| | 00:32 |
Some have found homes through my renewable
creative energy program but most of my
| | 00:37 |
designs are still stranded on the island
of misfit logos.
| | 00:42 |
Awaiting to be appreciated and used.
These logos represent a tea distributor,
| | 00:49 |
an energy drink product, film editing
software called Dragonframe, a wireless
| | 00:56 |
company, Ecological Clothing, a church
that wanted to be edgy.
| | 01:06 |
A hot rod beer brand.
A security software service.
| | 01:12 |
A child reading program.
A new age dairy, and Downy.
| | 01:19 |
It doesn't matter if the company is big or
small, you can do everything right, commit
| | 01:24 |
no mistakes, and still fail to create a
design your client will like.
| | 01:33 |
That's life.
Even though one client might not like a
| | 01:35 |
design, another client might love it.
So, hold on to your unused ideas.
| | 01:40 |
And when another project comes your way
that has the same genre, style, or type of
| | 01:45 |
business that aligns with an unused idea,
you can recycle it for the new client.
| | 01:53 |
It's too easy to think if you follow a
certain method or establish good design
| | 01:56 |
habits that you'll never run into problems
with client projects.
| | 02:01 |
That's just unrealistic.
So, I encourage you to roll with the
| | 02:05 |
graphic punches.
And use your failures as a springboard to
| | 02:09 |
refine and strengthen your whole approach
to logo design.
| | 02:14 |
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|
|
7. The LaunchLaunching a visual identity| 00:01 |
Once the logo project is done, its design
life has just begun.
| | 00:06 |
A well thought out and executed visual
identity can still ultimately fail, if the
| | 00:11 |
brand isn't properly supported when
launched.
| | 00:15 |
In this chapter, we'll cover style guides
made simple.
| | 00:20 |
Develop a brand narrative.
Managing a brand.
| | 00:25 |
These are all simple, strategic ways to
help you and your client manage your new
| | 00:29 |
identity moving forward.
| | 00:32 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Style guides made simple| 00:20 |
Brand style guides for multinational
corporations are dense tomes of
| | 00:20 |
information, rules and regulations, sample
usages, a legion of nebulous facts, brand
| | 00:21 |
psychobabble, and legalese that lawyers
craft, copywriters cringe over, and most
| | 00:22 |
people who use it, never read.
We're going to drastically simplify the
| | 00:25 |
style guide process.
Once the design has been selected,
| | 00:31 |
revised, and approved, it's time to set up
the final art files.
| | 00:36 |
These files will be directly referenced to
in the style guide I'll provide to my
| | 00:40 |
client as well.
Unless specifically requested, I always
| | 00:45 |
provide the source Ai files to my clients.
Mainly because a native format like Ai
| | 00:52 |
allows my client to port out any type of
graphic image they may need for a wide
| | 00:56 |
range of usages.
I provide my logo files in three color modes.
| | 01:04 |
CMYK, spot, and black and white.
I also standardize all my file names to
| | 01:10 |
align with the style guide call outs and
include simple descriptions that define
| | 01:15 |
the usage of a given format.
This way, my client can turn the PDF style
| | 01:22 |
guide over to a vendor and they'll be able
to reference the exact file the client
| | 01:26 |
should send them by name.
The term style guide says it all.
| | 01:33 |
It's a reference to guide the style of a
brand logo as it's used moving forward.
| | 01:40 |
A style guide will most often include
sample images of what not to do with a
| | 01:45 |
given brand graphic and establish the
rules of engagement on how brand images
| | 01:49 |
can be used in a wide variety of venues,
displaying both good and bad examples to
| | 01:54 |
make the communication of use crystal
clear.
| | 02:01 |
It's a form of visual accountability to
keep the graphics used in line and on
| | 02:06 |
target with the established aesthetic of
the brand.
| | 02:11 |
But as I stated previously, a style guide
suited for a multinational brand is far
| | 02:16 |
too complex and unrealistic for a small
business.
| | 02:22 |
So I provide my small business clients
with the simplified easy to understand and
| | 02:27 |
use style guide in PDF format that helps
them manage their brand assets easier and
| | 02:32 |
equips them to retain its visual
continuity as they continue to use their
| | 02:36 |
new logo moving forward.
Even the simplified format can intimidate
| | 02:45 |
a small business owner who might find the
whole idea of managing their image overwhelming.
| | 02:52 |
So I always give them the option of
letting me manage their visual assets so
| | 02:55 |
they don't have to worry about it.
When I work with larger agencies, of
| | 03:01 |
course, I don't bother doing any of this
type of setup or brand asset management.
| | 03:07 |
It's not needed.
They have their own proprietary methods
| | 03:10 |
for creating style guides.
So I'm just delivering the final art.
| | 03:14 |
And they run with it however the see fit.
I've included a couple style guide samples
| | 03:21 |
in the exercise files for this video.
So check those out and feel free to glean
| | 03:27 |
ideas on how you can set up your own
simplify style guide format.
| | 03:33 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Developing a brand narrative| 00:00 |
Developing your brand narrative should be
a collaborative effort between you and
| | 00:04 |
your client.
Sometimes this takes place early in the
| | 00:09 |
creative process to assist in facilitate
ideation of a logo design.
| | 00:14 |
But most often it's executed with far more
precision after the visual identity has
| | 00:19 |
been fully fleshed out.
And thoroughly defined.
| | 00:24 |
I recommend you working with a talented
copywriter who'll help you craft a
| | 00:28 |
precision document.
But that said, you need to be thoroughly
| | 00:32 |
involved in its formation.
The focus of a brand narrative, you could
| | 00:37 |
also call it a mission statement.
Purpose statement or brand story should be
| | 00:43 |
a good balance of visionary, creative
writing.
| | 00:46 |
Supported by practical business decisions
and measurable marketing goals.
| | 00:52 |
It's all about painting an appealing
picture of who your client is, what they
| | 00:56 |
stand for and where they want to go as a
company, product or service.
| | 01:02 |
And bringing the reader along for the
ride.
| | 01:05 |
In essence, your client is developing a
promise, making that promise, and
| | 01:10 |
ultimately managing the promise through
their new visual identity.
| | 01:17 |
So positioning and delivering a cohesive
narative is like crafting a well thought
| | 01:22 |
out story.
Like any good story it needs solid
| | 01:26 |
character development and your logo will
play a lead role in this pursuit.
| | 01:32 |
Your clients personality is a business
will dictate to what degree you stylize
| | 01:36 |
your story.
How serious it should be, if humor is
| | 01:40 |
appropriate what the core values are that
you're trying to establish and how they
| | 01:45 |
will engage the audience and benefit them.
You want to convey your brand message
| | 01:52 |
vividly, create customer loyalty, persuade
the buyer for the product, and establish
| | 01:58 |
an emotional connection with existing and
potential customers.
| | 02:05 |
A well crafted narrative forms customer
perceptions about your client's business,
| | 02:09 |
service, or product.
And a well crafted story should raise
| | 02:14 |
customer expectations about your client's
business, service, or product.
| | 02:20 |
A good narrative will help enhance the
experience of the brand in the minds of
| | 02:24 |
the reader.
Do it well and it benefits the
| | 02:27 |
effectiveness of your logo.
Do it poorly and it can handicap the results.
| | 02:33 |
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| Managing a brand| 00:01 |
Branding in essence is your client
developing a promise, making that promise,
| | 00:05 |
and once launched, managing that promise.
It goes without saying, that the larger
| | 00:11 |
the company the more tier's of management
they'll have.
| | 00:16 |
But we're going to simplify the brand
management into four essential areas.
| | 00:21 |
They'll allow us to keep a brand on
target, relevant, retain its visual
| | 00:25 |
continuity over time, and be flexible
enough so it can adapt and grow visual assets.
| | 00:33 |
You want to keep the brand aesthetic
consistent throughout all areas of design,
| | 00:38 |
whether you're creating it or providing
the logo files to a vendor.
| | 00:44 |
Continuity is key and you have to make
sure a vendor isn't corrupting your work
| | 00:48 |
and fragmenting the brand.
Sign shops, yellow pages, and local coupon
| | 00:54 |
magazines are notorious for doing this
type of hack work.
| | 01:00 |
Brand narrative and personality.
It's easy to break a promise, say one
| | 01:05 |
thing and do another as a brand.
Many well known national brands have made
| | 01:11 |
this mistake and suffered for it via
public ridicule.
| | 01:16 |
New Coke is a perfect example of breaking
a brand promise.
| | 01:22 |
We all have known people who have said one
thing and done another.
| | 01:26 |
We don't like them.
We tend to steer clear of people like
| | 01:29 |
that, and the same is true with the
company if they do this on a regular basis.
| | 01:35 |
So hold your client accountable to the
narrative you develop.
| | 01:42 |
Brand positioning and marketing.
I came up with a quote to define the
| | 01:46 |
relationship between design and marketing.
Marketing without design is lifeless and
| | 01:53 |
design without marketing is mute.
Both need to be done well and done on a
| | 01:59 |
consistent, ongoing basis in order to
facilitate and grow a business.
| | 02:07 |
Too many clients invest time and effort
into developing a logo, then let it
| | 02:11 |
languish and fade into obscurity because
they have no marketing vision.
| | 02:18 |
Helping your client position their brand,
encouraging them to develop niche markets,
| | 02:24 |
establishing sustainable, effective
advertising streams.
| | 02:28 |
And setting goals for business growth will
make a logo worth the investment and build
| | 02:33 |
valuable brand equity over time.
Continue to dream.
| | 02:40 |
The life of your clients logo and brand it
represents just begun.
| | 02:45 |
So how you manage it will determine its
ultimate success or failuer far after the
| | 02:50 |
aesthetic has been established.
Continuing to dream on your client's
| | 02:56 |
behalf proactively, bringing them new
ideas to help them stay relevant and fresh
| | 03:01 |
in a marketplace replete with competing
messages is vital to your creative relationship.
| | 03:10 |
This doesn't have to be complicated,
either.
| | 03:12 |
Just think about their business from time
to time and periodically offer up ideas on
| | 03:17 |
how they could creative market themselves
or promote a specific service.
| | 03:24 |
Remember, your the creative person, so
dream on their behalf and you'll discover
| | 03:29 |
new opportunities you both will benefit
from.
| | 03:33 |
Nothing says a client can't be a friend.
And a good friend looks out for the
| | 03:38 |
other's best interest and encourages and
support them along the way.
| | 03:43 |
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|
8. The Design ProcessInspiring logo designers| 00:01 |
When bank tellers are trained to detect
counterfeit currency, they don't study the
| | 00:05 |
cheap counterfeits, they study the real
thing.
| | 00:10 |
They become so familiar with the
attributes of good currency that when a
| | 00:13 |
counterfeit comes through, they recognize
it immediately for what it is.
| | 00:19 |
A bad bill.
The same methodology is true in contacts
| | 00:24 |
of logo design.
As the designer, the best way for you to
| | 00:28 |
recognize and establish good creative
habits is all about focusing and studying
| | 00:33 |
those who do a great job at logo design.
When you do this you'll start to pick up
| | 00:40 |
on specific attributes that come across in
their design.
| | 00:45 |
Styles that work well for specific genres.
And how they handle type or detail to pull
| | 00:51 |
off a well executed visual identity for
their clients.
| | 00:55 |
Remember, you want to become so familiar
with good design that you can recognize
| | 01:01 |
bad logos immediately.
With that in mind, I want to share with
| | 01:06 |
you the work of seven inspiring logo
designers.
| | 01:09 |
And take a closer look at their logo
designs.
| | 01:16 |
The first designer we're going to look at
is Sherwin Swartzrock.
| | 01:19 |
He's a designer based out of Minneapolis,
Minnesota.
| | 01:22 |
And the log I want to share with you is
one he was hired to create for Mitt Romney.
| | 01:28 |
His process starts with drawing a
multitude of directions.
| | 01:32 |
He knows what he's creating before he
creates it in vector form.
| | 01:37 |
He works out his shape and draws out his
art so it'll guide his vector building.
| | 01:43 |
And that's what i love about Sherwin.
If you look at this sketch, there's all
| | 01:47 |
kinds of great ideas going on here so he,
he does a thorough exploration of, of the
| | 01:52 |
possibilities of where he could do.
And remember analog facilitates digital.
| | 02:01 |
Here we in Sherwin's actual, actual vector
file, where he built out some of the, the
| | 02:05 |
designs he sketched out.
And I just love the diversity of the, the
| | 02:11 |
styles he chose here.
a lot of really well thought out shape
| | 02:15 |
recognition is going on in these as well.
If we look at the first one, you know, he
| | 02:21 |
has an R and an M in almost each of these
in some unique way.
| | 02:26 |
So, if you look at this one, it's, the
style of this one is great.
| | 02:31 |
Very loose, very kind of organic but it
still has the M and R Embedded into the,
| | 02:36 |
the overall graphic.
And I just think it's really clever,
| | 02:41 |
really strong really great mark.
Here's another one.
| | 02:45 |
Once again, the M is turned on its side
and the, the shape recognition with the
| | 02:49 |
letter R.
And the negative space capturing the
| | 02:53 |
bird's head.
So really clever use of, of letter forms
| | 02:57 |
and graphic shapes to paint the overall
identity.
| | 03:03 |
Now with this specific campaign obviously
Mitt Romney didn't go with any of these
| | 03:08 |
great designs and the one he did go with
is a big yawner.
| | 03:13 |
I don't know if you've seen it but it's
his loss.
| | 03:16 |
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| Luke Bott| 00:00 |
So, the next artist we're going to take a
look at is an artist by the a designer by
| | 00:04 |
the name of Luke Bott.
And Luke Bott is a, is a great designer.
| | 00:10 |
He's based out of Wichita, Kansas, and the
logo I want to share with you was one he created.
| | 00:16 |
While working on Gardner Design, the
founders of LogoLounge.com.
| | 00:21 |
And if we take a, a look at the sketches
that Luke did on this project.
| | 00:26 |
This specific project was called Books For
Life and you can see in his exploratory
| | 00:31 |
sketches he's just looking through all
kinds of possibilities to move forward on
| | 00:36 |
this design.
different types of design decisions, he's,
| | 00:42 |
he's testing to see if it's the direction
he wants to go.
| | 00:47 |
But ultimately, this type of expiration
will reveal a really good possibility for
| | 00:51 |
a logo.
And that's why you want to draw out your
| | 00:55 |
ideas and explore like this, because it
will reveal Which you'll see in his next sketch.
| | 01:02 |
This kind of clarifies the final direction
they ended up moving with this specific
| | 01:07 |
mark, with this little doodle sketch with
a bird and a book.
| | 01:12 |
And it's a lockup of this type of shape
associations that were carried out so well
| | 01:17 |
in his vector art.
So, if we look at loops of final logo mark
| | 01:23 |
here in vector you can see that he
capitalized on the whole idea of shape recognition.
| | 01:29 |
So, these two stacked books make up the
letter B which represents the word books
| | 01:34 |
in the, in the name of this specific logo
Books for Life.
| | 01:40 |
And the bird itself represents the letter
L, so really clever logo going on here.
| | 01:47 |
Using shape recognition and the style they
picked to, to carry it forward with I
| | 01:52 |
think the style of the typography they
picked really works well with the mark.
| | 01:59 |
So, that's Luke Bott and his work.
| | 02:01 |
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| Paul Howalt| 00:00 |
The next artist we're going to look at is
Paul Howalt.
| | 00:03 |
He's a designer based out of Gilbert,
Arizona and the log I want to share with
| | 00:08 |
you is one he designed for a company
called Oomph.
| | 00:12 |
Fun name, love it.
If you take a look at Paul's sketches
| | 00:15 |
Paul, I've known Paul for quite a while.
He's a prolific drawer.
| | 00:20 |
he draws all the time.
But what I love about his visual identity
| | 00:25 |
work is he will just, just create a
massive amount of sketches.
| | 00:30 |
In terms of exploring all the various
possibilities of where he could go with
| | 00:34 |
the logo.
So when you look at his sketch that you
| | 00:38 |
can see right now.
There's all kind of different directions
| | 00:41 |
he could possibly take.
So, he really does a good job of vetting
| | 00:44 |
all the possibilities in his sketch stage.
When Paul goes to vector, he doesn't just
| | 00:51 |
merely create three or four directions
like a normal human being.
| | 00:56 |
He actually creates, once again, a massive
amount of directions that he produces.
| | 01:02 |
You can see all of those shown here.
And, these are great, all, any one of
| | 01:06 |
these directions would work great for the
companies designing for.
| | 01:11 |
And one thing I like about Paul's work is
if we zoom in one of 'em, we'll zoom in on
| | 01:15 |
this guy here.
Really illustrative, really fun.
| | 01:20 |
But when Paul's creating logos, he likes
to break things up into smaller, dependent shapes.
| | 01:26 |
So you can see how he's doing that here.
I can just isolate these separate
| | 01:32 |
individual shapes And that's how he
builds.
| | 01:36 |
So that's the way he's found to build a
lot of these logos and build them fast
| | 01:40 |
without compromising the quality of any
one of the marks.
| | 01:46 |
So a really good job of fully exploring
the possibilities of where A logo
| | 01:51 |
direction can go.
And on the final mark, this is what they
| | 01:56 |
ended up with for Oomph.
So, I thought that looks really good.
| | 02:01 |
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| Carlos Fernandez| 00:01 |
The next designer we're going to take a
look at is Carlos Fernandez.
| | 00:05 |
He's designer based out of Houston, Texas,
and the logo I want to share with you is
| | 00:10 |
one he designed for a real estate
investment group.
| | 00:14 |
Now, when you take a look at Carlos'
sketches for this, what I love about his
| | 00:18 |
sketches is he's problem-solving visually.
Before he ever moves to vectors.
| | 00:24 |
So, hasn't laid down one anchor point in
vector art yet, and he's still working out
| | 00:29 |
his design, working out the shapes, and
drawing them with shape building in mind.
| | 00:36 |
Meaning, he's thinking about how he's
going to create it in vector form.
| | 00:41 |
And he's doing that in this drawing stage
and he's art directing himself.
| | 00:45 |
And you can see how he's clarifying
different shapes, refining them, and
| | 00:48 |
improving the overall clarity.
Once he has that finalized, then he moves
| | 00:54 |
to vector form.
So once he's in vector form, he now has
| | 00:59 |
everything needed to build a really
impressive mark here.
| | 01:05 |
So that's what I like about Carlos' work
is that it's, it's impeccable.
| | 01:10 |
The, the vector work is strong.
It's, it's well thought out and not only
| | 01:15 |
well thought out, it's well executed.
And a lot of that has to with the fact
| | 01:19 |
that he utilizes drawing within his
creative process.
| | 01:24 |
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| Tim Frame| 00:01 |
The next designer I want to talk about is
Tim Frame.
| | 00:05 |
He's a designer based out of Cedarville,
Ohio.
| | 00:08 |
And the logo I want to share with you is
one he designed for a self promotional.
| | 00:13 |
Now, not every logo design you are going
to work on is going to be illustrative.
| | 00:18 |
Meaning it might not have a very
elaborate, organic drawn out design, it
| | 00:23 |
might be more graphic in nature.
That's great but still, you should be
| | 00:28 |
drawing out and sketching out your ideas
before you jump on the computer.
| | 00:33 |
And Tim isn't really executing a design
here that, that is an incredible amount of
| | 00:39 |
illustrative work.
But as you can see in his sketch, he's
| | 00:43 |
still problem solving.
He's still going through the elements he's
| | 00:47 |
going to have in his and his visual
identity, and he's figuring out what he's
| | 00:51 |
going to create before he creates it.
Now, it might not be specifically the
| | 00:57 |
shape of the final mark, but he's planning
what he's going to lay out in a graphic
| | 01:02 |
form when he moves to vector.
So Tim, when he's working inside
| | 01:08 |
Illustrator, he's a master craftsman when
it comes to working with type.
| | 01:14 |
And most of the type he creates for a lot
of his logo marks and specifically this
| | 01:19 |
one, the United Pushers, isn't a font.
He actually built that from scratch and
| | 01:25 |
he's a master craftsman when it comes to
building out.
| | 01:30 |
typography solutions like that, and
distorting them to specific shapes to form
| | 01:35 |
within, in this specific design motif, a
circular shape.
| | 01:40 |
But he's just great at doing that, if you
look at the totality of his work, you're
| | 01:44 |
going to see those same characteristics
represented in a lot of his work.
| | 01:49 |
His attention to how negative and positive
shapes relate to one another really
| | 01:53 |
balances out his final design.
And he limited color palate makes it an
| | 01:59 |
even stronger approach.
| | 02:02 |
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| Joe Bosack| 00:01 |
The next designer I want to share with you
is Joe Bosack, he's a designer based out
| | 00:05 |
of Pottsvile, Pennsylvania.
And the logo I want to share with you is
| | 00:09 |
one he designed for the Houston Cougars.
Now, like the other previous designers
| | 00:15 |
I've shown you his designs start off as a
drawing, he works out his general design
| | 00:20 |
in a drawn form.
But that said refinement of his design,
| | 00:25 |
doesn't stop with analog.
It continues on to the digital workflow as well.
| | 00:32 |
So when Joe was working for this sports
identity for the Houston Cougars.
| | 00:39 |
This is his initial design direction.
This is where it started off and it
| | 00:43 |
matches his underlying sketch that I
showed you initially.
| | 00:47 |
Now, as it progressed, he continued to
refine his vector art.
| | 00:52 |
You might not always hit it the first time
when you draw something out.
| | 00:55 |
You might continue to refine your art in
vector form.
| | 00:58 |
That's fine, just always be art directing
yourself.
| | 01:01 |
In this specific project, he went through
nine stages of revisions in order to
| | 01:06 |
arrive at the final mark.
This was the first one.
| | 01:11 |
Then it moved to this, where he stylized
it a little different, and he started
| | 01:15 |
tweaking it in other details, changing the
color, trying something else, and it
| | 01:20 |
evolved from this to this one.
So now he's hosting it within a host shape
| | 01:26 |
which is a shield, and they're trying this
approach.
| | 01:30 |
The client didn't specifically like this
direction.
| | 01:33 |
So it moved to another iteration trying to
use the same shield motif for this design.
| | 01:40 |
I think this looks good, but it, once
again, it still wasn't the exact approach
| | 01:43 |
they were looking for.
So they kept exploring.
| | 01:47 |
Now they're moving into a motif that's an
oval.
| | 01:51 |
It, it's starting to capture some of the
essence they're going after.
| | 01:56 |
And they just kept refining it.
So now they're going to switch back closer
| | 02:00 |
to, almost the, the original essence of
the mark he drew out.
| | 02:05 |
But they're adding in the secondary color.
They're going to continue to refine it.
| | 02:10 |
So now this is the seventh round of
revisions.
| | 02:13 |
But they're moving closer and closer to
what they really want it to be.
| | 02:18 |
And they're going to proceed to the eighth
stage.
| | 02:20 |
And this is what you can see here.
And actually, (LAUGH) I'm going to
| | 02:25 |
apologize to Joe because it looks like I
moved his.
| | 02:30 |
His logos eye around so it goes somewhere
up there, so if that looks a little hanky
| | 02:34 |
that's not Joe's fault, that's my fault so
I just didn't order that part.
| | 02:40 |
We're going to jump to the next one
because I didn't add the eye on that one.
| | 02:44 |
And this is where they arrived at, this is
where they They decided, hey, this looks great.
| | 02:50 |
This is what we're after in terms of our
official logo.
| | 02:54 |
So, once again, it took nine stages to get
to the final mark.
| | 03:00 |
And once they, they went through all of
those stages, all that refining process,
| | 03:04 |
it lead to what was ultimately used for
the final sports identity for this school.
| | 03:11 |
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| Art Chantry| 00:00 |
The last logo designer I want to share
with you is Art Chantry.
| | 00:05 |
Art is a designer based out of Seattle,
Washington.
| | 00:08 |
The logos I want to share with you break
the mold of what most people think of when
| | 00:12 |
it comes to logo design.
Now, Art doesn't sketch anything.
| | 00:18 |
Now, that may shock you, because I really
push that a lot.
| | 00:21 |
But just hold with me on this for a little
bit.
| | 00:24 |
Art frankly doesn't care about the rules
most apply to identity design at all.
| | 00:30 |
His solutions are irreverent, fun, and
ultimately very successful for the
| | 00:34 |
businesses he designs them for.
Art is an exception to all the things I'm
| | 00:40 |
showing you in this course.
If you're good enough, you can break the
| | 00:45 |
rules and avoid the use of vector art all
together.
| | 00:49 |
Art's old school aproach to vector
identity is uniquely his.
| | 00:54 |
His logo for Ivar's, a local Seattle icon,
is Pacific Northwest classic.
| | 01:00 |
And the City Dump logo utilizes another
collaged-in local celebrity, JP Patches.
| | 01:07 |
I grew up in the Seattle area, and I've
been a fan of Art's art for a very long
| | 01:11 |
time, and appreciate its unique aesthetic.
Now some of you may be thinking, well
| | 01:18 |
that's what I'm going to do.
Well, I just want to warn you a little bit
| | 01:21 |
in that.
Art is really good that's why he gets away
| | 01:25 |
from it.
So you can always break the rules if you
| | 01:28 |
do it really, really well.
And I think his logos are a good example
| | 01:32 |
of breaking the rules and doing it well.
And I just wanted to balance everything
| | 01:37 |
I'm saying in this course with his work.
It's said that the whole is greater than
| | 01:44 |
the sum of its parts.
But in context of logo design, the
| | 01:49 |
opposite is true.
If you don't pay attention to the details
| | 01:53 |
at each stage of the creative process, the
whole can suffer greatly.
| | 01:58 |
So take the time to analyze the work of
good logo designers.
| | 02:03 |
Figure out why their designs are good.
Then, take the insight and use to refine
| | 02:09 |
your own approach.
And make sure you continue to keep a keen
| | 02:14 |
focus on the details that most people
never notice.
| | 02:19 |
And it will help you produce consistently
good and inspiring logo designs.
| | 02:24 |
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|
ConclusionNext steps| 00:01 |
And the extra resources folder in the
exercise files, I've included some ways in
| | 00:05 |
we can act in social media networks and
share information.
| | 00:10 |
Logo design and development is one of the
most rewarding aspects of being a designer.
| | 00:15 |
And I hope this information in this course
will enable you to create visual identity
| | 00:20 |
with a greater degree of success moving
forward.
| | 00:24 |
As always, never stop drawing and thank
you for watching.
| | 00:28 |
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