Recently we were approached by a previous client to help them come up with a logo for a non-profit foundation they are setting up. We negotiated a price and upon accepting our quote, we started our logo design process. As with all services, there can be complexities that affect level of effort and cost, so here we are going to describe the basic logo design process we use here at 3PRIME.
For basic logos in which we are aiming to keep the effort under a week, we first send our client a quick questionnaire that will help define their goals and vision for the design. The questionnaire asks open-ended questions and provides some visual aids to encourage them to provide as much detail as possible, and we use Google Docs so we can collaborate if we are not meeting in person. This clarifies basic, critical information and gives us a clear understanding of our client’s vision.
This design was for a breast cancer foundation. Our client was looking for a pink feminine color, a dove and ribbon symbol for the icon, and an elegant font type. The client also mentioned they’d like to have a unique “Breast Cancer ribbon” to help their foundation standout from others that shared a focus on cancer and breast cancer in particular.
Upon receiving the questionnaire from the client a meeting is scheduled to meet and review their answers. Reviewing everything is good, but it’s also important to discuss things that stand out and to ask questions that will make the design process more efficient and reduce the need for rounds of feedback. At our design meeting, we made sure to go over the critical design elements like the ribbon and dove, what shades pink they prefer. We also discuss how the logo will be used in case that might affect the dimensions or orientation of elements. Our client informed us that they would need the logo for web as well as print, and that the first use of the logo would be for t-shirts they wanted to make for Breast Cancer Awareness month. Once we’ve reviewed and clarified the vision, we can start work on the logo!
The next couple of days are spent gathering inspiration and making moodboards, which is the cumulation of images and elements that will help inspire us for the project at hand. For this project in particular, the things that inspired us were ribbons and the color pink.
Once the moodboard is finished, we start searching for the best fonts and colors that will fit the look for this logo. From there the sketching begins which involves playing around with different icons until we have ones we’re happy with. There’s usually about 6 logo variations created for the client so they have a good range of options to choose from. A presentation will also be created and each variation will have mockups attributed to it. On this project we made two mockups, one for a business card and the other for a t-shirt. The logo variations and mockups are compiled and sent to our client for review.
Once the client has received the presentation, we’ll discuss the drafts and gain feedback. The client will pick a logo variant or elements from different variants in the presentation and will usually come up with feedback on editing they’d like made to that logo. The client was able to pick the logo they liked best from the presentation and mentioned that a part of their decision making was due to the mockups we added. With just a few quick edits to the logo they’d picked, we were able to finalize their new logo.
From there, deliverables are created for the client to have everything they need for their new logo. Those are usually delivered in two folders called the logo-kit and style guide. The logo-kit provides the client with web and print ready variations of their logo. The style guide folder is there to help clients know the components to the logo such as the fonts and colors used and how it will look from the original layout to a horizontal web layout. This is sent to every client we make a logo for to provide documentation of the elements of their new logo.
We’re excited to present our latest custom logo design for the Clara M. Robinson Foundation!
If your organization needs a new logo or updates to your current logo, please let us know!
