How We Create Brand Logos & Identity Designs
Your logo is one of the most important elements of your brand identity. It’s often the first thing people will see when they come across your company, so it’s important that it makes a good impression. But how do you create a logo that accurately represents your brand and resonates with your target audience? Here’s a look at our process.
In this article, we will cover:
First of all let’s define what makes a great logo. Every designer will give you a slightly different definition of what makes a great logo, but basically you can boil it down to these five fundamental logo design principles.
What makes a good logo?
- Appropriate – logos should be appropriate in its feeling.
- Distinctive & Memorable – It has to be unusual enough to persist in our mind. It should pass the “doodle test.”
- Simple – It needs to be able to be produced in every pixel size.
- Timeless – Don’t be too trendy. Do aim for longevity. The greatest logo designs stand the test of time.
- Versatile – An effective logo should be able to work across a variety of mediums and applications. The logo should be functional.
When you strike the balance of these 5 things, then you have yourself a good logo.
Why Do You Need a Strong Visual Identity ?
When sentiments like “expensive,” “sophisticated,” and “professional” are invoked, then that’s precisely how your brand will be perceived.
And the reverse is true, of course. “Slap-dash,” “thrown- together” and “improvised” are words that will irreparably damage your reputation before you even get to sell your customers what you offer.
We’re here to make sure that never happens to you. Your customers need to feel safe. They need to trust you. The fastest way to secure trust is to have your brand look the part.
You have one shot at making a solid first impression. When it’s delightful and bold, that first impression will cause your prospects and website visitors to stick around and become repeat customers.
They’ll look at your brand and say, “I want some of that.” Your products or services will be irresistible.
Your brand is not just your logo or your color scheme. It’s so much more than that. It’s your number one sales tool and the way that you’re known in the world. It’s your key to premium positioning, attracting your target customer, and having your products and services fly off the shelf (both digitally and physically).
It’s the best version of your brand, and we’re here to make it shine.
The process
1. Discovery
We start by digging deep into your brand to find out what will visually attract your dream customer & successfully communicate what differentiates you from the competition.
We look into the existing business(unless it is a brand new startup) and uncover where they are currently regarding Branding overall.
There may be facets of their business that had not been mentioned in the initial consultation, but the key to client discovery is understanding their issues further to provide the best solution possible.
Often, the client may not know ‘why’ their brand is struggling, but to an expert brand consultant, looking at their current setup may provide meaningful answers in the graphic design process.
2. RESEARCH & MOOD BOARDS
This phase aims to help our agency fully under- stand the client’s target audience and competitive landscape. We also begin developing logo mood boards and concepts to help guide the design in future phases.
Mood boards include a collection of design elements that pro- vide initial images, concepts, colors, and styles proposed for the general “look and feel” of the visual identity.
Round 1 typically includes three mood boards delivered to the client in digital format for feedback. We’ll gather client feedback be- fore moving into the actual logo design.
3. Concept Development
Every great logo design process starts with a sketch. Once you are armed with the relevant research into the client’s business and mood board, market segment, and competition, it is time to put it together into a cohesive solution strategy; this involves extensive mind mapping and sketching.
We will create rough logo concepts using the approved mood boards. These will be hand-drawn logo sketches or rough black-and-white concept ideas. The logo concepts will be presented to the client to establish a general logo style. Client feedback will be gathered before beginning the entire logo design.
4. Concept Design
Following feedback and choice of the direction your brand identity should take, we will proceed to design the entire brand identity for your brand. This will include logo design and variations, typography, color scheme, and extra design elements to compliment the brand and overall look and feel. Our designers will create multiple logo concepts based on the selected sketch/rough concept.
5. Concept Refinement
Following your feedback, we will collaborate to nail down the final brand identity, ensuring you get a design aligned with your vision. We will refine the logo until it matches client preferences within the number of rounds defined in the statement of work.
- FINAL PRIMARY LOGO DESIGN
Working with the client for feedback and approval, we will create the final “Primary Logo.” This version of the logo will stand as the primary visual identifier for the brand.
- SECONDARY LOGO DESIGNS / LOGO FAMILY PRODUCTION
Following the establishment and approval of the Primary Logo, our designers will create applicable logo variations to accommodate future marketing needs. The logo variations often include a vertical version, horizontal version, icon mark with text and without, black on white, white on black, and so forth.
6. Brand Style Guide & Master Files
A Style Guide is created to establish the basic rules for the final logo family. This guide is critical to ensuring that the identity system is treated consistently by all designers, marketers, and other staff who create any branded materials.
INCLUDES GUIDELINES FOR:
• Primary Logo Usage
• Logo Usage Restrictions
• Secondary Logo Family Usage
• Typography Standards
• Color Palette Standards (CMYK, RGB, HEX)
In this final phase, we will create a brand style guide and a master folder with all the logo files, fonts & design elements. This is important because it means you now have a guide Or your team can follow to ensure you keep all future marketing materials cohesive with your brand identity.
7. Brand Application
Once your brand is concluded, we can apply it to your materials by designing your business cards, packaging, amazon enhanced content, social media or paid media assets, and so much more. See the package add-ons for a list of what we can do.
The details
Brand Identity Design Package
What is included:
- Brand Discovery Call
- Brand Identity Design Concepts in the form of stylescapes
- 1 Comprehensive Brand Identity Design
- 2 Rounds of Revisions
- All the logo variations you’ll need (including favicon, negative version, and icon-only version)
- Complete Brand Color Palette
- Brand Typography
- Brand Design Elements (like a custom pattern or illustration, depending on what the concept calls for)
- Brand Style Guide PDF
- Brand Master files
Brand Application Add-ons
After arming you with a comprehensive brand style guide, our relationship doesn’t have to end there. Below are some of the things we can help you with.
- Business Card Design, Letterhead, and Envelops (printing not included, but we can take care of it for you)
- Product Packaging Design
- Social Media Display Image and Header
- Press Kit PDF Design
- Social Media Assets and Ads (Static and Motion)
- Amazon Enhanced Brand Content
- Product Insert or Promotional Flyer
Anything that can be designed, we can do, so if it’s not on the list, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
All projects are managed in one central location to ensure total transparency throughout the execution of the project. Both agency and client team members will have access to the project in the project management tool. Our goal is to provide full visibility on the project 24/7.
- Communication
- To-do Lists
- Milestone Scheduling
- Deliveries
- Client Feedback
- Asset Management
During the project kickoff meeting, we train each client on how to use the simple project management tool.
PROPOSAL & STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)
We would be delighted to work with you to satisfy your business’s branding and marketing needs. Each engagement with our agency includes a proposal and detailed statement of work that defines our services in detail. The proposal will clarify the process we will use to execute the project, and the statement of work will act as a formal agreement between our agency and you as our client.
Ready to take your brand to the next level?
Before we work with any of our clients, we always like to meet them over Zoom to get to know them. They are better as well as their business. The calls are typically 20mins, and by the end of the call, we’ll let you know when we can start and complete your project.
Summary
A well-designed logo is essential for any business to build a strong brand identity. At Dephlex Creatives, we take a comprehensive approach to logo design, ensuring that every element – from color choice to font selection – works together to represent your brand perfectly. If you need a new logo or are simply looking for ways to freshen up your existing one, contact us today – we’d be happy to help!
