The Process of Design

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Hello Designer! Let’s task our brains by thinking about this. A big company contacts you today for a logo. You know if you are able to come up with something spectacular, then, you have made a hit. Would you do all you can to make it spectacular? Or, would you feel too lazy to do much and accept the outcome. You can’t create something spectacular without doing the right things, following the right process. Well it’s a different thing if you know and don’t do it and it’s a different thing if you don’t even know at all. What am I talking about that you should know? The PROCESS OF DESIGN. These involve what you should do before starting out on a logo design. Wait, what are you thinking? That you should just go on and start as the inspiration is coming? Bros, calm down. These things will help with more inspiration.

A lot of us get introduced by someone who knows us to someone who wants to give us jobs. This means there is likely to be a third party in the conversation, the middle man. Let’s even assume it was the third party that told you about the job, and of course you have accepted it, Number one thing to do before going further even before prices is to GET RID OF THE MIDDLE MAN. Hold up! I am not saying to hurt the person o… I am only saying to make sure you get to talk with the person in charge directly. Let’s look at this. I got called up by his friend some time ago, the company he works with needed a new logo, I mean a re-branding. I was enthusiastic, very enthusiastic I must say. As at then, I would ask what the company represented to its audience, if they had a colour already blah blah blah. I asked all those questions and of course I got my response from my friend. Take note not from the company owner. How in the world did I expect my friend was going to know details about the company?  In my mind…I was ready to blow their minds. If I had gotten rid of the middle man although he is my friend but this is business you know, I would have gotten a better outcome from the whole relationship.

When you don’t get rid of the middle man, let me outline things that can possibly happen.

a.      Do you remember what they say about words going from one person to the other? By the time it gets to the final person on the receiving end, it’s a completely different thing that is gonna be said. A company worker cannot answer your questions like the company owner would. You are very likely to get half-baked answers…you don’t want to work based on that kind of answers.

b.      A company worker cannot pass information to the company owner from you the same way you would have passed it. He can’t sell you or your product to the buyer the same way you would have.

 

So, you see? You really need to get rid of the middle man. Yes, let me tell you the rounded-up conclusion of my story, I set to work, and I created something nice, people saw it and were like ‘Wow’. But you can imagine a job which the owner is not saying wow to. I never got paid for the job till today. The friend told me they decided to hold up on the job, they wanted to put some things in place, after I have created logo…can you imagine!? There was no way I could convince them to pay me. That was what allowing a middle man be in between my relationship with my client cost me.

 

Now that we have dealt with the middle man, we have asked the middle man to take you directly to the company owner, set up a professional meeting and start asking questions. Must it be the company owner you ask? Well no, just make sure you meet with the person or committee that is going to make the decision of accepting and using the logo or not. You get right? You may not likely get a lot of time to talk and get all your answers, then let your questions be in your DESIGN BRIEF. A design brief is like a road map, it defines everything about the client, the company, the goals and objectives, the job, the reason for the job and so on. Don’t allow to be directed to the company website because it can’t answer all your questions. Make sure your design brief is filled properly because that is the basis of your research.

Now you have got the brief to the company owner or the decision makers, GIVE THEM TIME AND SPACE. You can’t expect them to fill it within hours of you giving them, they need time to fill and space to think before putting the right answers down. After getting your design brief filled correctly, it is time to DO YOUR HOMEWORK. What is your homework? It is research making. Check the history of the company, what people think about its current brand and its effect on the market, check for its competitors’ brand, check out their brand weaknesses, brand identities used in the past. You need to know all these to know what kind of logo you will churn out. Are you wondering why all this research? Consider this, if its re-branding, what if their previous logo in history was the one that consumers reacted positively to the most? What if the competitors are only not doing one thing that people say they want to see in their logo? What if the company’s previous logo(s) have been passing the wrong message to consumers? You see why you should know these?

The design brief is good to be documented, so that you can go back to it. There will be times during the creation that you will need to remind yourself about the company, that is the essence of the design brief, to be able to go back to it and avoid asking the same questions all over again.

After all these have been done, you can now start to draw inspiration and create your client’s logo. In creation, don’t forget to portray the adjectives supplied by the client; the adjectives describing what the company should be to it’s consumers. Don’t forget to take note of the elements of an iconic logo, you don’t want to use all your research to create a logo that won’t be perfect. I talked about it last post and you can read it up . And yes, I kept talking about the Design Brief without saying fully what it is about, check out my next post where we will talk fully on THE DESIGN BRIEF.

Thank you for always reading. To my subscribers, a big shout out to you. Don’t forget to send in your questions and also topics on your mind for discussion here to me on olamipoada2@gmail.com. Please drop a comment, I look forward to hearing from you.

See ya!

 





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