Logo Design Love
A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities
Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities
David Airey
New Riders
1249 Eighth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
510/524-2178
510/524-2221 (fax)
Find us on the Web at: www.newriders.com
To report errors, please send a note to [email protected]
New Riders is an imprint of Peachpit, a division of Pearson Education
Copyright © 2010 by David Airey
Acquisitions editor: Nikki Echler McDonald
Development editors: Robin Drake and Jill Marts Lodwig
Production editor: Cory Borman
Indexer: Jack Lewis
Cover and interior design: David Airey
Notice of rights
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact [email protected].
Notice of liability
The information in this book is distributed on an “As Is” basis without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor Peachpit shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware products described in it.
Trademarks
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and Peachpit was aware of a trademark claim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. All other product names and services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of any trade name, is intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.
ISBN 13 978-0-321-66076-3
ISBN 10 0-321-66076-5
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed and bound in the United States of America
About the author
David Airey, a graphic designer from Northern Ireland, has been intrigued by brand identity since the 1990s, when he enrolled in his first graphic design course. Having honed his skills working in the United Kingdom and the United States, he then made a conscious choice to specialize in brand identity design, where his passion lies.
Self-employed since 2005, David has amassed an impressive global client list, including the likes of Yellow Pages™ (Canada), Giacom (England), and Berthier Associates (Japan).
He writes two of the most popular graphic design blogs on the Internet, logodesignlove.com and davidairey.com, attracting more than 250,000 online visitors per month and approximately 1 million monthly page views.
Contributors (a huge thanks)
Contents
I The importance of brand identity
Chapter two It’s the stories we tell
None genuine without this signature
A logoless company is a faceless man
Identity design as part of our language
Rethinking the importance of brand identity
Chapter three Elements of iconic design
The seven ingredients in your signature dish
Remember that rules are made to be broken
Chapter four Laying the groundwork
Gathering preliminary information
Give your client time and space
A mission and some objectives hold the key
Bringing the details of client discussions to life
Culling the adjectives supplied by the client
Chapter five Skirting the hazards of a redesign
What are the reasons for rebranding?
Answers often lie in focus groups
From “unresponsive” to “caring”
Chapter seven From pencil to PDF
The fundamental necessity of the sketchpad
Where Photoshop comes into play
The pen is mightier than the mouse
Chapter eight The art of the conversation
Rule #4: Keep the committee involved
Don’t forget to under-promise and then over-deliver
Chapter nine Staying motivated
We all get stuck, no matter who we are
Start on the right foot, and stay on the right foot
Chapter ten Your questions answered
Chapter eleven 25 practical logo design tips
1. Questions, questions, questions
4. A logo doesn’t need to say what a company does
5. Not every logo needs a mark
7. Don’t neglect the sketchpad
8. Leave trends to the fashion industry
14. Match the type to the mark
15. Offer a single-color version
18. Test at a variety of sizes
21. Consider trademarking your design
22. Don’t neglect the substrate
23. Don’t be afraid of mistakes
25. Remember, it’s a two-way process
Design resources Help from elsewhere
Introduction
Brand identity design. Who needs it? Every company on the planet. Who provides the service? You.
But how do you win big-name clients? And how do you stay relevant? Design is an ever-evolving profession. If you’re like me, one of your goals as a graphic designer is to always improve your skills so that you can attract the clients you want. So it’s vital that you keep learning and growing.
This book is about sharing with you everything that I know about creating brand identities so that you can stay motivated and inspired, and make smart and well-informed decisions when procuring and working with your clients.
But who am I, and what reason do you have for heeding my advice?
Well, for a number of years I’ve been sharing design projects on my blogs at davidairey.com and logodesignlove.com. In these blogs, I walk my readers through the individual stages of my identity design projects. I talk about how I sealed the deal with a client. I examine the details of a design brief. And I describe how a client might sign off on polished artwork.
My websites currently generate 1 million monthly page views and have a combined subscriber count of more than 30,000 readers. That’s quite a lot for a young lad from Bangor, Northern Ireland. My readers tell me that reading my blogs makes them feel like they’re getting to go “behind the scenes” into my design process, and that it’s difficult to find such insights elsewhere. They say that my features are helpful, inspiring, and very much appreciated (and I didn’t pay them for their comments, I promise!).
If you search through the portfolios of the most successful design agencies and studios, you’ll find plenty of examples of final design work. Some portfolios might even show one or two alternative concepts. For the most part, however, we can find very little of what actually happens between designers and their clients: the questions they ask to get projects started on the right foot, how they generate ideas after creating and studying the design brief, and how they present their designs to win their client’s approval. Such details are like gold dust to a designer.
And so, the idea for this book was born.
Never before have I gone into so much detail about my design process, and never before have I studied the intricacies in such depth. In the process, I’ve brought many talented designers and design studios on board who very graciously have shared their own thoughts, processes, and advice.
When you finish reading this book, you hopefully will be well-prepared to go out and win your own clients and create your own iconic brand identities. Had I known about everything contained in this book when I first started my own graphic design business, I would definitely have saved myself a lot of worrying and restless nights.