Chapter 5: Conducting Preliminary Research

With the design brief in hand it’s time to embark on the logo design journey and explore your options. You can’t run off into the forest of creativity just yet, though—that would be foolish. Conducting thorough research first will help to increase your chances of finding the perfect idea for the task at hand.

So, which type of research should you be carrying out? The answer to that question depends on what stage of the process you come in at and what your role is on the project. In this chapter, I focus on the research that should be carried out just for the logo, not for marketing or brand strategy. But a good understanding of all available research methods will help your progress and versatility.

I love research, but I know many designers who find it to be a dull and boring process. Research doesn’t have to involve sitting in a library for hours on end, reading up about subjects you have no interest in. This chapter details the available research tactics at your disposal and shows you how analyzing your findings can help to add focus to your creative process.

Background Research

Background research handles and analyzes data and information that have already been published. Background research can help you to:

• Gain a greater understanding of the target market

• Improve your own knowledge of the product or service that the brand offers

• Determine which new brands have successfully made an impact on the target audience

Researching your client’s line of work

There’s no such thing as having too much information at your disposal, especially if you’re designing an identity for a product or service that you aren’t familiar with. This will likely be the case, and it’s one of the main reasons I find research to be so important.

You need to get to know the ins and outs of your client’s line of work. Don’t just rely on what the client tells you—they probably won’t know everything (plus, doing so may limit your creativity). I’m not suggesting you need to learn every little detail about the subject at hand—there isn’t enough time to do that, especially for smaller projects. But you can still gain a greater understanding, which will help you to think of more relevant ideas during the conceptualization process (see Chapter 6).

Going into a library and briefly reading the basic background information on an obscure occupation can be interesting, and it can inform your design. If you don’t have the time or facilities to do research in a library, a wealth of information is available on the Internet. After conducting research on the nature of the client’s business, if you have some unanswered questions, get back in touch with them and ask for more information.

You should be able to answer the following questions:

• What is the history of the product or service?

• What does the product or service involve?

• What production methods are used, if any?

After conducting some research on your own, feel free to go back to the client and ask if they do things a little differently from the norm (many do). It’s little details like this that can help to strengthen a visual identity and achieve true distinction from competitors.

Note: Based on your initial contact with the client, you may already be armed with this information—it depends on the depth of your communication as you were forming the design brief (see Chapter 4).

Josh Hayes (www.hayesimage.com.au) took on the task of designing the new identity for Palliative Care Australia (PCA), which was formed in 1990 as the Australian Association for Hospice and Palliative Care, Inc. PCA works in collaboration with the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and the Australian & New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine implementing the National Palliative Care Strategy.

Josh’s task was not to create a logo for the organization, but to create more of a symbol/icon for a particular segment of the organization. This symbol was to be the focal point at conferences, media outings, and other public activities in conjunction with their existing logo(s). Josh talks us through his research process for the project:

My initial research began with looking into the ways and histories of how death is dealt with, not by focusing on the morbidities of it, but the preparation, the practices, and the ceremonial activities that took place. In every culture, religion, and age that I studied, there were two common links: (1) There was always a sense of “palliative care”—some very abstract, but the sense of “preparation” was always there. A great deal of time and effort was put into making people comfortable and ready to die. (2) From a symbolic standpoint, there was a constant reference to a “vessel” that carried the soul to the next existence. In some instances, the soul was taken to Heaven (or the contextual equivalent) or the soul was given a new body (such as in the phoenix). What became apparent to me throughout my research was a core idea that nobody is alone—there are friends and family or religious officials or town/village figures, as well as gods and deities. So, that “never alone” concept became an important footnote to everything I conceptualized from that point on.

The idea of the “vessel” was always in the back of my mind during the conceptualization process, but I couldn’t come up with an acceptable way to present it. While developing ideas, I always keep another sheet of paper just in reach, for any obscure concepts that enter my mind, during this process. In this situation, one of them was a kite.

Initially, I disregarded the kite as a just a random idea. Exhausted, I began recharging myself by flicking through the music channels on TV. (This isn’t referenced in my sketches, but I used this in my presentation.) I came across U2 doing a live performance of the song “Kite” from their All That You Can’t Leave Behind album.

It was here that I realized that the kite was the vessel and that I needed to develop it further. The kite was my interpretation of both the sense of humanity that the organization embodies as well as the symbology of the vessel idea but the symbology of end of life—this person is about to die. It’s not a surrender but a fact. I visualized the kite as being the person, and family and friends holding onto the string are confident enough to be able to let the string go.

Figure 5-1 shows the final design Josh came up with.

Figure 5-1: The final design for Palliative Care Australia, designed by Josh Hayes (www.hayesimage.com.au), based in part on his research into the history of palliative care.

Focusing on the competition

Pinpointing the competitors to your client may be difficult. Sometimes, the client will tell you who they think they’re in competition with, but their assessment may be way off the mark. Your goal in this research stage is to determine who your client’s competitors are, both direct and indirect:

• Direct competitors: A direct competitor is any organization that offers the same product or service that your client offers, in the same target market. For example, Coca-Cola and Pepsi are direct competitors in the soft drinks market because they both produce a cola drink in the same target market.

• Indirect competitors: An indirect competitor is any organization that offers a product, service, or brand that’s somewhat similar to what your client offers, in the same target market. Coca-Cola and Evian are indirect competitors because they’re both drinks, but the products are different, and someone wanting to buy soda may or may not want to buy water.

When looking at your client’s competition, you want to identify the current identities that are being used within the market, so that the new identity you design for your client sets them apart from the competition. In simple terms, you want to make your client look different from what’s already out there.

When assessing the identities of competitors, don’t just check out their logos. Pay attention to the colors they employ and any assisting imagery that they use. Keep a record of them if you can (for example, as a JPEG file that you can refer to later, if necessary).

Depending on the nature of your client’s business, you likely won’t have time to locate every direct or indirect competitor to your client. Do your best to locate the primary ones, though, and pay attention to trends you see, so that you can avoid them as you design the identity for your client.

Researching the market leaders

Your client may be a small startup, aiming to compete with businesses and organizations of a similar level and size. But they shouldn’t completely discount the leaders of the industry as competitors. Who’s to say that your client won’t be in that kind of market-leading position in the future?

The market leaders are the large well-known brands. For example, when it comes to courier services, the market leaders on a global scale are UPS and FedEx. Your client may be a local courier service operating in one city, but UPS and FedEx are still the market leaders. It’s important to identify market leaders for two reasons:

• To avoid mimicking their identities: If the logo you create for your client reminds customers of a massive brand, your client could be seen as a cheap or counterfeit version, which results in a negative brand image and, in a way, strengthens the integrity of the market leader’s identity.

• To see what the target audience is already familiar with: This doesn’t mean that the new identity you’re designing should look remotely similar to the market leaders—in fact, it should be completely different. But analyzing the logos that the target audience already recognizes can narrow your focus for exploring new and exciting avenues for the project.

Using logo databases

Looking at other logos can be advantageous, as long as you use it for research purposes rather than as a source of inspiration. It offers a glimpse into how companies in industries similar to your client’s have tackled their own identities.

Be careful: You may find that those other logos subconsciously inspire your own concepts. This can and will happen, whether you intend for it to or not. Images can have a lasting impact on the brain, especially logos that you’ve been exposed to for years and years.

Millions of logos are published online and in print, not just as visual identities, but also to be showcased for research and designer recognition. Books and websites relating to logo design are helpful because, in essence, they show you what you shouldn’t be thinking of (because it’s already been done).

Part III of this book includes hundreds of logos from all types of industries that you can use for research purposes.

In addition, I recommend the following books, which include hundreds of other logos:

• Logo, by Michael Evamy (Laurence King Publishers): Showcases logos of some of the best-known brands in the world, all displayed in black-and-white so that the form of the artwork is the main focus.

• Los Logos: Compass, by Robert Klanten and A. Mollard (Die Gestalten Verlag): Has over 400 pages of logo design material, categorized by logo type for easy reference.

• Really Good Logos Explained: Top Design Professionals Critique 500 Logos and Explain What Makes Them Work, by Margo Chase, Rian Hughes, Ron Miriello, and Alex W. White (Rockport Publishers): Offers candid critiques on over 500 logos and explains what makes them successful.

• Logology (Victionary): Displays more creative logo designs that are less corporate than those shown in other logo design publications. A harder book to find, but well worth owning.

Here are some logo design showcase websites I recommend visiting:

• LogoLounge (www.logolounge.com): Offers a paid annual membership service that allows you to explore its enormous logo database of over 140,000 logo designs. By submitting your work to the database, your designs are eligible for consideration for the annual LogoLounge book.

• LogoPond (www.logopond.com): The leading free logo showcase website. With over 80,000 logos uploaded, it offers you the opportunity to research the types of logos designed for industries and markets similar to the one you’re designing for.

• Logo Faves (www.logofaves.com): Showcases some of the best logo designs from around the world.

• LogoGala (www.logogala.com): Unique in the fact that the main logo featured on the site is accompanied by an interview with the designer, outlining his or her process.

• Logo Of The Day (www.logooftheday.com): Showcases a different logo every day.

• Creattica (www.creattica.com/logos/latest-designs): Has a gallery that showcases logos submitted by designers for consideration; features an array of designs for all manner of markets and industries.

Setting the scene

As I’m conducting research, I often keep track of any images that I feel may help with inspiration and improve the conceptualization stage of the design process. These images may be of anything that’s relevant to the brand. You can take your own photographs or find them online. It doesn’t matter where you get the image. As long as the image is helpful, add it to your arsenal. The image doesn’t have to be a photograph either. It can be text, samples, or objects—anything you think would eventually help to inspire you to achieve the aims of the brief. This collection of images, objects, and other sources of inspirations can be assembled on something known as a mood board.

Make sure that you don’t trace any imagery you find. Not only is that an infringement of copyright, but it’s unethical and unprofessional. A mood board is meant to inspire you to create your own artwork, using your own talent and ability.

Field Research

Field research is collated by assessing people in their natural setting or environment, so it’s particularly handy when assessing the target audience. If you have the time and resources available, field research can be extremely beneficial because it involves collecting new information rather than relying on previously published data. Unfortunately, as with trends, people’s buying habits and preferences can change over time, so field research can never be 100 percent accurate. It does, however, give you a greater insight into your target audience, and it’s always better than relying on your own assumptions.

Field research isn’t just about the target audience. Visiting the client’s place of work and seeing the brand in action can be an eye-opening experience and give you a greater familiarity with who and what you’re creating an identity for. If you’re working for a client who is overseas, this option probably isn’t cost-effective. In that case, ask the client for as much material as they can provide about their brand. You may be able to view some promotional videos or look at pictures of their place of work. Look for anything that can give you a greater insight into who the client is and what the client is about.

Conducting focus groups

Focus groups are small groups of people assembled in order to gauge reactions to products, services, ideas, or advertising through discussion. Focus groups are good for gathering people’s opinions, thoughts, and feelings. They’re also a cost-efficient means of conducting field research (as long as you can get people to participate for free).

On the downside, getting people to participate in a focus group can be tough, especially if there is no incentive. The discussion you have can be governed by the mood of the participants, so the data you get isn’t always an accurate representation of your target audience as a whole. Plus, conducting focus groups takes a lot of effort and it isn’t efficient for projects with smaller budgets because assembling, analyzing, and implementing the findings takes time.

If you use a focus group as a form of research for an identity project, try to select people who fit the demographics of the target audience, so that you can gauge an average reaction or opinion to the questions that you ask. Obviously, the more participants, the more accurate the average opinion will be.

There are no set questions that you should ask during a focus group—each project is different. Try to keep the questions you ask concise and relevant to what you want to know about the habits of the target audience. You may want to discuss the market leaders, and what makes them attractive to the focus group, as well as the products and services of your client’s direct competitors.

Also, keep the discussion based around the identity of the client’s product or service and how the focus group would like to see it improved (if it’s already available on the market). Don’t ask questions related specifically to design choices, because individual taste concerning art and design is subjective and, therefore, not reliable. As the designer, you’re the one who will make the design choices, based on the information you gather from talking with the focus group.

If the task is to re-brand an existing identity rather than design a new one, the client may not want to distance themselves too much from the existing logo for fear of losing brand loyalty. But if they’re contacting you for a new logo, something isn’t working with their current identity. By talking to target groups, you can assess how much brand loyalty is determined by the current identity, and how much freedom you have to change it. Seeking the opinion on the existing logo will help to determine why the current logo doesn’t work and a possible redirection for the brand.

Consider recording your session by video and/or audio, or just by taking notes—just make sure that the participants are comfortable with whichever method you use.

Distributing questionnaires

The questionnaire is one of the oldest research tactics available. Questionnaires are great for collecting data that’s relevant to your logo design project. They make comparing data much easier (because you’ve asked the same questions to everyone). Finally, and most important, they give you a greater insight into your target audience.

A potential drawback to questionnaires is that personal taste can affect the respondents’ answers, and those personal tastes don’t always apply to the whole target audience. Plus, not everyone is willing to answer a questionnaire, so you may have trouble getting the information you need.

You may think that creating a questionnaire is just a matter of writing down a bunch of questions, but you should put a great deal of thought into drafting a questionnaire before you test it out on participants. The questions you ask and how you ask them can play a big role in the answers that you receive. For example, the following question would be pretty useless:

Does a logo affect your buying behavior?

Closed-ended questions (those that lead to a simple yes or no answer) don’t give you a great deal of insight. A better way to phrase the question would be the following:

How much does a logo affect your buying behavior?

• It is the most important factor.

• It is important but not a deciding factor.

• It is not important.

• It doesn’t affect me at all.

Don’t discuss existing logos on your questionnaire, because that will only lead you down the path of personal taste—it won’t reflect an overall shared opinion. If you were to ask a question such as the following, you would find that the answers could be contaminated by brand loyalty and the respondents’ personal preferences:

Which logo appeals to you the most?

• Mercedes-Benz

• Audi

• Ferrari

• Volkswagen

As is the case for focus groups, there are no set questions you should be asking on a questionnaire—the questions will be different with each project. Try to steer clear of any questions that relate to your participants’ personal design preferences.

Remember: The questions you ask should all be geared toward your target audience, and you should distribute the questionnaires only to people who are part of that target audience.

Analyzing the Research

After you’ve completed your research, it’s time to look at your findings and make them useful. You don’t need to cover your walls in a ton of obscure diagrams and graphs, but you should identify some important elements that can help you in the conceptualization process.

The conclusions from your research findings will help you pinpoint what you can and can’t do or should do for the new identity. Now that you have an in-depth understanding of the client, the target audience, and the identity that you’re designing for, you can begin to make use of your research for the conceptualization. Refer back to your findings whenever possible, especially before you begin to generate new ideas.

Identifying common solutions

Common solutions become clichés and are more often than not the first idea that pops into a designer’s head when thinking of the nature of the business. Look back at your notes on your client’s competitors’ logos. You don’t want to design a logo similar to any competitor, but identifying the common concepts currently used can help to streamline your thought process (see Chapter 6). It helps you know what to avoid, and can help to steer the client away from any persistent suggestions they have.

Common design elements can include anything from the imagery used within the logo to the colors used. If a competitor is well known for its use of a certain color, you’ll want to avoid using that color for your client because it could cause confusion in the target audience.

Determining unique qualities

Great logos are unique. But where does this uniqueness come from? Look back at what you found out about your client’s business or organization and look for any unique qualities that could be amplified to achieve recognition. it can be anything from the unique process that they have or the history of the brand. If it can be identified as being a unique characteristic, then it could be worth exploring during conceptualization.

You may want to discuss your findings with your client to see whether they agree with your assessment and whether it’s something that they want to focus on.