The most basic questions; Who is the client?, Who is the audience?, and What is needed?. The logo should grow consistently from the answers to these questions. Rather than imposing the ideas onto the problem, it should dictate the solution. Unfortunately, it is often ignored or misunderstood. It does not mean that the client's whims should be respectfully followed and designer’s vision should be refined. It does not mean that as much information as possible should be gathered, criteria developed, and creative work created, through the filter of the designer.
More specifically, who makes the final decision on this logo? Is it the marketing manager who hired the designer, or the CEO? Answering these questions may solve the current problems. It is important to look at the client’s business and communication goals.
As the logo designer, we have to provide briefing questions to the client or we can help them to answer the following questions:
1. Culture: What are client’s distinctive shared behaviors that support purpose and mission?
2. Goals: What are five key goals over the next year/five years?
3. Current audience: Who, where, when, and why? Get to know more about the current audience.
4. Audience goal: Does client want another type of audience? What is the desired demographic?
5. Perception: How does client’s target audience currently view the brand?
6. Desired perception: How does client want the audience to view the brand?
7. Objective: What is the marketing objective?
The logo is the public face and must consistently represent the entire of marketing efforts, including prints, marketing advertisements, website and social media. If the company grow or markets change, meaning the logo design should also upgrade with the times. Think about companies such as IBM, Google, Apple and Pepsi; each has updated their logos many times over the course of their history. These updated identities are fundamental to building a brand and communicating with their target audience.
