We are in the process of a re-brand at the moment, and I have to say its not easy. For many years we have designed logos for other companies which have gone on to be very successful, so surely we do have the expertise and the creativity in the company to be able to do this in-house?. It’s not that easy.

We have been struggling, its always so much more difficult to design anything for yourself. We wanted all members of staff to get involved, we sent a memo and design brief requesting that everyone has their say and can contribute with suggestions and constructive criticism of the developing logos.

For some members of our sales and production staff who don’t have deal with creative issues on a daily basis, this proposed a problem of not knowing where to start. The internet is a fantastic tool to start the ball rolling, it allows you to get an idea of what you like and don’t like. For example search Google, using ‘images’ the tab for ‘logos’, this will give you 100’s of choices, so at least you have a starting point to determine what you do and don’t like and have a visual to pass this onto others for discussion.

Designing a logo is difficult. A logo is an integral part of branding and its recognition is essential to business growth. But it’s the design brief which is paramount to starting in the right direction. If the brief is off the mark then you can bet the ideas will be too. It’s important to research your brief properly before releasing it to all those you are asking to contribute.

Whether you are asking friends or colleagues for their help or handing this over to a graphic designer, here are a few questions to ask yourself when writing the brief:

What do you expect from the person contributing?

What is the exact company name, this sounds simple but if your company is Limited do you need this in the logo?

Who is the target audience, appeal to your biggest target market and you’ll be on the right track from the start, ignore them and you’ll appeal to a smaller group of customers and it will be less successful.

– Who are your main competitors? How are you different to them?

– What type of image do you want to be associated with? Modern, established, creative or professional?. For example all companies want to be trustworthy, but you need to decide what your company stands for and prioritise that first.

What corporate colours (if any) do you have or need to retain?, or are you looking for a complete new ‘re-brand’? Its important to remember a complete re-brand may alienate some old customers, so as not to frighten them off – it’s a good idea to inform them of the change in the company image. It could be an idea to involve them in the logo development, juts be aware that if they get too involved and offer you suggestions you don’t like then its can be awkward situation that you find yourself in trying to explain this.

In general the more information you can give, then the more productive they will be and the quicker they can get to the design solution you require. But be careful not to give them too tight a brief – you are after some creativity here so don’t stifle their creativity with what you think is the way the brand needs to look. Providing too many restrictions may mean you get a watered down version of the designers capability, give them the specifications and an outline of what is required and then the freedom to be creative.

Its important to give this kind of project time to develop, we at Print-Print have spent 3 months producing this logo and we have more or less come back to the something like the design we had originally, we’re quiet pleased with it now, but only because we’ve left it alone for a week – then on returning back to it, we think we’re almost there now.

What do you think of our new logo so far? We’d welcome your thoughts.

Dean Williams

Dean Williams is a design and marketing blogger working for Print-Print Limited, promoting business and building brands through quality print marketing. If you’re interested in small business promotion then please get in touch hello@print-print.co.uk