So exactly how does a logo get created?
Well… the first thing that has to happen is a conversation. Any designer worth their salt will want to hear what the client has to say before shoving around a single pixel on a screen.
Sometimes that can be more difficult than you might think. Clients are not always able to clearly articulate what they envision. In a new business start-up, some clients have a hard time articulating even the nusiness' primary mission. A good designer will make every effort to pry that out of the client.
Then there is the issue of the tone of the logo. That can include style, fonts, colors and graphics. Thin about it: the logo for an assets management firm is going to be considerably different from one for chicken wings restaurant.
Okay… let's get started on a new logo!
The client is a construction company building high-end pools, spas and water features, primarily for resorts.
It starts with a conversation. The client likes the idea of a set of three initials representing the company name. Fine. That's something frequently done: think IBM, ABC, PBS.
So we start there. As you might expect, the colors I use are "water" colors. It begins with a notepad and a pen—just like it did more than thirty years ago when I designed my very first logos. The difference today is that even early ideas and concepts can look pretty polished when moved to the computer. So let's take a look at how this chronologically progresses. And so you know, I struggled quite a bit in trying to meet the client's need for a three-letter logotype. You can see it in the early designs: a bit awkward, a bit clunky.
I always like to say that design is is a series of approximations until you get it right. Here are twenty progressions. Which do you think are the mist successful? Does one stand out?
