I was working on a logo redesign project at the same time we were renovating our laundry room at home.
As a slightly addicted viewer of HGTV programs like Fixer Upper and Property Brothers, I’ll admit that I love seeing the before and after of a project. As a graphic designer, I live in the land of two-dimensions, but the principles of envisioning a new and improved version of an old, tired and existing logo have definite similarities to a 3D room renovation.
For our laundry room renovation we agreed that the old room and machines no longer met our needs and frankly, they were ugly. In order to take the room from 1986 to 2019, we’d need to invest energy, time and money into the project. The old carpeting and 20+ year-old aging laundry machines in the room with its sad, stained walls, motivated us to (finally) commit to a full-on renovation. This meant researching floor tile installers, the latest in laundry machines, storage options, and choosing wall paint colors.
At the same time, I began work on a logo redesign for a local physical therapy practice needing an updated logo that would work in social media and better reflect their services. I quickly realized that for both types or projects, great results could only come from a thoughtful process. You’ve gotta do the upfront work.
Here’s a quick summary of the logo design process that we followed for this project:
1. The project started with the client filling out my Creative Brief questionnaire, which helps direct the launch of the logo design project by focusing on the client’s goals, descriptions of the business and its audience, and general likes & dislikes around visual elements and color. To follow up, we met via online video chat to discuss and brainstorm about the project.
2. Next, I prepared a Mood Board to show the client. This is a simple PDF showing visual elements, colors, typefaces and other logo samples that help us in narrowing down specs for the future logo and the “vibe” it should convey.
3. After the client’s input on the Mood Board, I moved ahead on initial rough drafts (in black & white) showing two logo design approaches. I included a color “palette” of selected main colors.
4. The next step, after the client’s input, was to fine-tune the illustration for the visual element, tweak the primary colors and secondary colors to use on the website, and make final selections of typefaces and tagline placement on the logo.
5. Once the client approved the logo design, I created various file formats both in color, white reverse, and black & white. Then I sent all the digital files to the client, so they would have the logo files on hand for print, web and digital needs.
Creative collaboration is always fun – especially when there’s a “Before” to compare with the final (happy) result.