Client Vs. Designer

The relationship between you and your designer does not need to be a negative one. The majority of frustration that comes from this relationship is miscommunication. This is not because your designer is not listening to your requests (or maybe they aren’t), but likely because they are misinterpreting your design ideas. Be clear, concise, and try to offer a mini bio of what your company stands for. This will aid you in receiving a logo that conveys your companies message.

Branding

Where does your design lay within a larger scale? Take Facebook, Apple, and McDonalds for example. Can you envision their logo by simply hearing their name? When you see their logo without text accompanying it, are you able to attach it to the company name? Keep this in mind when requesting a design to ensure you are creating a brand for your company.

Trends

Design trends are great when creating ads, blogging, or creating personal graphics – but awful when designing a logo. The reason behind this is simple; you WANT your company to stand out instead of blend in with others. There is no way to separate you from the thousands of other companies if you are following the same trends they are. Logos are suppose to be unique, create a brand, remain recognizable, and if possible – convey a clear message between the company and its purpose.

Amateur Designers

Figuring out which designer best suits your needs is crucial to the success of your design. If you are looking for a design that encompasses professionalism, cleanliness, and symmetry – you may want to stay away from the designer with a “graffiti-like” style. Don’t be afraid to ask to see a portfolio or examples of work similar to your request – this will greatly help you find the best fit.

Whether you’re knowledgeable in design, or know nothing about it, you must be aware of the longevity of your design. One extremely crucial point your designer must hit is creating a vector-based graphic. Vectors are created with mathematical points, which allow you to change the size and shape of your design. A raster graphic consists of pixels, which pixelates your image the more you increase its size.

NOTICE: WHEN YOU BLOW UP A RASTER GRAPHIC, IT BECOMES PIXELATED, WHILE A VECTOR GRAPHIC REMAINS CRYSTAL CLEAR.

This becomes important if you decide you want to take your small logo and blow it up to display on t-shirts or billboards. If your logo-design is not vector based, blowing up your graphic will look atrocious and you’ll likely need to pay a designer to redo it.

Rough Draft

You may not be the next Picasso, but drawing a quick sketch can tremendously help express what you’re envisioning. Of course, this is not a requirement for working with a designer but the more information you can provide, the better. This also applies for envisioned color schemes, shapes, textures, etc.