It feels a little bit like a dream come true. I’ve always been of the opinion that a logo needs to evoke emotion – trully great logos should inspire people to act. (Well, ours already inspired the Codesmith to act, he wrote his first blog post about it yesterday).
In my first post about it I said that designing the logo is a journey that your designer helps you take.
It is impossible to do justice to our designer Lefteris Koulonis who was with us every step of the way and nurtured our every idea (yes, even the really bad ones so that we would take them up to a point and see how bad they really were).
Myself, Manolis and Lefteris managed to swap a good number of e-mails, messages and telephone calls in the process. In one memorable occasion I interrupted a phone call to ask what that annoying sound in the background was. It was the cicadas. Lefteris was on holiday and he didn’t think it too important to mention when I called to discuss colour combinations.
That’s the kind of guy that he is. Check him out on flickr, tumblr, twitter and LinkedIn.(Kudos to Miss Konstantina Zoehrer for introducing him to us)
When we arrived at the final version (I was seriously dancing around) it felt like the end of a really enjoyable journey. We knew every curve, we knew every thought and we could stand behind the logo 100%
So – what do you think?
You just know – you know?
The moment you see it there are no two ways about it. Your first reaction – especially if it’s a logo for your project – should be one of “Yes! That’s the one!” All your theorising and comparisons with the design brief will come later but the moment you see the thing you know.
For us it was like this. I started dancing around singing “we’ve got a logo” (honestly). Manolis declared “well since you’re dancing I guess we’ve got a logo”.
Tweaks and colour combination discussions are to follow in the coming days but for now I am just glad that Lefteris is the designer that he is.
I knew it - even though there is nothing I could have done to avoid it.
We got some drafts from our designer and I remained unconvinced. I looked into it, I spoke with Lefteris (the designer), I spoke with Konstantina (the PR girl I can trust), I spoke with Manolis (the other half of SoMaFusion) and I couldn’t figure it out.
Until I went back to the writer’s drawing board (that is, my trusty notebook, yes, they still exist) and I started writing and doodling (very badly may I add) and it hit me.
What I had left out was a prioritisation of characteristics. In other words a list of our key characteristics informing the logo in order of importance.
Why do this? Well, there is always a good chance that fitting all of them in one logo is out of the question.
Doing the list helped me focus my mind on what is important for us and helps the designer focus his mind on what should be more prominent.
So here it is. As I’ve said before a logo is a journey, not a simple tick in a box.
getting closer
Originally uploaded by LeLon Is Idea(L)
I mentioned the other day that we found a designer – the talented Mr. Lefteris Koulonis (see his updates on Less Like More and you’ll know) and we are working with him to come up with our logo.
I finished our design brief, Manolis went over it and he’s happy as well so I’ve just whizzed it off to Lefteris.
I just wanted to blog about what a design brief is all about. I could write a lot but I think the picture above says it all (and what do you know, it’s one from Lefteris’ photostream).
A design brief is all about getting closer to your vision, to your designer and to your audience.
It should be a succinct document (not necessarily short. But definitely very clear) which will help the designer understand who you are, what you do, what’s your vision, what’s your market, what are your design preferences. It is definitely not a document whereby you instruct the designer what to do. It is a document that puts your designer in a frame of mind.
Ours includes
- Introduction to SoMaFusion
- Market Position
- Activities
- Main message/ vision
- What the company name means
- Our requirements (in terms of where & how we will be using the logo
I doubt that’s enough but I think that for now they will introduce Lefteris to what we are all about and we will be able to discuss further and find more areas that we want to explore as we go along.
——
Here are some good resources I found on writing a design brief.
- How do you write a design brief? by David Airey
- The Ultimate Design Brief by Shaun Crowley on Freelance Switch
- The Logo Design Process of TOP Logo Designers by Jacob Cass on Just Creative Design
man flowers
Originally uploaded by LeLon Is Idea(L)
It’s true.
This is where having a network of lovely and intelligent people comes in useful.
Lefteris Koulonis was suggested to us by Konstantina Zoehrer.
I am preparing a design brief for him today but you can see one of my favourites in his portfolio above and here is an ingenious banner he did for Positive Voice, the Greek Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS
banner
Originally uploaded by LeLon Is Idea(L)
Written by: Sofia a.k.a. the Wordsmith Comments