|
|
The Graphic Design Process - Logo Design Services |
| So you want to hire a Graphic Designer. For any client of a Graphic Designer, one thing is important to know. That the Design Process is unique and different every time. It might be confusing at first not knowing what your Design is going to turn out like or knowing exactly how much it is going to cost apart from some estimates. While many projects out there will go through a similar process to reach the final result, the truth is that every project will develop uniquely, and may take varying amounts of time and work to complete. This is a walk through of the graphic design process I used when creating a Logo design for one of my clients. I have outlined the basic steps that I went through and you can take this as an example of the general stages a designer uses when designing, to end up at a final design visual. | ||
 |
This article is a guide for clients wondering about how a graphic designer creates a logo design and will also give an understanding of why clients must pay what they do for graphic design work. After reading the article you will have an idea of how much work is involved, because there are many parts of the design process that clients will not get to see for themselves! | ||
Stage 1 The BriefThe first stage of any graphic design project is the brief. The brief outlines in words and sometimes in simple pictures what are: the purpose of the Design, the Design Application, the target Demographic, ideas that the design will represent and anything else important that the Designer needs to know to create the Design. At the beginning of any project the Client and the Graphic Designer must communicate ideas back and forth effectively so that the Designer is well informed and knows exactly what direction to take the Design in. The more information that you can give the designer at this stage the better he or she can cater towards your every need during the process.The Brief that I received from the Client: Bruce, the owner of a Pest Control Company in Sydney wanted to get a new Logo Design for his company to replace his old and outdated logo. The aim of the design was to represent A1 Pest Control as an environmentally friendly, Australian Pest control company and to also represent their pest control products as Safe for the family and home. The Brief is the foundation for building upon ideas in the creation of a new design. In any Brief, information and lots of it, is the key to achieving a successful design. |
||
 |
Stage 2 ReferencingAt the early stages of any graphic design it is often very helpful for the client to provide some examples of some styles and designs that they like, to be used as a reference for their own graphic design. This is not 100% necessary but can be very useful because it can cut a lot of time out of the overall design process and save money. |
||
In this project
Bruce and I actually did not have a reference in the beginning
stages but introduced one later on. Hence why I will be going
straight into the concept visuals without explaining the referencing
at this point. I will explain References a little later in the article.Stage 3 Concept VisualsConcept Visuals, or rough concepts are what we call a very simple representation of the components of the design to outline and prepare it for the final design visual. This is basically a stage where you lay ideas out on paper and begin to put things together so as to solve the problems required. You can generate some quick ideas by a simple hand drawing or digitally using Photoshop or illustrator or whatever you fancy.After receiving the brief I went ahead and started creating the Concept Visuals, churning out as many ideas as possible for the logo design. The more ideas that you come up with the more you have to work with in creating the perfect design. This is usually how it works as a designer tries to get all of their ideas out and 'on paper' so to speak. After a designer is happy with the amount of usable options they have come up with they will usually send them to the client for approval. The client will usually pick one or two that they are most happy with and the work will begin from there, preparing the design for the final visual. It is good for a client to have a few options to choose from especially if they are still at the ideas stage of the process themselves. Here are the concepts that I sent off to Bruce. They were made using Photoshop with the inbuilt typography and styling options. |
||
 |
You can download some great styles for Photoshop for free online! It can really boost the look of your work and get it happening very quickly! These concepts are incredibly simple and completely different from what the final design is going to turn out like, as you will see later. So don't worry if you are having a look at these and feeling a bit sceptical about how well the design is going to be. | ||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
| A note for
clients: Don't judge the book by its cover and worry that
your job is going to turn out all wrong. This is just the beginning!
The concepts and the roughs are meant to be of a really rough
quality! The idea is for the designer to get as many concepts out on
paper in as quick a time as possible. If you are truly not sure
about the quality of work you are going to receive, at least you can
have a look at their finished work that has been completed for other
clients to get an idea of their skills. If you are seeing that most
of their work is of a high quality you can just relax and take the
process as it comes. Just because the concept roughs don't look
amazing, doesn't mean that the end result will not be! I promise
that if you are patient until the end your design your graphic
designer will create an amazing piece of art and design into
fruition for your company! Its up to you but just be aware that if
you decide to go with another designer its an infringement of
copyright to take the designs from the first designer, hand them to
someone else and have them reproduced. Your new designer will have
to start again from scratch and might take extra time and money.
Just be aware. Now what happened after this is was that we decided to introduce a Reference later on, as I mentioned before. Originally this design was supposed to have been made into a badge for a shirt. Hence why I had been working with the A1 text only and a square background design. We did however decide after this that it would need to be more specific to the purpose of web design and incorporate the words Pest Control in the logo, since this was going to be used as a header for Bruce's site. At this stage Bruce emailed me a few references. I will discuss references in the next point of this article. |
||
| Next |
Graphic Design Articles |
|
The Graphic Design Process for a Logo Design - Sydney Services |
|
|
Graphic Design Prices and Rates Guide - Sydney |
 |
Articles for Beginners |
| What is Graphic Design? | |
| The History of Graphic Design | |
|
What is a Design Application? Plus a List of Applications |
|
|
Copyright info sheets |
| Copyright for Graphic Designers | |
| Assigning & Licensing Copyright | |
| Legal Protection on Logos | |
| Creating & Publishing Websites |
|
|
| How to Contact Us | |||||
|
