Great post, Lex. This is an excellent starting point for people that want to go down this route.
Step 4 is especially important. There's a fairly common misconception that a brand design is the logotype/mark (unfortunately even among some less-experienced designers) but the logo, although important, is one relatively small piece of the puzzle. You could have a reasonably nondescript, simple logo and still have an amazing brand.
A couple of additional points of advice, if you don't mind me chiming in:
– If you're new to design, keep it simple. Often times less is more and a simple sans-serif typeface on its own or along with an equally simple 1 to 2 colour logomark can go a long way. It needs to be easy to recognise and produce at multiple sizes across multiple applications – 1 or 2 colour simple logos are your best bet.
– (Again, if you're new) Start small and iterate. Keep things simple initially, get feedback, listen to your customers and grow the brand piece by piece. If you start small and simple you can shape your brand and build your voice over time based on what resonates with your audience – if you go balls deep there's a chance you misjudge your audience, it doesn't resonate with them and you'll have a hard time steering your ship in another direction (although not impossible).
It's also much easier to work towards something when you are aware of good examples of what you're trying to achieve. If you're really interested in this stuff, have a look at the websites below or others for inspiration and to gain an understanding of what a good, full identity design looks like (although these are more based on the visual side of things rather than tone of voice etc.):
IdentityDesigned.com – (a great, simple example is PetBarn).
BPandO .org – (a great example is DrJart. Super simple logo and colours, really effective brand design)
Notes:
1 – You won't like everything on these websites, but that's entirely the point. You're creating something that speaks to your audience specifically, not the entire world (unless of course that's your audience).
2 – Don't be afraid to pick up ideas from, especially colours. See a palette and typeface you really like? Alter it slightly and use it.
—————
Additionally, and I might be going a bit off topic here, but...
(This is not related specifically to Lex, just came to mind as I seen the debate and I've seen a lot of comments on a lot of threads over the years)
I have to say, I do see that designers (as a profession) catch a disproportionate amount of heat on the forum for being a waste of money or charlatans. The unfortunate thing about design being a digital business is that people can fake experience and present themselves as much better and more experienced than they actually are.
As with any other discipline, you get what you pay for. 95%+ of designers on places like Fiverr and Upwork are inexperienced at best and just plain bad at their job at worst. If your budget is a couple hundred dollars for a logo and/or brand design, be prepared to get poor results which will be the case the majority of times. If you've had a bad experience with a designer, you've found a bad designer (or you're a bad client 😀) – that doesn't mean designers are bad or a waste of money.
My advice, if your budget is low and you really can't use Illustrator/Inkscape is to come up with the logo idea yourself, sketch it out, then find someone on Fiverr/Upwork to clean it up and turn it into a proper, vector logo. Limit the amount of genuine creative work they have to do.
A new business does not need a multi-thousand dollar logo/brand design unless it's a well-funded startup that's going to try and unsettle competitors very quickly and even then it might not need it. If a designer is trying to convince you that you need it but can't give you clear, quantifiable business reasons as to why – go somewhere else, quickly. Great designers can do great design, but it starts with them understanding the business side of things first. The truth is 99% of people on TFF do not need it.
Lex's point at the top is true – designing something is not difficult. There is a caveat though; it might be fairly easy to design something, but designing something great and timeless is another thing altogether. That doesn't mean it's impossible for someone new, but it's difficult. Have fun and be patient.
(PS: Lex has also obviously got a fairly good eye for design, which can't be discounted
)
Anyway, sorry for the tangent, great post.
Step 4 is especially important. There's a fairly common misconception that a brand design is the logotype/mark (unfortunately even among some less-experienced designers) but the logo, although important, is one relatively small piece of the puzzle. You could have a reasonably nondescript, simple logo and still have an amazing brand.
A couple of additional points of advice, if you don't mind me chiming in:
– If you're new to design, keep it simple. Often times less is more and a simple sans-serif typeface on its own or along with an equally simple 1 to 2 colour logomark can go a long way. It needs to be easy to recognise and produce at multiple sizes across multiple applications – 1 or 2 colour simple logos are your best bet.
– (Again, if you're new) Start small and iterate. Keep things simple initially, get feedback, listen to your customers and grow the brand piece by piece. If you start small and simple you can shape your brand and build your voice over time based on what resonates with your audience – if you go balls deep there's a chance you misjudge your audience, it doesn't resonate with them and you'll have a hard time steering your ship in another direction (although not impossible).
It's also much easier to work towards something when you are aware of good examples of what you're trying to achieve. If you're really interested in this stuff, have a look at the websites below or others for inspiration and to gain an understanding of what a good, full identity design looks like (although these are more based on the visual side of things rather than tone of voice etc.):
IdentityDesigned.com – (a great, simple example is PetBarn).
BPandO .org – (a great example is DrJart. Super simple logo and colours, really effective brand design)
Notes:
1 – You won't like everything on these websites, but that's entirely the point. You're creating something that speaks to your audience specifically, not the entire world (unless of course that's your audience).
2 – Don't be afraid to pick up ideas from, especially colours. See a palette and typeface you really like? Alter it slightly and use it.
—————
Additionally, and I might be going a bit off topic here, but...
(This is not related specifically to Lex, just came to mind as I seen the debate and I've seen a lot of comments on a lot of threads over the years)
I have to say, I do see that designers (as a profession) catch a disproportionate amount of heat on the forum for being a waste of money or charlatans. The unfortunate thing about design being a digital business is that people can fake experience and present themselves as much better and more experienced than they actually are.
As with any other discipline, you get what you pay for. 95%+ of designers on places like Fiverr and Upwork are inexperienced at best and just plain bad at their job at worst. If your budget is a couple hundred dollars for a logo and/or brand design, be prepared to get poor results which will be the case the majority of times. If you've had a bad experience with a designer, you've found a bad designer (or you're a bad client 😀) – that doesn't mean designers are bad or a waste of money.
My advice, if your budget is low and you really can't use Illustrator/Inkscape is to come up with the logo idea yourself, sketch it out, then find someone on Fiverr/Upwork to clean it up and turn it into a proper, vector logo. Limit the amount of genuine creative work they have to do.
A new business does not need a multi-thousand dollar logo/brand design unless it's a well-funded startup that's going to try and unsettle competitors very quickly and even then it might not need it. If a designer is trying to convince you that you need it but can't give you clear, quantifiable business reasons as to why – go somewhere else, quickly. Great designers can do great design, but it starts with them understanding the business side of things first. The truth is 99% of people on TFF do not need it.
Lex's point at the top is true – designing something is not difficult. There is a caveat though; it might be fairly easy to design something, but designing something great and timeless is another thing altogether. That doesn't mean it's impossible for someone new, but it's difficult. Have fun and be patient.
(PS: Lex has also obviously got a fairly good eye for design, which can't be discounted
)Anyway, sorry for the tangent, great post.
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