11 Things Your Logo Designer Should Know About Your Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

11 Things Your Logo Designer Should Know About Your Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career What one thing  should  I tell a designer about my  brand  before commissioning a logo? The following answers are provided by members of  Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched  StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. 1. The Type of Industry Youre In Share with  your  designer whether  your  company plans to focus on products in one or multiple  industries. For example, if  your  company plans to only sell toys, its OK to have a logo that is younger and more colorful, like Toys R Us. Whereas if you plan to have products in varying industries, it makes more sense to have a more abstract  logo like Apple. Nanxi Liu,  Enplug 2. A Clear Idea of How You Want  Your  Customer to Perceive You Give him or her a clear idea of who  your  customer is and what you want them to think when they see the logo. Ideally, youre looking to influence a particular perspective or emotional response from the customer. Make sure  your  designer knows what the objective is so they have a good starting point. Andy Karuza,  Brandbuddee 3. The Style You Want to Evoke Pinterest is a great tool for communicating aesthetics. If you make a practice of collecting images that fit with  your  brand, you can give a designer a much more effective starting point than trying to describe  your  visual aesthetics. Of course,  your  goal isnt to copy existing visuals, but rather to inspire something new. Pinterest is great for that sort of project. Thursday  Bram,  Hyper Modern Consulting 4.  Your  Long-Term Goals If you plan on expanding  your  business in the future and want  your  logo to be able to accommodate, make sure  your  designer knows so that he/she is able to create a more evergreen design. Alexis Wolfer,  The Beauty Bean 5.  Your  Companys Mission Before commissioning a logo design, explain  your  companys mission to the designer. This includes the picture youre trying to paint for  your target audience. For example, a job recruitment firm might want to  convey  trust, professionalism and confidence in their logo design. This gives the designer a place to start and makes choosing colors, fonts and styles much easier. Phil Laboon,  Eyeflow Internet Marketing 6. An Idea of How You Want it to Feel The most important thing to communicate to a designer is how you want the piece to feel. Is it suppose to be welcoming? Upscale? Elite? Low key? Giving  your  designer an idea of how you want people to feel when they see  your  logo is important. As visually creative people, good designers will not only design for aesthetics but for emotional impact. Kim Kaupe,  ZinePak 7.  Your  Target Audience You  should  have the buyer personas of  your  target audience(s) established and in writing. The look that attracts one person might just be something  your  target audience wouldnt give a second glance. Share these buyer personas with  your  designer and identify the traits of other brands that have been successful in  your  space. You can have the same audience-targeting traits without copying them. Maren Hogan, Red Branch Media 8. That You Want an Elegant and Timeless Design Trendy logos are excellent for the present but embarrassing to feature long term. Outdated designs will make you a laughing stock before you get  your  first customer. An elegant and timeless design is one of the most important criteria to mention before getting too deep into specifics. With that in mind, youll have greatly influenced  your  designers approach in a very positive way. Firas Kittaneh,  Amerisleep 9. The Epitome of  Your  Brand Your  logo is the epitome of who you are as a  brand. You  should  be able to personify that in a sentence for any graphic designer who is working on anything for you not just  your  logo. Tolga Tanriseven,  GirlsAskGuys 10. That You Have a List of Examples While words like “transparency” and “quality” might inspire a designer, be concrete about what you want and come up with a list of logos you like and logos you hate. Go through them with the designer and explain  your  reasoning. Basha Rubin,  Priori Legal 11.  Your  Brand  Identity Often when you create a logo, youll see it and say: something just isnt right. That something is the feeling you have with  your  brand identity. Take the time to think about  your  brand  and  your  mission. Think about what it means to you and what you hope it will mean to customers.  This will help  your  designer get in the right mindset and create the visual representation of  your  brand. Andrew Thomas, SkyBell Technologies, Inc. Featured Photo