When choosing a logo design company, they will usually have you fill out a Creative Brief. This is a questionnaire that asks for the most important information that they will need to successfully create your logo. I’ve read many, many of these over the years, and I never get tired of it. It’s a way to find out about other businesses and sometimes, they’re entertaining. Here’s a list of things that are most important when filling these out.

1. Spell the name right. This sounds silly, but I’ve seen far too many companies ask for revisions with revised spellings. They think the designers should be proofing it, when people are coming up with new “creatively’spelled” names for businesses all the time. If there’s a dash or a number, put it how you want it to be seen. Presumably, you’ve done the research find out the value of the name, and make sure you own that name exactly. This will cut down on revisions significantly.

2. The style of logo: Do you want an icon, illustrative logo, or a text-only logo? If you’re not sure, give examples of logos you like there’s many sites out there like logopond.com or logolounge.com where you can see many different styles. You can use those examples to give us a taste of your style.

3. Talk about your company. If you’re a business owner, you probably like to tell people about your business. But some people think that’s not necessary to know for a logo designer. You may assume we have already done many logos for people in your industry, so we don’t need any info about your particular company, as long as we know your favorite colors. Not true. You need to help us out. We want to know everything. There’s no such thing as giving the designer too much information. How did your company start? Who are your clients? What sets you apart form your competitors?

4. Your branding history. Include samples of your former logo, even if it’s just a pencil sketch on a napkin. We like to see where your head’s at, regardless of whether we decide to go in that direction.

5. Specific Colors or Objects. I’ve seen realtors get angry when we put a house in the logo, even though they left the Brief almost blank. We can’t read your mind. Some people like a very literal graphic that replicates their business name in the logo. Some prefer the abstract solution.

Keep in mind, your logo doesn’t need to depict every aspect of your business. usually the best logo design solution is a hint or idea of what your service or product is. The most important is that it attracts attention, is unique and is memorable. A well filled-out brief will make sure you get to the right solution in the quickest way possible.

As designers, it’s gratifying when the client likes our work. It’s really fun to see how they use the custom logo design, like for their store signage or a billboard. And it’s even more nice to see they’ve used the logo to make a stuffed figure. But when they make a full mascot suit and presentation based on your artwork, it feels really awesome! Congrats to Justin, our designer, and thanks, Croc Doc!

For agency quality logo design and website design, talk to the experts at BusinessLogos.com

Once again, we bring you another Mad Men fan illustration, done by Paul browning. Draper’s character is partially based on Draper Daniels, the creative head of the Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago in the 1950s who created the Marlboro Man campaign. However, some of the advertising techniques and the professional accomplishments of Don Draper are based on those of Rosser Reeves, who rose to chairman of the Ted Bates agency.

To get quality artwork like this in a custom logo design, go see the experts at BusinessLogos.com.

This was submitted to us by Augustino Nguyen, a designer in Vietnam. What do you all think?

I personally think it’s a very interesting name, but I went to iBrand first to check it out before I realized it’s i3rand. It’s not a name that rolls easily off the tongue, but it is unique. The logo is a little too simple for my taste. Maybe its the Myriad Bold font.

To see more examples of logo design, go to our website.

Today’s logo submission got me thinking about a problem that many logos have. Sometime the designer designs it to look nice and give a professional face to the business. Maybe the designer wants to keep it simple, and just use text. Then they want to dress it up with something, so they add a drop shadow or an underline. Things are added to make it look unique, without thought to how this relates to the business.

The company’s purpose should always be foremost in the designer’s mind throughout the design process. Manas sent this in telling us that it is for a social networking site. Is that what it communicates? No. In response to the question “what will the logo be used for?”, he put: to represent the brand. Does the logo represent any brand? I would say, possibly a little, since the name is there. But it doesn’t represent what the company does.

First off, let’s use a typeface that’s a little more unique. We want to set the company apart from the hundreds of other social networking sites. Next, let’s customize the text a little. I brought the cap height down a little on the L, K, H, and T. The underline was doing nothing, so I used it as an arch to communicate between two letters, which is the purpose of a social networking site. You could do the same with a dotted line, or intersecting speech bubbles. The important thing is that it looks nice AND communicates a message. Every part of it should have a reason to be there. This is how boring logos can become custom logos, tailored to the client’s business.