
When you hire any logo designer or logo design company, it’s important to understand what you are hiring them for, and what they do. It’s not simply a matter of their ability to draw. The real work happens off-camera, or in this case, off the paper or off the computer screen.
Any serious professional logo designer is also an expert researcher and thinker. When a client comes along asking for a new logo for their new business, it’s the logo designer’s job to research that business in several ways. It’s important to not only see what their competitors are doing visually but to also understand the market and where the client wants to take their business. Knowing what audience or potential markets the clients hope to break into is essential information for the person, or persons developing your new logo.
In the case of a rebranding, the designer may hire researchers and scouts to find out more about why the client’s business is failing to appeal to certain markets. It’s this ability to understand the business reasons behind a visual identity that can make more profit and growth for companies.
Starting with a fresh company and a few of the correct questions, a logo designer can estimate and deduce what direction to go with regards to research. From there, several avenues can be explored. There’s the current market, the yet-untapped potential new markets, there are the existing competitor’s visual identities, approach, and direction, and then there’s visual research such as trademark libraries, registered symbol resources, copywritten imagery, popular culture, publishing, and possible cultural interpretations of imagery. All these things need to be researched properly so as to really understand how a logomark or wordmark might affect future sales and market growth.
A good illustrator is essential, but without a solid understanding of how a logomark or illustrated logo and style can affect the growth of a business, your designer can really limit potential earnings for you and your business.
Much of what a professional logo designer does, goes well beyond their years of art study, drawing techniques, mastering illustration software, color theory, typography, trends, and formulas. Much of what a good professional logo designer does, happens inside their head after careful research and knowing what questions to ask. It’s these conversations with the client that provide logo designers with the tools to make the right choices to help you grow your business by appealing to different markets with a logo or brand identity package that communicates the right message.
