Issue link: https://nbm.uberflip.com/i/1490460
2 6 G R A P H I C S P R O • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 3 G R A P H I C S - P R O. C O M S I G N A G E & P R I N T I N G What about the images they don't like on Google/Images? In fact, you will learn more about your client's wishes from the images they select from the internet that they don't like. is is like design manna from heaven. It tells you exactly what to avoid. But how do you start a logo design so that it's guaranteed to be usable in almost every medium? For me, I look at their future marketing wishes, and what they are doing now. I then look at their opportunities, and decide if a round, square, or rectangular logo will work best. Yes, I wear the hat of the design professional, and I unilaterally make the decision on the type of logo shape it will be. It may be text only, with a unique stylized font, or it may include a creative little icon or graphic that could be used as a trademark, or the logo may be the text and the icon together, and the arrangement and flow of the text and icon will create a whole new look for the cli- ent to consider. I also keep in mind the price I stated to the client (based on their interview, and the answers they provided). A $250 logo leaves out a lot of research and options compared to a $750 or $1,250 logo design. I then work to create design options that fall within that shape, keeping in mind how many words and or details are to be included, and of course, how it will fit on all of the client's marketing materials. A great way to present design ideas As you begin creating logo sketches or concept ideas, I want you to consider something that has worked very well for me over the last 40 years. I create all of my initial concepts for the logo in black and white (grayscale) so my initial presentations are all in grayscale with black and white contrasting elements. No colors — not yet anyway. Why in grayscale? In this way, the strengths of the logo's graphic impact and visual message is clear, and is guaranteed that if it's printed in only one color, the logo will stand alone without the need for multiple col- ors to create the contrast that it needs. It also prevents a great logo design from being poo-poo'd by a prejudice of color. is is where a design is chosen or rejected simply because the designer used a color that was unpopular with the client. Imagine this scenario: ere is a popular color that is being used by a few tool manufacturers such as Craftsman, and that color is a screamingly bright Pepto Bismol pink. Now, for the sake of this lesson, let's say you are not a fan of that pink color, so imagine someone grabbing your favorite, expensive hiking boots or dress shoes from your closet and painting them that same vibrant Pepto Bismol pink color. Regardless of how comfortable you know they are, the color is now forcing you to have significant second thoughts about wearing them. Your dislike of that pink is swaying your decision to wear them. But even if your brain is telling you that they are the same comfortable shoes, your dislike of the color is changing how you feel about the shoes, and your willingness to wear them in public. Ever wonder why your clients of the past sometimes rejected the best-looking logo you designed for them? For no apparent reason Color can make or break everything we hold dear to our souls. Some colors pop and provide a sense of identification, some colors add warmth and gentleness, other colors simply make you want to scream "No" if you had to wear it to the jobsite! At least nobody would try to steal them if you took them off during your lunch hour. And here is what the channel letters look like for this rendering of the logo. Note the raceways — a requirement of the landlord that actually reduces the labor cost for the installation and for the secondary repairs to the wall if he ever decides to move locations. You can see the previous tenants' attachment holes above the sign — apparently, they didn't get the "fix your holes" memo from the landlord. Chao Notes The following is to be sung to the tune of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." Phone rings, middle of the night — your client yells "when you gonna put up my sign" Oh listen here, you know you're still number one, But your sign is nowhere near done, no your sign, it still isn't done.