A logo or brand mark speaks a million words. In fact, a logo is the very identity of a business. People are more likely to remember a company or brand by its logo instead of its name. In this article we discuss Ways to Present a Logo Design to Clients.
The logo appears almost everywhere – on business stationery, their products and services, offline and online ads, apps and websites to name a few.
Therefore, the task of a logo and brand identity designer is to create an appropriate logo that people will find easy to identify and connect with a brand, product and service.
As a logo designer, you would surely comprehend that some clients think differently than you do. That’s because some customers have specific ideas in mind for a logo but lack creativity.
Also, their ideas may not be appropriate and that’s where a professional logo designer will be able to help understand and create solutions tailored to their business.
While you would have the necessary creativity but wouldn’t know what a customer is looking for.
In such situations, pitching a design logo to clients can prove fairly difficult, especially if your client is persistent that their ideas also be taken into consideration.
Therefore, here’re some ways to pitch a design logo to clients. These steps will help both, yourself as the graphic designer. your client, regardless of whether they insist on having their own concepts on the logo or give you a free hand by utilizing your creativity.
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Presenting Logo Design to Clients
There is no right or wrong way to present a logo design to a client. By trial and error a logo designer finds the most appropriate way they feel comfortable with and that also works for their clients.
Finding the perfect process for presenting logo design to clients can take years of practice and experience for you to learn from. Ultimately, what’s more important than the logo design process itself is how you present and sell the idea to your client.
The success of a good logo design presentation begins long before the actual presentation and this is gathering information to create a solid logo design brief.
Extracting vital information is key to creating a solid logo design brief.
Ask Pointed Questions
The first and best way to present a logo design to a client starts by understanding their requirements. Therefore, start by asking pointed questions. As I mentioned earlier, the client might also have some ideas and would love to see them in the logo design.
After all, it’s their business and hence, they have a clear idea of whom they’re targeting and how they wish to go about it.
Understanding your client’s needs is therefore very important in presenting a logo design. You can find their specific requirements by asking pointed questions about their organization, the type of branding they’re aiming at, target audience, offline and online use, market demographics and other relevant information.
Getting such information also makes it easier to present your logo design, since the client will see their ideas materialize. And for all probabilities, they will accept your logo design concepts quickly, albeit with minor changes if necessary.
Weave a Story Around Logo Design
Once you’ve got all the relevant information from the client by asking the necessary questions, weave a story around your logo design. Customers and stakeholders of any business are more likely to remember a logo when they can identify themselves with it.
The best way to do so is by weaving a story around the logo design that could help customers and stakeholders remember it.
Generally, the logo design should speak of the story behind the brand. Often, you might come across a new business or startup that requires a logo design and has no history to weave a story around.
In such cases, you could create one about why the business was conceived and the thoughts of your client that led to its establishment.
If the business or organization has a fairly long history, you can speak about its success stories. This is useful for rebranding an organization as well.
However, in the case of rebranding, presenting a design logo design can prove more difficult because it involves getting customers and stakeholders to accept a new logo design in the context of the earlier one.
Keep Online Uses in Mind
While presenting a logo design to a client, regardless of the size of their business and its nature, keep online uses in mind.
That’s because most businesses will be using their logos digitally such as on business websites or e-commerce stores, social media, Instagram, Twitter and other social media platforms as well as professional networking websites such as LinkedIn.
Also consider the possibility that a client may be using an app for their business. This means that your logo design should be appropriate as an app icon.
If you extracted the correct information at the start of the project you should know, in this case that the client is going to have an app, so you need to tailor this into the logo design style, so it is appropriate for use as an app icon.
If we think of some of the most well-known apps that people use frequently, a good example is Amazon‘s popular shopping app – Amazon, is the single largest online store.
Their app resembles the Amazon logo and those who download and use it on their smartphones won’t mistake it for something else.
Online usage also includes social media cover pictures and display pictures. These are also useful for a LinkedIn profile.
While presenting the logo design, highlight how it would prove useful for all purposes – offline and online.
You need to develop a logo design system where the logo design can be used on different mediums and be distinctive to that brand.
Design for the Long Term
If we look at some of the top brands in the world, their logo designs haven’t really changed in years or even decades.
That’s because their logo designers that created these logos planned for long term use.
And that’s vital for you while presenting a, logo design to clients.
Obviously, no business or large organization worth its name would look at changing its logo frequently, they want something that’s going to stand the test of time and become an iconic symbol for their brand think Nike and Apple.
Frequent changes in logos can damage an established brand in the market, and a brand would lose its established footing, trust and recognition with consumers.
Can you also imagine the business expenses involved in changing everything from office stationery to online and offline ads, product packaging and lots more.
Therefore, as a logo designer, you’ll need to visualize the future and long term needs and goals of the business.
While visualizing is a task that only logo and brand identity designers can do, understanding the long term goals of the business is easier when you ask pointed questions to the client, as I described earlier in this article.
To present a logo design, it’s best to cater to your client’s long term goals. That definitely generates a lot of interest.
Show Real Life Applications – Not in Isolation!
Always present your logo design to the client in different real world applications. This can prove complex for some designers and require some extra effort but that’s how a professional logo designer would present it.
You also need to understand that a client needs to get a feel for it, and see how the logo design is going to look in real life.
There are several ways to do it. However, ensure that you use all or at least most of these while presenting the logo design.
First, write a synopsis or summary of the story and your visualization. Then create various applications for the logo design in real life scenarios.
Real life applications display what you’re trying to convey to a client through the story, explain reasons for including various elements in the logo design and if necessary, color separation that could enable the client to make changes where required.
Secondly, it’s important to create applications for print media, this gives the client ideas for moving forward when it comes to printing.
Showing the logo as an icon is also worth including as well as a social media mockup to give them ideas. This enables your client to view how the logo design would appear for online use.
And finally, include various sizes of the logo. Remember that your logo design has to be seen clearly on product packaging, literature, brochures, stationery and other common items that businesses would use.
You could give a superb presentation too with PowerPoint or slides for a one-on-one discussion with the client about your logo design.
Keep an open mind and explain why the logo will be a good fit for the client’s brand. Also be open to revisions, but don’t be afraid to explain if it’s a bad idea, sometimes you have to do it to validate your reasons.
The most important thing is to explain value and why it’s a good fit, if you have worked to the brief everything will be fine.
Keep Your Presentation Simple & Easy
Remember, your client isn’t a logo designer and would think differently. And in most cases, they won’t be interested in too many technical details of the logo design.
They want to understand how it will help their business and the value it brings to the brand.
Therefore, keep your presentation simple and easy for the client to understand.
This ensures that the client understands what you’re trying to say through the logo design and why it’s relevant for their business.
Once they understand the logo and the reasons behind the design, they can see it in real life applications. Your client will understand the value it will bring to their brand moving forward and for years to come.
In Conclusion
Logo design isn’t simple its a challenging career and requires lots of creativity and passion. Often, the greatest hurdle to creating an appropriate logo design is that clients have fixed ideas. Therefore, understanding their needs to combine with your creativity is useful for presenting.
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Author Bio
Mitali Roy is passionate about blogging and writing. She fondly calls it “the art of words”. She is unique and so is her content. Blogging about education and ideas to grow is something that she loves doing.