Thinking of creating visual identity for a brand? What do we need to know before we dive in to the whole process of creation to make sure we achieve the best results?
This easy guide will show you the exact process, so even if you are just starting out and you've never done anything like this before, you will become an expert very soon!
Examples used will be visual identity for fictional pancake company.
1. Step - Research, research, research..
I know, I know, sounds too cliché, right? But this step is necessary to observe and discover as many things as possible you will then use for your project.
In this case, good thing to do is to have a look on existing pancake house companies, their logos and colour schemes. As we noticed from picture above, this company is using mainly brown and orange as their primary colour. Description of the brand is written in the logo to tell us main characteristics: 1. Jo is probably the owner/founder of restaurant; 2. restaurant focuses mainly on serving pancakes. Lovely illustration of pancakes stacked on each other with sauce on the top perfectly shows the identity of the company as well as the description together with fun font implemented in the logo.
And that is exactly what designers want to achieve while creating visual identity.. Brand has to express clearly, what is its content about.
2. Step - Note down things you like and don't like about other brands
This step is still part of the research, but this time you should be honest with yourself and think about things you observed and liked. These aspects can motivate you to create something similar.
You should also note down characteristics of some brands, you didn't like at all and you would maybe change, if you could.
These notes could be later on your guide in the creation process, so you know which design aspects you should definitely avoid and which ones you could implement and make them stand out!
Don't forget to look at whole visual identity, not only at one aspect like font or colours.
3. Step - Design ideas, font and illustration, colour scheme
Now is the time, after that long observational process, to start creating and designing main features of a logo. I created a guide as a special interactive image, where you can click on grey interactive elements to see information or thought process behind it to help you out!
Pinterest is great platform for design ideas, inspiration and great pictures, I would highly recommend to create an account and use it for your work.
This step is crucial, before you will start passionately finalizing look of your logo. These assets you can always use later on to try different combinations of illustrations, fonts and colours. You can also potentially show this document to your customer to let him see your thought process and ideas.
After designing your assets, they can be mixed together and give you multiple versions of logo. Depending on your and client's decision, you can pick one or two to then create mock ups and branding.
Creating a striking logo is very important for any brand to stay memorable, but don't forget it is not the only thing, when you're creating brand identity. It's also about the style, vibe or even atmosphere it gives to environment and to people, story or origin and other characteristics. Think of it as human being, who always has the outer layer (appearance), inner layer (qualities) and something in between (behaviour). It must all be connected, it can't function without each other.
I hope this guide was useful to you and I wish you best of luck with your designs!
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