The Story of a Logo and the Design Process

Changes and revisions are normal and part of the design process. I would caution designers and artists not to get married to the design because, no matter how much you like what you’ve created and no matter how good a design is, ultimately, it’s the client who makes the final decision.

As an example, I recently completed a logo for a local music store that went through several iterations before the final approval. This experience is a good illustration of working with clients and the design process.

Client Meeting

First I met with the music store owners who informed me they wanted a logo to be used on their store window, t-shirts, in-store signs, outdoor sandwich board, receipts, business cards, flyers, and awning. They wanted natural colors in green, blue, black or brown. They wanted a design that was non-gender specific, classy, contemporary and fun. They also wanted an Art Deco look.

Their business sells new and used instruments, sheet music, and accessories such as picks, tuning forks, etc. Their clientele includes musicians, students and teachers who use their space for lessons.

Because of budget concerns, we narrowed the scope down to just the logo with the idea of expanding its use later.

Also, to keep the cost low, they wanted two options.

Proposal/Estimate/Contract

Usually I do a proposal that includes an estimate and an explanation of the design process. To expedite the process for these clients, I did the contract that included the estimate, a description of the project, two options based on the client’s sketch, and two files.

I did explain that they might need the native file or tiff or eps for a commercial printer when it comes to the awning and t-shirt. It’s not uncommon to have the commercial printer request a file that includes layers.

We signed the contract and the work began.

Sketches/Roughs/Comps

Usually it’s the designer that comes up with the sketches after assessing what the client wants. But in this case the clients had a sketch they wanted me to use. They also gave me a drawing from one of their children as an example of what they wanted. Figure 1 is their children’s drawing and figure 2 are their sketches with their chosen sketch circled in red.

Figure 1

Figure 2

We agreed when the comps would be due.

I went in search for fonts, first looking through what I had and then browsing Dafont.com. There was an intriguing font that gave me an idea for their logo. I felt compelled to create what popped into my mind. So I ended up doing two roughs based on their sketch and one created from my idea. Logos 1 and 2 are based on the client’s sketch. Blue, black, and brown were used along with an Art Deco font. The idea was to have a treble clef morph into a musical instrument like a base. I also added the base clef to the design. Logo 3 is the idea that came to mind while looking through fonts. Striving for elegance and an Art Deco look, I used a retro font and kept the text in lower case. The treble clef is merged into the “l” of Enumclaw Music. Art Deco used a certain type of shading which I mimicked in the treble clef and the swirl in the treble clef is darker than the background circle. Change in value provides contrast; something to keep in mind for those who are color blind. I threw the third one in for free.

These designs were presented to the clients on the appointed day and they selected logo 3. They wanted the base clef merged with the treble clef and a lighter or vibrant blue.

Logo 4

Final

Logo 4 was presented to them; they loved it and paid for it. Two files were sent to them.

A new contract.

A week later I received an email that they wanted to make some changes based on feedback from friends and family but didn’t setup an appointment. About a month went by without hearing anything so I followed up and suggested we make an appointment to discuss the feedback they received.  

They said that the two dots with the swirl looked like the Pringles guy and the “l” was hard to read. The wife thought the text should be capitalized because it’s a proper name. She was concerned that it looked sloppy and people would think they didn’t know what they were doing. She also didn’t like the space between Enumclaw and Music. The husband liked the lower case.

I explained that logos don’t follow writing rules and pointed at Skynet across the street and gave US Bank and Amazon as examples for lower case logos.

So we discussed the next step. Because the previous contract was complete I did a new contract and, in order to keep the cost low, it included one option for the changes they wanted, one revision, and two files.

Logo 5

I tried one design (logo 5) and decided to get feedback from some online design groups by sharing logo 4 and 5. Most liked 4 the best although they did feel it was hard to read the “l”. Some asked what Enumclaw meant.

Logo 6

I tried another design trying to do a hybrid between 4 and 5. Logo 6 is the result.

Logo 6 was presented to the husband who liked 4 better.

Logo 7

I said the treble clef could be separated from Enumclaw Music and the husband suggested stacking the text. Logo 7 is the result. When presented to the husband, his response was “spectacular!”

A couple days later I get an email from the wife saying she wanted to make changes. She also said that she would be the main contact for discussing the logo to simplify communication. The contract did allow for additional changes for an additional fee. The wife and I met to talk about what she wanted. She thought logo 7 was too busy and didn’t like the angle of the treble clef.  She looked at the sketches, the drafts, logo 4, and logo 7. She cut the treble clef out from logo 7 and pasted it back at a different angle. Then she crossed out the note and lines. I told her the text would probably have to be adjusted.

Logo 8

I made the changes and adjusted the text to get logo 8. We met. She held up a copy of her changes up with logo 8, complained that the angle of the treble clef didn’t exactly match her markup and that the text should be center justified.

Logo 9

I made the changes resulting in logo 9. When I presented logo 9 to her, she said “awesome!” and made the final payment. Two files were sent to her. 

For those who want to know what Enumclaw means - it is the name of a city. It's from Salish North American language meaning "place of evil spirits" or "place of noisy spirits" or "thundering spirits".  It's based on North American Mythology about two Pacific Northwest American brothers named Enumclaw and Kapoonis who were turned into thunder and lightening respectively by their father.