Fairly Useless…

Creating a logo is hard. There are too many choices; colors, style, fonts, etc. Sometimes a logo comes to me instantly, but most of the time it takes many revisions of refinement. Then of course the is the client, and the client has the last word period. When I was an art director for an ad agency we would sometimes try to influence the clients decision to pick our favorite out of the stack, by putting in some terrible logos. You know where this is headed, don’t you? He picked one of the bad ones because it was green and his favorite color is green. Or even worse you get a client that like two and he wants you to mix and match.

Here is an example of the evolution of a logo. First some background, the client wanted to brand her endorsement of products. She would recommend products that were safer and healthier for children. She was the “Better Choice Mom”. So obviously I needed to portray a very warm and caring logo. I think it is important to create a logo in black and white first. Even these days when full color is cheap, its better in black and white. If it doesn’t work in one color, then it isn’t a strong image. Plus it takes color out of the first steps in the process.

OK, I put color in this first one to show that the logo can be warm, but I really want the client to focus on the shape and impression of the logo. This was the initial design. Well I think it is still a good logo, but the image is not right. Yes, it is the essence of motherhood, but the child is to young. It looks like a logo for a prenatal clinic or an adoption agency.

In the next installment, I will show were the logo goes from here.