Identity and Design

Designing a logo

To me, developing a logo or brand identity is the most interesting and challenging task in graphic design.  After all, design isn't about making things look good - it's about solving challenges.  The final design has to communicate so much about a company, organization, product or service.  

Rules... what rules?

As for rules, I only have two - keep it simple, and its not creative unless it works. Here are some of the issues I consider:

1. What's the objective?  What do we want the new logo to accomplish?
2. What is the story we want the logo to tell?  A good logo can stand alone and conveys meaning.
3. What are the various uses, across different media and divisions?
4. What are the production considerations?  A logo design should work in color, grayscale and black & white. Online application is critical.
5. How does the design inspire internal audiences.  (After all, great brands start with inspired employees.) 

For ISI, we needed to communicate the human element across a range of different company divisions.  The final product included a usage guide and was delivered in eps, tiff, jpeg and gif file formats. 

Design discipline, research and full understanding of media reproduction, not just print, must be an important factor throughout the design process.