When I first started my brand design business, I offered a selection of different logo concepts to my clients, because I thought that it would be good to offer them a choice. I always want to make sure that I do my best for people and I thought offering multiple options would be the right way to do this, but it actually made the process a lot harder… for both parties.
I would create several different options, all good ideas in their own right, but I always really thought that one was a better choice, and just hoped that the client would agree with me.
Another downside to this is with multiple designs shown, there would be details from each one they liked, and would liked to mix and match into their new logo… as the designer this made me frustrated as trying to get several items to fit together, when they really weren’t meant to made my job a whole lot harder.
Designing these extra logo’s and colour schemes, felt more of an obligation than actually being beneficial to them. It hindered the process of us reaching the right look for the brand and caused overwhelm and confusion for my clients. So although I thought I was helping them, I was actually making the process harder.
I was a new designer who just wanted to help… but we grow, and we gain confidence and we learn to do things a better way…
So now I do things differently, and it has changed everything.
I go all-in with one concept.
This allows me to take more time in the strategy phase to make really considered design choices for your brand.
We always kick off with a mood board, so before heading into the design phase we have discussed the vision, and so you’re already onboard with the vibe that’s in my head.
I still test out multiple different ideas, because that’s how we hit on the right one, but I filter through these and then I take the strongest idea and I go on to build out a complete visual identity, including colours, type, logo concept, icons and the visual vibe, so when I present these ideas (because it is still just an idea) you can see the full picture, of how your brand could look feel if you go forward with this concept.
There is always room in this phase for revisions and to share ideas on things that may not feel right, but tbh these tend to minimal, as the initial groundwork is done, ideas have been taken into consideration and the outcome is aligned to the big vision.
When I first starting working in this way I felt really worried about it, would my clients be upset that they didn’t have a choice of options, but the whole process is so much more streamlined and effective, and allows me to really expand on the vision, which leads to a better quality of work and less revisions.
Win win!
How has your process change?
