- The Briefing
The Briefing is a MANDATORY document to know very well what the specific needs of your client are and to design your logo with a clear understanding of what your brand wants to represent.
To create this document you can keep a meeting with your client and also send a questionnaire by email to fill with all the information.
I give you some examples of questions that you should ask before creating the design budget and I also give you other questions that you should ask in another briefing before you start designing here: What to ask a client to design his logo
So on the one hand we will have a first briefing to know the needs of your client before creating the budget and then you will have to request that you complete a more specific one to specify the details of the logo itself.
This will also help you identify other design needs that the customer has not taken into account and can be optionally offered along with the logo budget.
It is best to have templates created to use with all your customers and save time.
- The Research Phase
Whether you are creating a logo for a new company or redesigning an existing logo, you will have to devote several hours to researching the company and customers that will consume or buy what your client sells.
On the other hand you are going to have to investigate your competitors, you will have to know how are the companies that compete with your client to be able to create a unique logo that makes them different.
And finally you will have to do an investigation on the sector and look for references on what is being done in that area both on a small scale and in the large companies referring to that sector.
It is important that your client also get involved and send you references of logos that fit into your idea about your logo. Without graphical references of what you like will be difficult to get your expectations. Of course, then you will have to let yourself work under your criteria as a professional, we all know that graphic design goes far beyond aesthetic tastes.
This phase can take you as long as you consider until you feel prepared and fully informed about all the factors that surround the company to which you are going to design your image.
- Sketching and Design Creation
Here we get into design. This is the phase of creating ideas and sketches to create a concept according to everything we have previously investigated. From these ideas and sketches we will get the logo proposal for the client. You can begin to sketch on paper or directly in the design program that you use.
From my point of view it is better not to deliver sketches to the client because many times they do not understand that this is a previous phase and they can be disappointed with what they see even if you tell them that it is a sketch. Also, if you ask for feedback in such a primitive phase you can go crazy and ask for thousands of changes …
On the other hand, in this phase many ideas will come out of your mind but you may also block yourself and those blocking hours are part of your work. If you need to inspire yourself with the work of others I recommend that you go through this web to browse other logos although it is a double-edged sword (sometimes you can “embajonarte” more seeing great jobs when you are blocked …)
- Presentation to the client and modifications
In this phase it is necessary to present the options or proposals of the logo to the client and make him see why you have developed that idea and convince him that the design fits with your company perfectly. It may be in a face-to-face meeting, by skype or by email.
This is the moment in which the client probably comments changes or corrections about the logo. It is usual, the customer usually asks for changes and if it does not require them, you have been very lucky and / or you have been very convincing with your presentation.
If you do not like your proposals you will have to start over or modify the design until you reach the final lotto, although this should not happen very often because for that you have done a good briefing with the detailed information of the client.
As for the duration of this phase, this whole process will be limited by the number of proposals and reviews that you have previously agreed with your client. It is important that you limit this well in the budget because if you do not put a maximum of revisions and proposals you will work extra hours for free.
It would also be well to indicate how much it would cost to include a new proposal if the client does not convince the initial proposals and you have to make a new proposal.
- The Final Delivery
When we already have the definitive logo you have to create all the formats and files that are going to be delivered to the client, keep in mind where they are going to use the logo and the sizes that you have requested, besides you will have to send them the files well sorted by folders ( Print and Digital), and you may need to explain the differences between color modes (RGB and CMYK) so they understand why there are different types of files and how they should be used.
So in summary, apart from the hours that you dedicate to the design of the logo itself you will have to take into account about 10-20 hours to realize all the previous points (although the best thing is that you are counting your times to get an idea) and add That time of dedication to the final price.
You can calculate your price X minimum time to be profitable using the freelance calculator, but keep in mind what I said at the beginning, the price of your budget does not only depend on your hours worked, it will also depend on other factors such as the type of customer Or your level of expertise in this area.
