A logo design creative brief is simply a document that determines the details and requirements of the logo that needs to be made. In other words, it helps the creative collect the necessary information to do his job and design a solution that will solve his client’s business problem.
Although it might sound inconsequential, building a brief is crucial for the success of a new logo, both in terms of aesthetics and logistics. Since it is in this stage that responsibilities, milestones, and stakeholders are defined, any lack of these aspects will generate problems in the future and a bad customer experience.
Same with the aesthetics aspect. Not getting clear on the visual direction of a logo, which message it should convey, and how it should differentiate from competitors will cause more revisions, subpar results, and (most likely) clients not coming back.
So be sure to nail this process!
Even though every logo brief will be different depending on the client’s situation and the agency in charge of it, we can safely say that there are some elements that all good ones share:
Good logo design briefs ask the right questions and, therefore, extract the right information. Notice that “right information” can become a bit subjective. That’s why it’s important to always have in mind the objective of the logo: generate a specific result and solve a business problem. The right information in this case would be anything that helps you achieve that goal.
At a first glance, this point seems to contradict the one above, but it doesn’t. Effective logo design briefs ask the right questions, but nothing more. They are exhaustive but not complex for complexity’s sake. Every exercise should have its reason to be and extract a specific piece of information.
Another characteristic that good logo brief share is that they provide the designer with all the necessary details to create a logo that’s in line with the client’s requirements. Colors, feel, style, and so on, are all elements that should be included in the briefing document.
Many people believe that a logo creative brief should only include aesthetic information but this is a misunderstanding. Good ones also determine deliverables, milestones, responsibilities, and who are the stakeholders involved. This will help both the creative and the client know what needs to be designed, when it should be presented and what they are in charge of.
Even though this is not an attribute of the brief itself, it’s a must for it to be considered effective. The brief should be easily accessible for the designer, the client, and the project manager so that they can see when the next milestone is, the artistic direction, and who should be consulted if there’s any problem.
Now that you know which elements your brief should include, let’s see how you can build a good design logo brief from scratch. Yes, it sounds intimidating but with the help of this guide, you’ll be able to write one in a matter of hours.
The other option is to use our proven template within HolaBrief and customize it to your needs, it’s as easy as creating a free account!
The main objective of your logo is to represent and get across who you are as a business. If you are not clear on that, no logo - no matter how good it looks - will do a good job. That’s why the initial step in building a logo brief document is to find out and write down the business identity.
This first section should include what the business does, what needs/problems they are solving, how they are doing it, and why they exist (you probably are aware of Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle by now). The logo’s goal is to communicate this - the essence of the business - simply and clearly.
Also, if there are any measurable objectives, they can be included in this section. Why are you in the need of a logo in the first place? It might be because, after conducting a focus group, you’ve realized that the current logo is not understood correctly. Another reason might be because you are launching a new e-commerce site and want to differentiate from competitors.
Capture this information and design your logo based on it.
Without customers, a business cannot exist. So it’s reasonable to assume that every single business is 100% focused on serving their clients and providing the best experience ever, but this is usually not the case.
Many companies get distracted by internal conflicts or building cool things that don’t help their customers in any meaningful way. If they don’t correct this on time, failure is a possible outcome.
That’s why when building a logo brief, it’s important to always have the customer in mind because, at the end of the day, your design should appeal to them, not to the executives of the company. Create a customer persona, define its characteristics, needs, wants, desires, dreams, routine, and so on, and get a clear picture of who they are.
In HolaBrief we have an interactive exercise that lets you build customer personas easily and that look good. Feel free to try it out!
The new logo won’t exist in a vacuum, it will come alive in a complex competitive environment and will fight against other businesses for the first place in the customer’s mind. That’s why knowing who your competitors are and how you are going to position yourself is paramount to the success of a logo.
In HolaBrief we are aware of this and it’s the reason why we took the effort to build an interactive competitors map. In this way you are your client can position the company based on two axes and be clear on how they want to stand out.
Knowing who your competitors are also offers a way to understand what’s the best way to communicate with your clients. If they are successful and customers like the brand, it’s most likely because they resonate with their identity (at least this is one of the factors).
Once you’ve determined the business’ identity, identified your competitors, know how you are going to differentiate from them, and have a clear picture in mind of who your ideal customer is, it’s time to specify a creative direction.
In this section, things like design style, colors, preferred fonts, and artistic preferences should be captured. Usually, the client already has these specifications in mind but other times they don’t. A tool that will help you here is a Moodboard, where everyone can drop their inspiration and how they would like the new logo to look like.
You check our collaborative Moodboard in HolaBrief for free or just create a Word Document and share it with your client so they can copy & paste their favorite images.
Don’t make the mistake of not including this section in your logo design brief. This part aims to agree on the deliverables and the step that will be taken to get there. We recommend scheduling feedback meetings before the actual delivery date because it is quite difficult to get a design perfect the first time.
Here are some milestones that your logo brief can include:
Also, be clear on what the deliverables are going to be. Are you going to send out an Illustrator version, a PDF version, or a complete brand guideline book? Be clear from the beginning to avoid misunderstandings and frustrations along the way.
Of course, a good example should share the 5 elements that we described in the beginning and include the 5 sections mentioned above. Anything short of that and you run the risk of designing the logo on shaky foundations and having to come back to it time and time again.
If you want to see a good example and customize it to your needs and requirements, you can create a HolaBrief account and reuse our logo design brief template for free. Here’s a small sample of what you are going to get:
It sounds like a lot of effort to create a logo design creative brief from scratch, and it is. Additionally, there is a chance that you may ask the wrong questions or fail to include something crucial, which might ultimately affect the outcome of your project.
That is precisely the reason we developed HolaBrief and produced tested templates that you can use and customize. Simply select one, edit it by adding or removing exercises, and email it to your client (they don’t need to create an account on HolaBrief to fill it out)!
Build your own creative brief fast and collect your clients' responses with HolaBrief!
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