January 27, 2009 | Category: Logo Design | Tags: logo design tips

A great graphic design is a product of elaborate thinking and visual creativeness. Failure to translate your ideas to a compelling design is pointless. At the same time, a well-crafted logo is ineffective if it doesn’t embody the essence of your business.

That’s the purpose of design brief – to set direction, place parameters and stir creativity. It sounds quite complicated but it’s not. It can be formal or informal depending on the graphic designers you’re working with. The important thing is to have crystal clear objectives before going to the drawing board.

So, what’s in a design brief? It alls starts with your branding strategy or how you want to position your brand or business relative to your competitors. Some of the questions below will help you develop a practical brief:

1. What’s the one thing that you want your customer to remember about your brand or business?
2. Who will be exposed to your logo? Talk about your target market.
3. What images and words describe the personality of your brand?
4. Who are your major competitors and what are their main talking points? Be sure to check the logo design color combination they are using in their graphic designs so yours won’t be confusingly similar to them.
5. What’s your target media? Do you want heavy exposure online, TV, radio, or newspaper? This is essential for finding the right materials to use.
6. What’s the measure of your logo’s effectiveness? Make sure you and your friendly graphic designer have a clear definition of measuring the impact of your project.

Here’s one thing you should remember: it must be brief. That’s why we call it design brief. Avoid analysis paralysis. Two hours is too much, assuming you’re very familiar with your branding initiatives. At the end of the day, it must be clear, concise, and direct.