When the untrained eye looks at a simple, clean logo design the assumption is often that it was easy to create and therefore cannot cost much.

Simple logo design is not quick, easy or cheap.

Graphic designers work extremely hard to discover what the best solution will be, and this is the most difficult to achieve.

The graphic designer is listening to everything that the client is saying in a brief and then needs to weed through a lot of information. Ideally, if the graphic designer has a good Creative Director and Brand Strategist guiding them, they will weed out all the noise and arrive at a ‘point’ otherwise they’ll be trying to create a logo design around multiple points. All logos would look like a coat of arms.

The drive to simplicity can take days, weeks or months, with dozens or even hundreds of logo design sketches and iterations to work through.

Delivering clarity and simplicity requires researching, deleting, leaving, living with it, and hitting the repeat button until you arrive at the clearest and cleanest solution.

The ‘leaving’ process involves just walking away from it for a while and letting it sink in.

When the client asks for something simple that will just take a few days, they do their company a major disservice.

I’m pretty sure that iconic logos such as Apple, Pepsi, Uber and Nike were not quick jobs. I think that these logos designs took many, many weeks or months to finally arrive at.

I get that small companies and start-ups don’t have budgets to create an Apple or Uber but avoid trying to shoehorn all your perceived features into a logo. That’s the coat of arms. Look for meaning. Uber is about connectivity, efficiency, and progress. I’m sure that the brand and design agency can see this in the logo, and it has meaning to the client. But the consumers just see a clean, crisp, no frills logo design that they can connect with.

Gary Hendrickse
CEO Sherpa
gary@sherpa.co.za
+27 (0) 83 677 7342
sherpa.co.za

Sherpa Brand and Design was founded in 2006 and has worked on logo designs for small and corporate clients. Our strapline reflects our promise. Brand strategy and graphic design (Stand Out). And Be Found refers to our digital marketing skills. It is also a challenge to ambitious CEOs, Marketing Managers and business owners. Our logo design accentuates what we mean to our clients.