If the revolving door at Number 10 Downing Street is anything to go by, even at the highest levels of society, sometimes decisions are made that are not quite right. It turns out, for the Conservative Party at least, it’s in Sunak we Truss.
Over the last decade or so I’ve developed a tried and tested methodology for creating brilliant brands for all types of clients. I load the process to the front end, using discussions, research, exploration and a sprinkle of creative spark to put a “Brand Concept” document together.
The Brand Concept document doesn’t have a fixed layout or set series of elements, but is more organic and flexible depending on the client. It might have a direction to go with the type of font we might use or the sorts of colours that would aid in meeting the brief. But it might not have either of these.
The Brand Concept is a document that’s created collaboratively with the client, shared and tweaked until everyone agrees on the direction it points.
Putting this extra effort into the front results in a much smoother process towards the design stage. Typically I only present one brand solution to the client. Rather than spending time in my head coming up with multiple ideas, collaborating on the Brand Concept document means many of these drafts have already been discounted at an earlier stage.
By concentrating on one design I remove the dilution of good ideas across multiple drafts and present a more rounded logo and brand to the customer.
However, occasionally, like Liz Truss in the eyes of the Conservative Party members, things are good but not quite right (something of an understatement to try an crowbar in a topical subject to the article). When a logo draft is good but not quite right, it doesn’t crash the UK economy, it just means the process will take a short while longer!
One example is the design I created for the excellent people at RDA Coaching. I developed a sporty, athletic, modern and flexible logo based around a star shape, filled with rationale that met the brief. It was a design that would have appealed to the target market and looked the part amongst contemporaneous logos in the sector.
The client liked it, it was good, but something about it wasn’t quite right. So we went again with a new round of development. The new logo shared plenty of the DNA with the original but clicked with the RDA team in a way the first hadn’t.
Looking back I think this was something to do with the first having more of an American sportswear brand feel than the final design, which feels more European and sports company, not clothing.
I’m super pleased with the final results, which even made an appearance on the goto new logo blog, BrandNew. I’m sure the first design would have served the business well and done just as good a job, but going that extra step and returning to the brief ensured the RDA logo met both the expectations of the audience and the client.
