The Custom Logo Design Process

This is a logo we developed for a company that does medical-legal consultation and research.

The client ordered our Silver Package, challenging us to come up with a new logo that somehow shows both the medical and the legal sides of the business.

Scroll down to see how this logo was created!

The first set of logo designs

Going on the client's instructions and example images we tried to create a blend of the primary medical symbol, the caduceus (snake(s) around a pole) and a symbol common in the legal sector, the scales of justice. We created several custom logos around that idea.

The preview shown to the right is about 50% of the size of the actual one shown to the client.

The client liked designs C, D and E, but felt that design E had too much of a moustache feel. In hindsight, we have to agree!

The client asked for more designs along these lines, but not necessarily with the caduceus/scales combination.

Scroll down for the second preview...

The second set

We normally send the logos in sets of between 3 and 7 designs, allowing the client to post feedback in-between design sessions and steer the general logo design direction.

Ok, to the right is the second batch, trying various medical/legal symbols and ways of combining them.

The client showed these logos around and the consensus was that C and E were the stronger candidates. Design E was most liked, but not the colors. In design C, everyone liked the colors of the serpent.

With design E the client was concerned that the lack of any medical reference would be a problem.

Scroll down for the third set...

The third set

Working with design E from the previous set, we created variations of the design, incorporating the snake to link the logo to the medical profession.

At this point in the process we suggested to the client that a logo does not necessarily have to illustrate the nature of the business. We suggested using the company initial "M" to create some options for the next set.

The client gave us the thumbs-up to try with the company initials "MLCG".

Scroll down for the fourth set...

The fourth set

As discussed with the client, we changed direction here to create letter logos. We love letter logos. We love them so much that we created a second web site called letterlogos.com.

But back to this logo project:
In most cases, fewer letters make better logos (because simpler logos are more memorable).

We tried two logos with all four company initials, then tried three using only the "M" initial.

The client specifically asked to see designs with all four letters, so the three "M" logos shown here would not count towards the maximum of 15 designs available to the client with the Silver Package.

The client liked designs D and E where we tried to combine the "M" with the snake graphic used in earlier designs, and asked if wrapping the company text around the logo would work.

Scroll down for the fifth set...

The fifth set

In our experience, finding a way to incorporate the text into the logo itself, as in these examples, can be highly effective. It creates a very neat, coherent logo package.

One drawback is that there is only so much text that can be included before the logo becomes too busy.

The client liked design C, but asked that we look for a way to include the tag line. Admittedly, it's a brilliant tag line and it would have been a real shame if we couldn't include it.

Scroll down for the last set...

The sixth set

When the client saw this set, he chose design F as his logo. No more changes needed.

We delivered that design in all our standard logo formats.

The standard Biz-Logo package includes:

EPS/ AI/CDR	The original, editable vector art used for logo edits and for professional printing.
PDF	Vector format for professional printing.
JPG	(300 dpi, color). Great for in-house printing, Word docs etc.
JPG	(300 dpi, black & white) For use on faxes & photocopies.
JPG	(300 dpi, grayscale) For use in low-cost printing.
PNG	(300 dpi, transparent) Great in slide shows. Can be used on the web.
GIF	(4 different sizes) Specifically formatted and optimized for web use.
PSD	Layered PhotoShop format - easy to edit.

Available on request (no extra charge):

BMP	Windows bitmap.
TIF	Uncompressed TIFF format.
CPT	Layered Corel Photopaint format.
SWF	Static Flash format.

...and almost any other format you can think of.

This applies to custom logo design, but also to our readymade logos. You can request your logo in a different format - even if it is 10 years from now - and it won't cost you a penny.