The Logo Process Part 4: Brainstorm and Sketching

Out of of all the steps involved when designing a logo this is probably the funnest part of the whole process.  During the brainstorming and sketching phase you can let your imagination loose.  During this article I will explain the importance of brainstorming and sketching and some popular methods for taking your first steps to designing a logo.

Tools of the Trade

You might want be itching to get right onto the computer and fire up Illustrator but the reality is; that is the wrong way to go.  Brainstorming is all about the flow of ideas from mind to paper.  Illustrator is too slow regardless of how fast you can micromanage those hot-keys.

The tools you should be using are the simplest but at the same time the most powerful; pencil and paper.  This should be enough to get started but I will recommend some other tools to aid you during your creativity.

Grid Paper: Plain paper is good enough in most cases however for added neatness to your sketches I recommend using some form of grid paper.  Grid paper comes in variety  of forms the most popular for logo designers is Dot Grid Paper.

Instead of a grid made up of lines, the grid in a dot-grid is made up of, you guessed it; dots.  This gives you the structure of the grid but doesn’t get in the way to much and is better for scanning your sketches.

The importance of using a grid while sketching is to draw straight lines easily, line up elements where needed etc.  Using a grid in one form or another gives you the ability to really polish up a sketch and work out a proper concept.

Pen, Pencil and Marker: Some like to sketch with a pencil, other like to use a pen.  I personally like using a pen, less messy, no smudging, and the lines don’t fade.  I use a sharpie with both  bold point and a fine point to fill in designs.  What ever you prefer works best.

Tracing Paper: It’s good to have some tracing paper around when sketching out ideas.  If your working on a concept but want to try a slight variation of it tracing paper enables you to quickly copy the concept and change what you want to change without altering the original.  Good for comparison purposes and what ever you can think of to use it for.

Drawing Tools: Even with grid paper it is still rather difficult to draw that perfect circle or that diagonal line.  Having stencils for circles, a straight edge and other drawing tools can help you lay down the basic shapes you need.

Before You Begin

Before you have gotten to the brainstorming and sketching phase you should be working under a contract, have done research and have wealth of information to pull ideas from. Refresh your mind and look through your papers, your notes and the information you have gained from your client and research.  If you have an inspiration wall or folder get that out too.  Once you have the creative juices flowing it’s time to spill that out onto paper and get some ideas down.

Brainstorm with Mind-Mapping

The goal of this step is to transfer the message and characteristics of the company into a visual format.  You need to determine certain things for example, how do you draw growth, what is the font weight of care, what does speed look like etc.

A great way to formulate ideas focused on answering those questions is with a brainstorming technique called mind-mapping.

The way mind-mapping works is by taking a list of attributes about a company and writing them on a piece of paper.  You want to write down the top three or so attributes or traits that you want to convey in your logo design.  Highlight these words so you can find them easily later.  Once you have these first words down start thinking of words that come to mind when you see the first words you wrote.

The goal is to spider out from your main words with other words that are related to it.  For example if your first words were “organic” and “strength”  a word that might branch out could be “tree”.  Any ideas you have, make sure you write them down so you can recall them later.

After a few minutes or so of mind-mapping you should have a few dozen words that are related in some way to the company’s message and attributes.  Don’t try to second guess words as your write them, just write them, you can always contemplate your decisions later.  It’s the flow of ideas that counts.

When analyzing your mind-map the words that are closest to your starting words are the most relevant to what you want to base your design around.  The farther you branch out away from you core attributes the harder it will be to incorporate into the design and still be relevant to the goals of the client and the company.

Take your highlighter and scan the map highlighting words that you think you can work well into a design. Keep your mind-map handy you need it to draw out ideas when you start to sketch.

Sketching

Sketching can either be precise and accurate or it can be hap-hazard, as long as you get the idea down, that’s what counts.  Typically you want to sketch as many ideas as you can think of, remembering to stay focused, referencing your mind-map and drawing upon other ideas from your research and the design brief.

Sketch Often: Take a sketch book everywhere you go.  If your out doing something and a great idea comes to mind you want to sketch it down.  The last thing you want to happen is have that great idea be forgotten because of a distraction.

Pause: When you first start sketching you might be focused on sketching a single type of concept or a few similar concepts.  It might be a good idea to give your mind a break for a few hours.  Once you come back to sketching you may have a new perspective and carry your concepts to a whole different direction.

Typically I spread my sketching out over a few days and each time I come back to the sketch pad I discover new approaches I wasn’t even thinking of before.

Refine: After you do a lot of rough sketching you want to reflect on the ideas you have.  Maybe you see the potential of one design over another.  Break out your drawing tools and really concentrate on those few ideas that cold really be winners.  Be accurate and refine the ideas to see if it will really work as you envisioned in your mind.

If you find yourself with a few potential concepts go back to your design brief and and ask yourself:  Does this logo represent the goals of the company?  Does this logo represent the company properly? etc.

Remember, just because you like it doesn’t mean it’s a good concept.  Design is about solving problems, does your design solve the problems your client hired you to solve?

In Conclusion

Brainstorming and sketching are vital parts of the design process.  It is in this phase where you can be creative, but don’t let your creativity get the best of you.  You still need to solve visual problems and your brainstorming and sketching will aid you in that process.

Using traditional tools such as pencil and paper allow you to quickly get ideas down without worrying about software, hot keys and selecting tools back and forth.  You want a line? Draw it.  You need a circle a certain size?  Bam, it’s there.  Don’t be caught up in the software, this phase is all about the flow of ideas.

In the next article I will explain how to crystallize your concepts into illustrator and prepare them for presentation.

Related Posts:

1. The Logo Process Part 5: Concept Development
2. Logo Design Process
3. The Logo Process: The Complete Guide
4. An Identity of My Own: The Process
5. The Logo Process Part 7: Color Development
6. The Logo Process Part 1: Gathering Information
7. The Logo Process Part 2: Creating a Contract