10 Logo Design Mistakes and How to Fix Them for Clients
The graphic design realm is so vast it includes many creations and projects. It even became one of the most demanded careers in the modern era. Being so popular, designers can face many challenging projects, including logo design jobs. As one of the more fundamental projects, creating a logo is probably the most common job in the market.
Despite being a popular project demand, the logo designing project itself is pretty complex. There are chances that clients from varying business fields demand high-quality products, which makes designers aware of mistakes. Yes, there are many design mistakes that you should avoid. But, not many people are talking or aware of it.
Either you are designing a logo for a client as a freelancer or a company worker, understanding the mistake can help create a more compelling design. In this case, the practice is not only about good tips but also mistakes to avoid. If you want to know more, here are some know-hows about the design mistakes.
1. Missed The Research
One of the vital points of the designing process is research. However, it is such a shame that some designers are ignoring the step. The mistake itself may sound very trivial since designing a compelling logo is more than just research. However, doing research and brand discovery will help you build a solid grounding for the client project.
Consider the research and discovery as the blueprint of a building. Without it, the designing process can crumble and turn into a mess. That is why ignoring research mistakes is probably the most fundamental taboo. But why do many designers skip the part? One thing for sure is that research can take time, which can decrease the designing the logo duration.
However, on the contrary, having a clear grounding can speed up the designing process. The idea is that you already know what you want to do for the client project. To avoid this mistake, you can take a brief moment to learn about the client's logo idea or brief. Learn and take your time to play around with sketches.
Try to know the user base, expectation, purpose, and the business itself. Underline that every logo style, design, model, and idea can pose different meanings. That is why when you were designing a logo for a client, ensure everything fits with the idea. If you want to save time yet avoid the mistake, then focus on finding a way to create a logo that responds to the target audience.
Investing your time in gathering clear direction and ideas also helps you avoid many other mistakes. You can start by researching some competitor design, ideas, target audience, visual elements, or everything. The more research you do, the better your designing logo process will be. It also helps create a well-received design for your client.
2. Too Abstract
If you don't do research properly, there is a chance you will overdo everything. Do not have clear ideas is also bound to make the creator designing logo that is too abstract to understand. Why does the mistake happen? Designers tend to get inspired during the designing process. Ideas upon ideas are coming and make designers want to add more.
Without proper planning and research, the mistake will likely occur. The client's logo will look too much, lose its purpose, idea, and abstract. It gets worse when the designer makes a mistake to create an eye-catching design. Abstract designs hardly help reinforce the client brand message.
The mistake will be a great pitfall that makes people question your work. The point of designing a logo for a client is to tell the brand position, message, and identity. If it is too abstract or too much to digest, your design is considered worthless. The point and the information are crumbling, making the logo meaningless and has no literal information.
To avoid this mistake, you need to go back to the client's design brief. Try to learn and understand all of the information or elements. It also helps a lot if you do thorough research before designing a logo. Remember that the vital point of the designing process is research. And lastly, make a design that has recognizable and clear imagery in it.
3. Boring Visual Element
Another mistake that can happen due to the lack of research is plain imagery. If you choose plain visuals to avoid too many abstract mistakes, then you are truly missing the point. The plain visual cliché or the bland imagery design with basic shapes are very common in the design realm. It is a double-edged sword.
If you are designing using basic shapes and make them stand out, it means you nail the idea. However, there are also times that people try this idea and turn it into a big mistake. How so? The key point of designing logos for clients using visual cliché is minimalistic and recognizable design. If you could not develop such a design, that means it is a logo mistake.
One thing is for sure, incorporating basic shapes and plain visuals needs more research plus experience. As an example, when you are designing a logo with circle shapes. You will need to make the circle look more unique. It means more than just a shape and represents the client's brand. It is harder to do than using a more complex image.
The best way to avoid this mistake is to use more complex imagery. However, if you want to use basic shapes, make sure you have done enough research. When you are designing a logo, it is worth finding ideas from other relatable client brands or businesses. After that, learn about how to make a recognizable symbol through a mix of visual language. It will help when you are designing it.
4. Poor Font Choice
When you are working with a client, it is better to ask for detail and brief. It not only helps you when designing a logo that fits your preferences but also other visual elements. If you are working or going to design a wordmark, make sure you pay attention to the typeface. It is not a surprise that people forget how a font type can make a different impression.
Particularly in the wordmark logo. When you are designing a logo for a client, using a generic font is the biggest and amateurish mistake. Since you are going to focus on creating a meaningful sign using a word, your font and design need to stand out compared to other logos. So what if you make it look like a standard design? Your client's design will sink into the competitive market.
Some ideas to avoid the mistake is by customizing the typography. The internet is an endless source of typefaces. You can find many font types with different ideas, impressions, shapes, or functions. Using the already made font can help you save a lot of time when designing logos. But if you can customize it, do so. You don't have to make a specific font for the client.
Start with something simple such as altering the kerning, letter spacing, height, wide, hierarchy, or others. If you can do more, designing some complex shapes of individual letters can make a big difference. Maybe, rotating an E letter to 45 degrees? Not only make a signature font for the client, but it also helps you stay away from the mistake.
5. Just Mainstream
The thing about bandwagons or trends is that not everything is good. When talking about good, it is all about preferences. The two contrasting points make many design creators doomed due to the obvious trend mistake. If you are currently designing a logo for a client, try to look at least considering the trend without making it your final product.
The logo design should be a timeless brand identity. In other words, one should not merely make to match the current bandwagon. A professional designer knows when and where to follow the trend or not. But in logo design projects, simply joining the trend can make your work dated sooner or later. In other words, a big mistake in planning.
What you need to underline is that the design trend is constantly changing. At one point, everyone was high over the heel with the vintage logo. But just in a year or so, the trend shifts into a more minimalistic modern aesthetic. It indicates that following a trend when designing the product will make your client design have a short life.
It is one of the mistakes that you need to tell your client, especially one that wants to follow a trend. Tell your patron that designing a logo for clients should be under a lot of research and consideration, including the trend. Following a trend will not leave a big mark in the market; instead, it turns into a mistake—a mistake of not designing a timeless client's brand.
It is also worth telling your client that a logo should at least be consistent throughout the years. Joining the bandwagon means that they need to create or design another one soon. Designing a logo with that mistake will only be detrimental to the long-term client's branding. It is a mistake that both parties need to avoid, no matter what.
6. Overly Complex
Trying to avoid bland design, too abstract, trend yet has lack of research can also lead you to another design mistake. In particular, you are bound to make an over-complex product. When designing a logo that is too complex to understand, people can miss the point, not understand, or even worse, and the client does not want to look at it.
The idea of designing a logo should be creating a product that is easier to recognize. A simpler plan is more memorable than an overly complex design. At the same time, the mistake also makes the design harder to incorporate in different media. Imagine a rainbow-colored sign that looks way too overwhelming on a business card.
In this case, you need to consider many ideas. As you are designing a logo for a client, try to make it no more complex than it needs to be. It does not have to be simplistic or minimalistic, but enough and recognizable for the brand. The key to avoiding the mistake is to shave up the superfluous element while still making the message clear.
7. Too Many Color & Effect
As said in the previous point, overdoing everything will not end well. Thus, you can try to minimize the designing idea and make it clear. In this mistake, the problem goes on the color palette of choices. There is nothing wrong with using color or effect when designing the logo. But does your client need it?
There are some instances where the monochromatic format is way better or desired. As you designing a logo, it is to not rely on color or effect to deliver a message. For example, designing an emblem for women that are clad in pink. While it works to emphasize the target market, it has disadvantages with a more monochromatic style.
The idea of designing a logo for clients with a monochromatic style is the more diverse usage, meaning, and recognizability. You can use or design a wider product range through monochromatic or black and white colors. It may lack color, but it still looks beautiful no matter how you use it—a great way to avoid color and effect mistakes.
8. Not Responsive
What is a responsive design, and why does it matter when you are designing a logo? The terminology refers to a multiple, scalable, and slightly diverse variation. It is mostly done to prepare varying applications and scales. If you are not designing the client logo with a responsive idea in mind, it will be your mistake when it is unavailable.
The best example of responsive logo design is a different scale for an app or billboard. It will need a slight alteration to make each product fit with the need. You better tell the client to make the design responsive. You can either do it by providing the product in different sizes or make a slightly different variation. So, you can save time when designing it.
9. No Guidelines
If your project includes designing a logo for a client and all of its packages, it is obvious that you need to include brand guidelines. The guidelines are part of the final process, which includes some details or guide for future branding projects. So, the key point is to tell the future designer about how your design should be implemented and avoid further design mistakes.
The guideline itself helps your designing process easier. It can include some guide or grounding details to make a more cohesive design. The best use of guidelines is how you tell or describe the narrative meaning of a single visual element. It helps your client understand the idea as well as make the other designer know what to do next.
Designing a logo with the guidelines is easier than creating one from scratch. It is also a great help for the client and the brand. The designer can create a new logo that still holds the same aesthetic, meaning, and similar information from the previous work. So, don't make the obvious mistake and help yourself or the future clients' designer with your designing guideline.
10. Provide Too Many Options
There is one of the designer habits to make more than enough selection or option. It is hard to ignore, especially when designing logos. However, it can turn into a stupid mistake if you provide a range of options to your client. Presenting too many concept options, design ideas, and solutions will only make your work harder.
It does sound good since you can give more options to your client. However, it can overwhelm them and make you look like an indecisive designer. Of course, you can avoid the mistake by selecting some of the best logo designs. Try to make many options or concepts when designing a graphic logo for yourself.
But when you want to present it to the client, stick to two or three initial design ideas. The idea is also a great way to avoid some strange requests from the client. The mistake can turn into a black hole since you make the client have too many ideas to consider. They don't know the designing process, that is why clients can ask more.
So, try to limit your initial idea when you are designing a logo for a client and presenting it. Again, you can avoid the more jumbled mess and mistakes. At some point, professional designers use the one-concept approach. It can shave the designing process time, limit the feedback, better consideration, and save energy. You are not paid to create more.
Final Words
The perk of understanding the mistakes is more than just avoiding the taboo. As you can keep in mind some of the blunders, you can improve the technique and ideas. It can also turn into a helpful guide for your designing process. Thus, you can make a better logo for your client and help expand your expertise as a designer.
