Genius of Love

When you live and breath design, you become attached to the things you design. You develop a sort of kinship with all things designed-- which is everything-- since you are analyzing everything you look at. Always.

I am never wrong.

Well, alright. I am wrong some of the time. But when it comes to logos- I feel like I have an eye for what is good, what works, what will make a good visual identity for a company. Unfortunately, not everyone will agree with me.

Last March I wrote about how tough it can be as a graphic artist when someone doesn't like your work (or is disinterested or less than enthused) when you show them the comp designs for their new brochure, their new billboard, their new website. But what about the logo? What about when they don't like your logo comps...? For me, designing a logo-- the center of any company's brand, identity, the little thing on their business card, the center of their visual universe-- is the toughest and most rewarding aspect of what we do. With a brochure, you have a support cast- taglines, descriptive text, poignant photos-- but the logo has to say it all, all by itself. The logo often stands alone, it has to tell a story, it should explain what the company does, it says who they are and what they do- often with no help at all. Com'on catchy tagline- help me out here...!?!

So when we design a logo- we put an awful lot of:

• thought
• not thinking about it
• research
• discussion
• perusing the past
• forecasting the future
  
• reading
• sketching (with an actual pencil)
• testing
  
• looking
• remembering
• searching
• debating and
• arguing

... into deciding what we feel can do the job best of representing the client visually. We pour our hearts and souls, lose some sleep and some hair, into the logo design process. We narrow it down to usually three choices, from often hundreds of sketches, ideas and variations of those ideas. We get them ready, print them out- sometimes mounting them on black board with an crisp, protective overlay- and then we meet the client in person. We present: describe our thought process to them, we build suspense and then we reveal the designs... Then BAM! the client jumps in the air, hugs us, cries (why not, we did while we were creating them) and thanks us a million times for hitting the nail on head, visually representing their idea and their entire company, saving the world! Sometimes. Other times they just sit and stare. You think to yourself... 'what is wrong with them.. don't they get it...?"

Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?

Well those are the extremes. As an artist you want people to love what you do. You might not act like you want recognition, but you want everyone to love everything you do, you want people to get it... right? Well... at least the client who is paying the bill.

There is an emotional connection to everything we do- meticulously choosing typefaces, colors, balancing elements and graphics, sometimes trying to represent obscure ideas in a single icon, making sure all spaces and line and pixel looks just right. We put out soul into all we do- and if you don't like it, you must not like us, what? It seemed like you liked us before... huh? But we have to be tough, realizing we might not be right for everyone. We can't take it personally, waaaaaaaaaaaaa.... When you live and breath design, you become attached to the things you design. You developed a sort of kinship with all things designed-- which is everything- since you are analyzing everything you look at. Always.

I have some clients with which we can do no wrong. We give them our 'all' and they appreciate every last bit of it. When you presented them with the logo comps, they beam with joy. For people starting a new company, their vision up until this point has been nothing more than ideas on paper a lot of the time. When they see the logo for the first time, they get to see their ideas become something concrete. Their vision seems to become a reality when it gets a visual identity. When you get it- when you get them- it is exhilarating and downright thrilling. For me too. That is why I do this.

These satisfied clients think other people are crazy not to hire us immediately after meeting us... and I can't say I disagree with them. But what do you do when you expect 'wow' and instead you get 'blah'? You have to swallow the pride, step back and re-evaluate, right? Find out exactly what they do like and what they don't. Ask a lot of questions. Try and determine what it is specifically that you can change to re-solve their design problem. Often you have to go back to the drawing board and re-develop it for them. After all client satisfaction is a top priority- as long as it is still a good design solution.

Tougher Than Leather

The longer I do this is the tougher I get, the thicker my skin, the better my ability to ask the right questions. The better I can be at interpreting the correct design answer to the clients design question. So I guess it is: the better you get at being wrong the better you get at getting it right. Hell, I am still learning everyday- about people, my kids, about business, about design... And I am willing to be wrong a few times if I can get it right most of the time.

Photos (from top): the award winning OtherWisz logo, a wall preliminary OtherWisz logo ideas, The alternate Literacy Volunteers logo and the logo for the Buffalo Hockey Experience + Museum. All designs by OtherWisz ©2009.