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Designing a logo is a unique experience for each client. They all have their own needs and goals not to mention gearing their branding for their target audience. It's a delicate balance, but it can be very rewarding when all of the pieces fall into place.
Here is a tiny glimpse into the logo design process for the upcoming fashion truck Rentique.
Step 1: The Meeting
At the beginning of any project we always meet with the client to get to know them, their business and their target audience. We learn their likes and dislikes, we talk about what sets them apart from their competitors, and we take a look at other logos they like.
Step 2: Inspiration & Initial Sketches
I browse the web for inspiration. This is anything from other logos in the same field or style examples. Anything that sparks an idea is thrown into an inspiration folder.
Then I start sketching like crazy. No idea at this point is a bad idea.
This is just one of many pages of sketches for the Rentique logo. The gorilla sketch was for fun, not a logo idea :)
I narrow it down to the sketches I feel are strongest or at least point in an interesting direction.
Step 3: Vectorize
I then bring the sketches into Illustrator vectorize them. (I'll focus on the sketch that evolved into the final logo)
As you can see, going straight from paper to vector usually creates fairly messy edges, so I start cleaning them up. I knew I wanted a different "R" so I keep working on refining and designing new options. This "R" felt a little too retro.
With this next iteration I finally settled on an "R" that I felt like fit the brand a bit better. And I started working on a flourish to make the logo more visually memorable and immediately identifiable. Although I felt it was a little too heavy handed.
Step 4: Refine
Since I was focusing on the type and not designing a logo mark, I wanted to incorporate a mark into the type itself to quickly and clearly communicate the clothing aspect of the company. I also redesigned the "q" to make sure it wouldn't read as a "g" and I incorporated the flourish right into the type. This made the entire logo more feminine and delicate. I left the previous version in light grey to make the changes clearer.
Step 5: Finalize
Now that the logo has been designed we worked with the client to come up with their key colors.
The result is a strong and feminine logo that communicates the personality of the Rentique fashion truck.
Keep and eye out for the Rentique fashion truck on the streets of Knoxville later this year! In the mean time check them out on Facebook HERE
