Following is a great example of the knockout version in use. The clients are Pennington Dental Associates in New Jersey. Here is their logo in full color:

Note that it looks great on a white or light colored background. Sometimes, that is not always possible.

Here is their logo as a knockout:

As part of the logo design process, consider how and where your/your client’s logo will possibly appear and prepare versions for those scenarios.

The folks at Pennington are still very happy with their logo and shared that photo with me. One of the reasons for that happiness is that their logo can go where they need it to. Something to, er, chew on.

One of the themes that I have found in my spelunking is that creatives found it frustrating that clients don’t /can’t buy in to their perfect design. And I realized that that clients (especially small business clients who have no filter) didn’t buy in because the design came as a shock to them because (surprise!) they didn’t effectively communicate their vision for the end product. We all know, unless it pops out of our favorite cake with a wad of hundreds, people generally don’t like shocks.

As a matter of course creatives and small business clients should demand that a creative brief be drafted and perfected so that each party can know what to expect from each other from a creative standpoint and minimize those end product surprises. That said, a significant problem with creative briefs is that they are prose documents and don’t give the client an idea of the look and feel of the finished product.

So how to manage that? Enter the mood board.

The mood board outlines the color palette, images, typography and other design criteria in a visual manner that the creative brief cannot.

The mood board is a way to get clients to buy into the visual aspect of the design project and can reduce the number of iterations before approval. So, especially when it comes to a project where M19 MEDIA is developing a new brand, style guide or critical design project, we will employ a mood board as part of our creative brief.

As a small business client (hell, as any client) you should ask for a mood board from your creative vendor. Creatives? Get the client buy in on the mood board. It will save you time and effort. Below, you will find a mood board for a current client. And yes, I was listening to Robert Plant while I wrote this post.

This is actually a time-saver. The mood board serves as the visual bible for any creative project and defines the sandbox in which the creative team can play. It is also a critical client buy-in checkpoint and should be a part of every designer's creative process.

Here’s a logo that was just approved for a massage therapist client.

In my research, I found lots of massage logos to be a little on the heavy side. This logo is meant to convey health, cleanliness and serenity. Tell us what you think.

Oops! I hear toothpaste can get out common stains.

This Romney logo is weak and not just because it looks like another logo. It feels forced and contrived. Not a great brand for someone whose business it is to connect with people. The story though, is how closely it resembles another logo in an unrelated industry.

There is nothing worse in my humble opinion than having my work be described as derivative. My logo-creating process usually does not involve checking out similar or (gasp!) identical logos until I ready to start culling the herd. Those logos that look too much like something else in-market never see the light of day.

A while back, I created an identity for a client that looked remarkably like the branding of another. It was pointed out to me after the site launch and materials had been printed. I was mortified and vowed to never let it happen again.

The lesson I learned as a creative is that there are lots of logos out there, and while your idea may be original to you, someone may have had a similar revelation. So check your work against what else might be in-market, especially among logos in the same business vertical as your client’s.

Another lesson I learned is to socialize your logo among a group of people who have no real stake in the project, preferably those that would be exposed to your logo in their daily lives. I have shown logos to bartenders, to people on the street and in coffee shops. The question that I ask is “what does this make you think of?” rather than, “do you like this?” This elicits a more thoughtful answer and a more actionable response.

My prediction is that the Romney campaign will trash this logo before this becomes too big a story. Let’s hope that this never happens to you!

Happy clients with their new logo

Sitting here late at night working on a name for a new product for a small business client, which got me to thinking about the meeting that led to this late night activity…

I call it the kickoff and it is the most important meeting I have with a client. Just like in football, the stronger and more accurate the kick, the better. So it is true for this meeting.

I get the client to tell me what we’re doing.

In brand development, it’s important to know what the brand actually stands for. A logo with pretty colors is nice, but in order to get real meaning behind a brand, I get my clients to do this little exercise:

I/the company/product/service add(s) value because/by ______________________. I get the client to complete that sentence as many times as possible. I am always surprised what comes out after they warm up a little.

What are three (and only three) adjectives that describe your business/product/service?

If your customers could only remember one thing about you, what would it be?

How do you want your customers to feel after they have interacted with you? (Those answers tend to get pretty standard, so I usually re-direct them back to their values sentences)

And we’re done! We turn those value statements into benefits when we flip them around and look at them from the user’s point of view and that becomes the brand proposition. Turn that into prose, and you have the brand story. Demonstrate how the business/product/service achieves those benefits and you have your proof points.

Works like a charm and gets the creative juices flowing and makes the client feel heard and invested in the success of the project. It’s a great way to solidify the brand, communications and creative strategies.

Definitely try this at home.