What a logo brief decides before design begins

Our own brief, as the example

In March 2020 we briefed designers on a new logo for idealaya. The brief explained the name, the old logo’s problems and what a replacement needed to do. We have grouped its questions into six parts here. Each part answers something a designer would otherwise have to guess.

What the name means

Start with the name, because the designer will draw it. Our 2020 brief explained the name as idea and laya, meaning rhythm in Sanskrit and Nepali: ideas made in a rhythm, again and again. That gave the designers a meaning to explore alongside the letters.

Where the company comes from

Tell the short version of your story: what you started as and what you do now. Ours named our first products for people in Nepal, among them an app with the power cut schedule, which became Battigayo, and a medical booking app. Then it described our work and audience at the time.

Why the logo has to change

Be honest about the old logo, because the new one is the answer to it. We listed five faults: it meant nothing, looked old, was hard to read, was easy to forget and did not feel Nepali. Each fault became a test the new logo had to pass.

What the logo must do

List the places the logo will live and the work it must do there. Ours had to:

• Work small, as a browser icon and a sticker
• Have a Nepali taste
• Work in one colour and in print
• Stand as a wordmark alone, with a symbol welcome but not required

We let the designers choose the kind of logo, as long as they could say how the brand would carry it.

References, each with a reason

Pictures of logos you like help only when you say what you like about each. Our references came with one reason apiece. One for its restraint, one for lasting, one for reading clearly and one for its symmetry. Then one for a Nepali detail, one for feeling young and one for its simplicity. The designer copies the reason, not the logo.

Colour, and what to avoid

Say which colour stays and why. We asked to stay near our orange, #F25808, for youth, energy and cheer, and allowed more colours beside it.

Then say what you want to avoid. Our 2020 brief ruled out premium-looking serif type, shadows, blurs, gradients and passing trends. Those were the preferences for that commission. State the constraints for the work you are commissioning now.

Decisions before the first drawing

A useful brief gives the designer reasons to make and reject choices. If the business cannot yet explain what must stay or change, that conversation belongs before the first drawing.

The new logo for Nature Excursion followed the same path. First, what the old one got wrong: a mountain in a circle like another company’s, and a green too faint on white. Then what the new one had to keep: the mountain, the white river and the green land.