Successful Logo and Identity Design Starts with a Solid Name
How many times have you been given a logo design job, but found out that the company name is either long, odd, not appropriate, sounds silly, sounds cliché and a number of many other possible scenarios? Working with a ‘bad’ name can seriously hinder the overall impact of a logo and identity design.
This post is for both clients and designers. I have tried my best to keep the level of patronizing down to a minimum, but that’s not my strong point.
I commit thee to the ground
A number of clients approach me when they are already at the stage where they have committed themselves to registering the name as a business or similar. The only option open to the designer at this point is to just knuckle down and work with the supplied name as best they can.
There is this grave sinking feeling, this name just totally sucks. “I really can’t and don’t want to work with this s**t.”
The name the client think sounds great, is in reality just a pile of stinky poo. Maybe they get together with friends and families, brainstorm, and genuinely feel they have come up with that winning name. Maybe sometimes they do, but in my own experience, this is not the case. I am left attempting to design a decent logo with a corny or totally inappropriate business name.
I have on occasion been quite blunt about the inappropriate nature of the supplied name. They have hired me as a experienced designer, so the least I should do is be honest with them at this early stage. Maybe, just maybe, a change can be made. You never know unless you ask. It’s not always easy, but if you handle it well, the results can be rewarding.
Local business’s tend to be the worse culprits for this. You know the ones. ‘Excel Cleaning Services Solutions‘, ‘Happy Mondays Upholstery Cleaner Services Limited‘ or ‘The Busy Bee Maintenance Man‘.
They still cling onto that winning formula of getting to the top of the alphabet in telephone directories, ‘AAA Advisory Associates and Co‘. You try not to laugh or cry when the client proudly presents you with their awesome new company name, and expects you to be as chuffed as they are. Heaven forbid they actually put you on the spot and ask you what you think? What do you say? Instead, you think ‘run away’.
It doesn’t have to be that way
All this can be so easily avoided if the designer could somehow run a preemptive strike to all new potential clients. Potential new clients may hear in the grapevines that ABC123 Design Services Inc Limited (joke) also provides help and advice in the creation of unique company names. This is all part of the logo and identity design package. How cool does that sound.
Word of mouth and referrals help with this.
This puts the onus on the designer to really put ‘out there’ that inventing and brainstorming suitable names is part of their repertoire. If you can market and advertise this fact, you are helping yourself no end. I know this is an ideal scenario in that ‘ideal world’, but it’s all one part of the puzzle, and if you succeed, then the puzzle starts to look not nearly as horrifying.
I love brainstorming and attempting to come up with a suitable business name. Not to mention the awesome beast that is, ‘the tag line’. You also need information, a thorough brief and a good relationship with the client to make this work. Budgets need to be addressed, as it can take some time to achieve. But there is a higher level of cohesion when you have have control over the name and identity.
It is far more fluid and natural. The visual design will fit the company name like a slipper on silk socks.
Creating one simplifies the other.
The simple answer is…
If you are a Client
Hire a designer that advertises that they can also help with company naming before you choose a name yourself. By all means, have a list of names ready, but allow the designer to help you choose one that is both suitable for the business and also helps create a stronger company identity.
Avoid putting the designer in the most awkward position of having to create a non cliché identity for ‘The Busy Bee Maintenance Man‘. Or give them artistic licence, but insist they must use a bee for the logo. Trust the designer to do the job you hired them for.
Before you choose that ideal name, and then decide to hire a logo designer, think before you do.
If you are a Designer
Make it clear you offer the full package. You can help come up with that winning name all with the logo design in mind. Devising a name, when you know you need to create a visual identity for it, makes things a heck of a lot easier.
Advertise this fact on your website, on your business cards, or an other marketing material if you target local businesses. Do what you can to get the word out.
For example, I have a short sentence about company and business naming in the opening paragraph on my home page. I then reinforce this in the opening paragraph on my quote page. If a potential new client is undecided when they approach me, then at least they can see I can also assist with the naming.
Article Posted On: July 8, 2009 at 8.35 pm
Written By
In Categories: Branding, Design, Freelance Design, Identity, Logo design
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24 Comments
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Great post!
We’ve run into this similar situation many a times. Often resulting with developing a Brand Platform (Promise, Vision, Personality, Differentiation) which we explain helps set the foundation for Brand Identity development. I’m always surprised how a business can launch without a solid foundation and worse, a bad name. But once they see the bigger picture, it’s all smiles from there.
True. Even though a company may present you with a long or inappropriate name (its not just about long names), they may be open to change if you can approach it right.
It may mean them starting over again with some aspects of marketing, but the medium/long term benefits are huge.
Great article…very resourceful. Most appreciated :)
Thanks Jenny, I enjoy waffling, so glad that the waffle is appreciated waffle.
Nice one. I recently worked on a logo for a client whose company name three times during the process. Each name got progressively worse too. It was one of those nightmare, stick it out till the end jobs, but a bit of a learning experience too.
Often I abbreviate stupidly long names, and add the main name as the tag line, and create the focus for the initials. Can help, not always, but sometimes.
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Great article – a franchise company I work for has a name that is 4 words in length – without the personalised member name! Very frustrating, and amazing that it got through the initial design process 20 yrs ago! Try creating a classifieds logo for a single column advert!
Frankly, that just sounds horrific. I used to do classifieds, so the thought of a 4 word company name just scares me.
Great article, I hadn’t thought enough about offering the branding name option to my clients, i did it some times but not like a really service a i can offer, but you just give me the little push to do it.
Thanks!!
Sometimes in a logo design job, be found that company name short and long but it is the part of logo design to manage the problem and make powerful identity for their client
Identity Design Useful article
I agree, it’s part of the challenge. But equally, if we can simplify, that then helps reduce time, costs, budget and stress for both designer and client.
So it ends up as a win win if you can build a smoother, more direct path
[...] Successful Logo and Identity Design Starts with a Solid Name [...]
I am a marketeer working on client side and I feel that it would only be completely arrogant and ignorant of me to name, art direct and manage the creative development of a new brand. I recently commissioned all aspects (including naming) to a design agency for a new brand and they LOVED it – a result of which is that they worked harder longer and with more passion on my project than they normally do. It’s a win-win situation.
For designers working with difficult clients, I think that educating your client on the added value of letting go of their control or grip of their company’s creative processes and handing that fully over to you is key.
Good luck!
I had always taken for granted that clients would assume that I was capable of assisting them with naming. Thank you for pointing out that this is not the case! I’ll be making it clear on my portfolio site from now.
Honestly, its only something that I figured out as well. Had just ‘assumed’ they would realise.
What drove me to make it a issue, what a influx of ‘identities’ that were a challenge to visualise due to the company/business name. If more thought had been put into the name, with the actual brand identity in mind, then it would have been so much more beneficial for all concerned.
I know as designers, we are tasked to do ‘whatever’ with ‘whatever’. But simply just accepting that, and not making inroads to do something to make every ones lives easier, is just ’stupid’.
So hence the post and now pointing it out on my website. Since this post, two new clients have approached me, asking me to help with the naming as well. :)
I just sat down with a client a few weeks ago, Sarah had a list of 7 names. None of them inspiring, I think see just done a simple google search within her field.
We brainstormed over coffee at out first meet, which I think she was not expecting and a day or so later I sent her an email including her original list with 15 – 20 of my own. All of which fell under headings of “Preferred” to “Not sure”. She was very happy with the input and used the list to think further and choose a name….
What more can you do, the client only wanted to talk about costings and what sort of budget she may need to create her marketing collateral.
R
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Why would the name be a problem?? Is your brain that limited that that is all you can look at/see?? If you had to do a logo for Mother Theresa – would you continue to foolishly obsess that she doesnt have great tits (btw she does :or did :P) or that “Theresa” starts with a th and is does hard with people with a lisp to pronounce??
wow…. this gives intelligent and creative people a bad name
“Almost English Guy” said it best
“Sometimes in a logo design job, be found that company name short and long but it is the part of logo design to manage the problem and make powerful identity for their client”
You really have misinterpreted the post.
I am focusing on the naming as being part of the logo and identity process. being in control of the naming then the creation of the identity is a good thing. You are working to keep all the aspects together and flowing.
If someone creates a random name, that frankly is inappropriate, then creating a decent visual identity becomes trickier.
Having the foresight to acknowledge that the name and the visual identity are one of the same thing is good. Not having that foresight is not so good.
Sure, I work on logos with awkard names frequently, I try my best to create a decent visual look. But had that client not rushed into making up a name, somethign they dont have experience in doing, then they are not helping the cause.
It’s all about looking at the bigger picture.
Your comment seems to be based on, client A, approaches Designer B, to design a nice logo for $300 and thats it. Logo done, end of relationship.
That’s not where I am, Im talking about more than ‘just’ logo design… im talking about the whole brand identity, and that means the name.
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