Where are we? Home » Blog » Discussion : Logo design sketches – Bearing all

Discussion : Logo design sketches – Bearing all

I’m inviting a discussion on the risks of showing all your sketch ideas for a logo design process. Logo development and design process posts are becoming more popular and are a valuable way to show your work in context. Reading about how other designers reach their final logo designs can be very enlightening to say the least, often showing the rest of us new ways to approach our own logo development.

A recent example of a logo design process post is Plancast Penguin on Scott Hansen’s website, created by Alex Cornell. This is one awesome development post, well worth reading. You can see how many ideas and sketches that Scott puts out there for all to see. On one hand very very cool, but on the other, makes me nervous seeing so many excellent ideas of Scott’s not used, free for anyone to potentially copy, borrow or steal.

Also, another great example of a logo process post for Ian Matteson, is by Shelby White of Wanken. I love the end result so much, but just check out the variety of styles Shelby explored before settling on this great typographic option.

As designers, we have to be careful, eyes everywhere to protect our final logo designs. It becomes a matter of urgency when we feel one of our own logo designs may have been copied or heavily inspired from.

The logo process can be exhausting, lengthy and at times tedious and frustrating.

We work to that final goal discarding any number of solid and curious ideas during brainstorming and sketching process. Any number of these ideas could be logos in their own right. I have many ideas and unused concepts littering my paste board. The odd successful logo design has been born from previously discarded ideas on other logo projects. I even have a special Illustrator file where I paste the more interesting unused ideas for future reference.

Those of us that publish our sketches as part of a logo design process post for all to see, are baring our inner souls, showing the inner mechanisms that drive us to realise that final logo design.

Any number of our sketches could be taken and used by others as a basis for a logo design in it’s own right.

If we openly publish all these ideas and sketches for the world to see, are we then leaving our selves wide open to having our work taken from us? Not just the final design, but all those valuable ideas that are formed from our experience and skill. Ideas that had we kept to ourselves, would remain ours for future development. If you do publish logo process posts do you show all the sketch ideas or do you just show a select number of sketch ideas?

Scenario

Some months after you have published an in-depth logo design process post, you see a completed logo design in some inspiration gallery that clearly was taken from one of your sketches. Ironically, this logo design seems to have captured peoples imagination more than the logo you yourself created.

What’s next

So how would you feel? Would you care? If you did care, did you assume your sketch work should be protected as much as your final logo design? Or is it just fair game? Have you ever seen a logo design clearly inspired or copied from one of your sketches?

Do you accept this could happen, that it’s a risk worth taking for being more professionally transparent? Or have you not even really considered it?

Interested to see what think about this.

Up and till recently, I have been a little guarded about my ideas and sketches. It’s painful enough to imagine a logo design being copied, let alone any number of these potentially valuable sketches. I am in two minds now, and will be posting a new logo design process post with some select sketches on newly complete logo project called ‘Keyboard Kahuna’, but certainly not all of them.

And breathe...

Article Posted On: March 15, 2010 by Graham Smith
Posted In Categories: Logo design, My Views

Before you rush off somewhere else. If you have found this post useful, I would greatly appreciate it if you would consider signing up to my RSS feed, or Email newsletter. Follow me on Twitter or FaceBook. There are also my prolific postings on Posterous.

Any Stumbles, Tweets, Shares etc would be more that most welcome, convenient share buttons follow.

RSS

Jefrey Gunion

I'm starting to do this on my own site. If not for the benefit of designers to show the inner workings of how I go about designing identities, but also to demonstrate to clients actually how much goes into the process. I think it demonstrates that there truly is a deeper value for what we go through to reach the end result. Unless a client is intimately involved in the step by step process of an identity development (which is totally up to us), sometimes they think we just magically pull a design out of thin air, and there it is....in final form...perfect.
Steve

I'd agree with that Jefrey. We've been thinking about this approach recently for exactly those reasons. Prospective customers are able to see a well-planned and thorough approach which might help earn trust and build reputation.
Logobird

Interesting topic. If you are willing to reveal your sketches online I think you need to be completely willing to accept that there is the distinct possibility that your sketches will be copied. I am not saying that it is right, however unfortunately the world is full of people who will simply rip off your work.
It is an individual decision. As a designer there are many upsides to sharing your work and exposing the process you used to get to the final product. It is a great promotional tool.
If in you think the potential benefit is greater the risk, then go for it.
ImJustCreative

Yup, no right or wrong answer it would seem. Just to make sure you are aware of the advantages and disadvantages before sharing all your hard prep work... If you are happy to accept the risks, then the advantages for sharing such level of detail is huge.

Even sharing portions of your ideas can still be useful, which is what I try to do. I'm protective of my 'unused' concepts, as I feel that all ideas I generate could be used or modified for other projects. :)
daniel berumen

If someone imitates me I'll be flattered. If someone steals my ideas I'll be pissed. I think that's a risk we all take just by being in this profession.

This raises many questions. Is the person so protective because they're not coming up with enough ideas? Also how will be gain from hiding our stuff? How will we polish those ideas?

You have to weight the pros and cons of this. On one side ideas might get copied, but I don't mind this that much because I know only those who understand the 'why' of the ideas will be able to imitate effectively and even improve on it. On the other side by showcasing your stuff your open to observation and criticism, which can help you polish things, grow as a designer and as a person. I must also mention that there's also the possibility of negative and none-constructive criticism that simply just piss you day off.
chopeh

Similar thoughts went through my mind when I published an article recently on creating a logo(link).

I had quite a few pages of sketches, but only chose to photograph a few that really related to the final outcome of the logo. I didn't really want to show the very initial sketches of random ideas as what I had there could possibly be used by myself something in the future.

If I did upload those photos, and I did find some work almost identical to it, I'd be pretty annoyed with myself for putting it out there.

I've always tried to be as open as possible because I know it's insightful for others to see the way you reach your final product - however recent spouts of copying have lead me to be a little more cautious about what I show off..

Shame really.
ImJustCreative

I hit on your thoughts exactly in a previous comment. Only showing those ideas and sketches that are the 'children' so to speak of the final design. If you have other madly different ideas that are frankly crap, then I guess no harm to show. But the risk is that even a crap looking sketch could give someone else, or even yourself a lightbulb moment, that may result in a super duper logo. Given that it becomes harder and harder to find unique ideas in logo design, keeping any form of unique idea to yourself would seem prudent, especially if logo design is your business. Maybe not so much if you are a multi disciplined designer.

Showing many variations on what theme is in itself quite interesting, but I think a safe option. Like Scott, who I mention in the post, he has clearly showed many differrent ideas, several of which with tweaking could make new designs, should he so desire. And herein is the point of the post. :)
Matt

I think you are putting it all out there and taking a risk. You don't need to as you are clearly an accomplished designer. But I agree Mark M. That many designers (including) myself can learn volimes for seeing some of the evolution of your creative process.

thanks for being willing!
ImJustCreative

Appreciate your words, but I am not as accomplished as you might think, although it's good to hear on occasion as I am clearing doing something right. Regardless of how accomplished you are, one should never stop trying to promote yourself to designers and clients, as well as providing a platform to educate. Hence the value of these process posts are important, but the question is, how far should you go. How much of your soul is enough?
Brian McDaniel

Great points - I've often pondered this myself. Has the scenario you described happened to you before? I love to read and witness another designer's process, and I usually learn from it, so I would hate to see those posts disappear. But I would hate it MUCH more if someone stole their shared ideas, especially for their own gain. This is a hard and very interesting quandary to me. I'll be watching the comments to see what others have to say. Not sure if I can make a final call.
ImJustCreative

Ultimately, will come down to the individual to accept the possibility of these shared ideas/sketches being swiped. If you don't want your designs, ideas, sketches borrowed in any capacity, best to keep them to yourselves.

I will show ideas that a close to the final design, opposed to the ideas that ended up being discarded for the sake of a new direction. Showing how one idea grows I think is less risky, than showing a handful of uniquely different concepts and ideas.
Mark McCorkell

I definitely think it is exposing your soul as a Designer. But... at the same time, it is really valuable for the other Designers that want to learn from you and how you create your logos.

It's probably a good idea not to show absolutely everything, but perhaps the sketches that lead to that final logo concept.
ImJustCreative

I think this is where 'what is more important to you' comes into it. Would you rather be a enigma or overly transparent. Each has advantages and disadvantages in terms of self marketing and branding. I think also the logo design pricess post is partly there to show potential clients how you work and what you do in each project, not just for other designers.

For me, I will be focus more on making them client friendly. Showing your process to a client who may be deciding who to give the project too is an important factor to consider.

HIRE ME - LET'S DO THIS

VIEW LOGO PORTFOLIO

FIND YOUR WAY

Discussion : Logo design sketches – Bearing all

The logo process can be exhausting, lengthy and at times tedious and frustrating.

Those of us that publish our sketches as part of a logo design process post for all to see, are baring our inner souls, showing the inner mechanisms that drive us to realise that final logo design.

Scenario

What’s next

Interested to see what think about this.

And breathe...

LOGO PROCESS ARTICLES

IDENTITY GUIDELINES

The Footer - Also known as 'The Bottom'

Send me a message