portfolio & design blog of logo & identity designer, Graham Smith
A series of brief posts that focus on freelancing and logo and brand identity design topics. This post explains the importance of studying your clients competition for any new logo and brand identity project that you take on.
Study the Competition
On the face of it, it seems a logical and common sense thing to do. However, some designers fall down at this hurdle. They head off in a blaze of glory, designing a neat logo without having taken time to assess the existing identities of their clients competitors.
Failing to do so can result in a number of problems, both practical and embarrassing.
If you don’t know how the competition brand themselves, how can you position your own clients identity in a unique space. Just hoping your logo design will be liked and looks super cool is not always enough.
Does your client need to keep within a specified industry style or is there room for you to create a unique and brave new style of identity. You can only do this if you know what you are up against.
Is there a standard style of typography used for example? Colours? Shapes? Placement?
Does your client advertise alongside this competition, be it online or traditional printed literature? You need to make sure you have taken steps to ensure your clients logo/identity reaches the right audience and does not get swamped by the competition.
It’s in the brief
Ensure you ask these questions prior to starting.
I have a section in my online quote form for clients to include URLs or information on their competition, be it direct or in direct.
This way I can check out the competition prior to giving a quote and prior to starting the design process.
I Google similar names, initials to see what comes up elsewhere. For example, I am working on a new logo project where the initials are DC, but it’s for a consultancy business. DC Comics for example, DC shoes and other similar logos were shown when I did a Google search for DC logo. I was looking for existing logo designs where the initials were used for the logomark.
Fully armed
I now have a good idea of how the competition looks and feels. I can now create a visual strategy to ensure we don’t clash, remain different and avoid the risk of creating a damp and limp logo design.
Categories: Logo & Brand Identity, Typography
Tagged: Brand Identity, clients, competition, google, Identity, logo design < Previous: M+ OUTLINE Typeface – Free Licence – Free for Download
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Breif and sweet. Graham, your posts are always good reading for designers. Its so simple to just go and (pre)check the competitors for styles and cliches that you might need to keep in mind, but sometimes that does get lost in the “new logo/brand” excitement.
Dang, boy. I like it.
@nickwichman
Thanks for the comment, hope they help. :)
Breif and sweet. Graham, your posts are always good reading for designers. Its so simple to just go and (pre)check the competitors for styles and cliches that you might need to keep in mind, but sometimes that does get lost in the “new logo/brand” excitement.
Dang, boy. I like it.
@nickwichman
Thanks for the comment, hope they help. :)
Nice tips. Thanks
Thanks Graham, good points! That’s why we need an image search engine that will be capable of finding similar images to the submitted one. I’ve no idea how that would work but it would be awesome. Thanks again.
~ @kovshenin
Im sure that would be really useful. But Google can only rely on the files being named appropriately. Which is I think the main problem.
Hence why Im careful to name all my logo files for Google searching.
Thanks Graham, good points! That’s why we need an image search engine that will be capable of finding similar images to the submitted one. I’ve no idea how that would work but it would be awesome. Thanks again.
~ @kovshenin
Im sure that would be really useful. But Google can only rely on the files being named appropriately. Which is I think the main problem.
Hence why Im careful to name all my logo files for Google searching.
Quick and to the point. Good information you have here. Thanks.
Quick and to the point. Good information you have here. Thanks.
Well said. Your post got me thinking about a logo design I’m working on. It is for a nonprofit that doesn’t have “competitors” per se. But there are many other organizations working in the same space that, from my perspective, play the same role as competitors. And given that they use their abbreviation a lot, it was foolish of me not to consider screening logos with the same acronym. Glad I caught my mistake early.
Thanks for helping out this newbie :)
It’s not really foolish to have not looked. It’s just one of those things that seem obvious in hindsight. Trust me, I have not long been doing it myself. :)
Well said. Your post got me thinking about a logo design I’m working on. It is for a nonprofit that doesn’t have “competitors” per se. But there are many other organizations working in the same space that, from my perspective, play the same role as competitors. And given that they use their abbreviation a lot, it was foolish of me not to consider screening logos with the same acronym. Glad I caught my mistake early.
Thanks for helping out this newbie :)
It’s not really foolish to have not looked. It’s just one of those things that seem obvious in hindsight. Trust me, I have not long been doing it myself. :)
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A client brief can hash out those issues before they become a legal departments nightmare. Great advice!
A client brief can hash out those issues before they become a legal departments nightmare. Great advice!
Your post is right on the money. It’s very essential to know who your competitions are and study the playing field to get ahead of them.
Your post is right on the money. It’s very essential to know who your competitions are and study the playing field to get ahead of them.