In part 1 of this blog post series, we looked at the process of developing a brief for a graphic logo design project. Asking the right questions in order to build up a scope for the project is a crucial first step for the graphic designer, who needs to obtain enough information about the company, its values and the image it wishes to portray, to be able to develop a striking and instantly recognizable logo. There inevitably comes a point in this process however, where the designer needs to start actually designing, so what happens next? While each graphic designer has their own modus operandi, the design process generally starts with a good old fashioned sketch. Forget your Photoshops and your Illustrators for the time being, a graphic designer’s real best friend at this stage is a 2B pencil and a piece of paper.

Using the design brief as starting point, many graphic designers like to mind-map words, phrases, shapes and colors to encourage their creative flow and will doodle rough sketches of whatever these triggers bring to mind. A logo doesn’t have to represent exactly what the company does; a fishing business’ logo doesn’t need to look like a fish or a boat for example, but fish, boats, the ocean and other related objects or symbols can help to inspire a concept for the design.  Once you have your concept, it’s simply a matter of trial and error; playing with styles, colors, tones, typography and other creative elements in order to realize a draft of the final design.