A little more than a week ago I was asked to design a logo for a Web startup. It’s a bookmarking service, quite similar to Diigo. I negotiated with my friend who had sent me the request, evaluating the process of branding. It would have been a low-budget job, so I reduced the process to the most limited set of needs. In the end, my friend informed me that they had chosen to go with a different offer. I wasn’t unhappy, because it appeared this client didn’t understand the purpose of a logo anyway.

I don’t do logos

Clients who have worked with me know that I don’t do logos. I do brands, and brands may or may not involve the finding of a name or creation of a logo. If a logo makes sense for a brand, it should become part of the branding process. The goal of that process shouldn’t be the creation of a logo (or the creation of a visual identity), it should be the creation of a brand. A brand involves the entire user experience, from product- or service experience to customer management and internal company behavior. A brand is based on virtues (or values), which should be naturally reflected in a brand’s identity design. Consequently, designing a brand doesn’t mean designing a logo or just the visual interface where the brand interacts with people. It means designing the entire brand experience.