The Most Important Rule of Design

Managing clients: How to get a logo design approved by a tricky client

​Have you ever heard the phrase ‘the exception that proves the rule?’ It’s like that ‘i before e except after c’ ditty they teach you at school. There’s always an exception to make a truism true.
 
I recently encountered an exception to my rule about client benchmarks. (Benchmarks help me get logos approved by clients quickly).

Get the full story below...

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​If you've read Logo Process, you'll know I always encourage designers to get a list of benchmark logos from a client before developing any concepts. It's my one rule... the one that keeps me sane. 
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​Benchmarks help designers manage client expectations by revealing what a client 'likes'. Benchmarks also help clients come to terms with what they’re really after – what they can and can’t live with – in their new logo.

​2 to 3 benchmarks are fine. The most I’ve had a client supply was 8. It was perfect – we nailed their logo first time around and it’s still in circulation years later on signage, vehicles and TV.
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Here's the exception…

A client for a local ad agency here in Queensland supplied me 29 benchmarks. Yep – 29 of them. And there was no rhyme or reason to them either.

There were geometric logos in there – signatures – and old Web 2.0 icons from stock art websites. There were well-known brands. Unknown brands. And some were results Google had thrown back for searches like ‘best logos in the world’...

Anything and everything was included.

​The client even threw in a name change for the business halfway through the briefing process, just to keep me on my toes.
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It gets better...
 
Next came animal requests.

​They asked for an owl. Then a frog…

And not just any frog – he had to be modelled off a French statue. 

​It was clear these clients weren't really sure what they liked in any logo, let alone their own. 
 
And that’s the key to solving client dilemmas like this… I said clients (s) … plural.

When two client stakeholders try to reach consensus on a new logo... it might be one too many. Sometimes committees can't be avoided. But they have to be managed from the start of a project.
 
My advice to anyone in the same boat? Stick to your guns when it comes to only accepting a single point of contact for logo briefings. It’s the most important rule of design from a client management perspective.

It means identifying one project owner with authority for sign-off... and if there are other players, insist that the project owner has agreement from all stakeholders before they give you their brief. (Not after the fact.) 

​​A firm “no” from your end upfront might just save a whole lot of “Ahh… I dunno...” from the client later on.
 
I should clarify that our client was happy with their logo in the end and the rest of their branding was approved without a hitch.
 
How did we do it?…  Simple.
 
I waited and got approval when one partner was away on holidays. ​

If you enjoyed this article explaining how benchmarks can help manage the process of creating a logo for a client, I encourage you to get in touch via the contact page, or share this article with designers who might see the lighter side.