Questions to Ask a Client When Designing a Logo
Questions to ask a client when designing a logo, for the designer running the kickoff or writing the brief. They are grouped by subject, in the order a questionnaire for logo design clients would run: the business and its name, the customers and competitors, taste, color and lettering, where the mark has to work and at what size, how decisions get made, and the terms of the job, from deadline and budget to final files and trademark checks. If you are creating a logo for your own business, answer them as your own client.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Business
What does the business do, in the words you'd use with a customer?
Why ask it
You want the plain version, not the mission statement. If two people in the room give two different answers, the logo is about to be asked to settle an argument about the business itself, so get one sentence agreed before you sketch.
What's prompting a new logo now?
Why ask it
The trigger sets the size of the job: a new company needs everything, a merger needs diplomacy, and a founder who is simply bored may need a tidy-up more than a new mark. If the reason is that someone senior dislikes the current logo, find out who and what they dislike before you draw anything.
Is there a logo already, and what specifically bothers you about it?
Why ask it
Specific complaints are gifts: it looks dated, it disappears on the van, nobody can read it on a phone. A general answer that it just feels tired means the criteria are unstated, and you will be guessing at review. If there has never been a logo, ask what has stood in for one, since a typed name on an invoice is still something customers have seen.
What sets you apart from the others who do what you do?
Why ask it
Listen for something a customer could check: a guarantee, a method, a price point, a founder with a story. If the answer is quality and service, every competitor says the same, so ask about the last time someone picked them over a rival and why.
Which three words should come to mind when someone sees the logo?
Why ask it
Three is the limit that forces a choice, and the words become your test at review: does this concept look trustworthy, quick and local, or not? Push back on pairs that fight each other, such as premium and affordable, and ask which one wins.
What does the company stand for, beyond what it sells?
Why ask it
Ask for the value that has cost them something: a job turned down, a supplier dropped, a refund paid without an argument. A value with a story behind it gives you something to design from, and one lifted from a poster, like 'integrity' or 'excellence', does not.
How did the business start, and do your customers know that story?
Why ask it
A family firm in its third generation can wear a founding date and a heritage look, while a two-year-old company doing the same is borrowing a history it does not have. If customers have never heard the story, ask whether the logo should start telling it or whether the client would sooner look forward.
Where does the name come from, and does it mean anything customers should pick up on?
Why ask it
Name stories hold raw material: a founder's initials, a street, a pun, a word from another language. Some clients want the meaning drawn into the mark and others are tired of explaining it, so find out which before you sketch the obvious picture.
Is the name final? Any chance it changes in the next year?
Why ask it
If the domain is not secured, a trademark application is still pending or the founders are still arguing over spelling, treat the lettering as provisional and say so in the schedule. Waiting two weeks costs far less than spacing the letters of a name that gets dropped.
Is there a tagline, and does it have to travel with the logo?
Why ask it
A strapline locked to the mark needs its own arrangement and turns to fuzz below a certain size, so you will be drawing a version with it and a version without. Check how settled the wording is, because taglines change more often than names do.
Where do you expect the business to be in five years: same products, same places?
Why ask it
A coffee cart that plans to wholesale beans, or a plumber adding heating, should not get a mark that pictures only today's trade. You are checking how literal the symbol can afford to be.
Does this logo have to sit in a family with a parent company, sister brands or product lines?
Why ask it
An endorsed brand inherits rules: a shared symbol, a fixed typeface, a line of small print under the name. Ask to see the family side by side and who polices it, since that person is an approver you have not met yet.
Market
Describe your best customer. A real one, if you can.
Why ask it
One actual person, with an age, a job and a reason for buying, is more useful than a label like 'busy professionals'. If the client describes someone much like themselves, check that against who is paying, because the two are often different people.
How do new customers usually come across you for the first time?
Why ask it
Where the first glance happens decides the logo's job. On a shelf or a van in traffic it has to stop a stranger in a couple of seconds, while after a friend's recommendation it only has to reassure someone who was already sent their way.
What do customers say about you when they recommend you to someone else?
Why ask it
Read the reviews and any thank-you emails before the meeting if you can, because those are the words the logo has to live up to. If customers praise the low prices and the client wants to look premium, you have been handed a repositioning job, and it is worth saying so before you quote for a logo.
Is there a customer you want to win that you don't have yet?
Why ask it
A firm chasing bigger contracts or a younger crowd wants the logo aimed at people it has not got. Ask how far they will go, since a mark that courts the new audience can make the regulars feel the place has changed hands.
Who do customers compare you to?
Why ask it
The rival a customer weighs them against is often not the one on the strategy deck: a bakery may worry about the bakery across town while its customers choose between it and the supermarket. Those are the marks that set the conventions of the category, which you then follow or break on purpose.
What do you make of your competitors' logos, and which is the strongest?
Why ask it
Bring the logos on one sheet, or ask the client to. Someone who points at the strongest rival and says 'like that, but ours' has just told you the real brief, and now is the moment to talk about how close is too close.
Style
Do you picture the name on its own, a symbol, or both? Would the symbol ever appear without the name?
Why ask it
A symbol that appears without the name has to be recognizable alone, which is a much harder brief and a bigger scope. Clients often say both without realizing they are asking for two marks that must also read as one.
Show me three logos or brands you admire, and tell me what you like about each.
Why ask it
The reasons matter more than the examples. Someone who admires a brand for its restraint is describing a direction; someone who admires it for its market position is describing an ambition and will keep asking for something bigger.
Is there anything you'd hate to see in the logo?
Why ask it
Most people are surer of what they dislike than of what they like, so this answer tends to hold for the whole project. A named competitor they refuse to resemble, a color tied to a former partner, a style someone senior finds childish: each one saves a wasted concept.
Did you come in with a picture in your head? Sketch it for me, however rough.
Why ask it
Many clients arrive with one: a lion, a leaf, the founder's initials in a circle. Getting it on paper in the first meeting lets you take it seriously or explain why it will not work, which is far kinder than having it surface as a counter-proposal after your presentation.
Which end of each pair is closer to you: traditional or modern, playful or serious, premium or everyday, loud or quiet?
Why ask it
Have each decision maker mark the scales alone and then compare. The positions matter less than the gaps between two people's marks, because a disagreement that shows up on a worksheet does not have to show up at the first review.
Are there colors you already own or have in mind, and any you'd rule out?
Why ask it
Find out whether a color is a preference or a commitment: paint on the shopfront, a fleet of vans and a stock of uniforms are all expensive to change. When they name a favorite, ask to see it on something physical, since 'teal' covers a lot of ground.
Is there a typeface you already use, or lettering you've seen somewhere and liked?
Why ask it
Few clients can name a font, but most can point at a sign, a menu or a book cover whose lettering feels right, and a phone photo of it is enough to work from. If a typeface is already on the website or the packaging, ask to see its license, since terms differ between foundries and some treat use in a logo separately.
Is there anything from the current brand that has to stay?
Why ask it
Customers may recognize the mascot, the shade of green or the shape on the packaging before they read the name, and that recognition is worth more than a clean slate. Get the must-keeps listed now, because one that surfaces in round two means redrawing work the client has already approved.
How long does this logo need to last before anyone redraws it?
Why ask it
A pop-up, a festival or a campaign can wear this year's style happily. A business painting the mark on a building wants ten or twenty years out of it, which argues for plainer shapes and against whatever effect is everywhere this season.
Usage
Where will the logo appear? Name everything you can think of, from the website to the side of the van.
Why ask it
Write the list down as they talk and read it back, because it becomes the checklist every concept gets tested against. A mark seen mostly as a small profile picture has different requirements from one on a shopfront, so ask which two or three uses matter most.
Where does this need to work at its smallest?
Why ask it
The smallest use sets the detail budget for the whole design. A browser tab icon, a pen barrel and an embroidered polo each erase thin lines and small type, and learning about them after the presentation is how a favorite concept dies.
Which shapes does it have to fit: a square profile picture, a wide website header, a tall banner?
Why ask it
A long name set on one line shrinks to nothing inside a circle. If the square and the wide strip both matter, plan a stacked and a horizontal arrangement from the first sketch instead of squeezing one into the other at handover.
What will it sit on: white paper, dark backgrounds, photographs, a colored product?
Why ask it
Every background the client names is a version you owe them: reversed, single color, perhaps one inside a holding shape. A brand that lives mostly over photography, such as a travel or food business, needs a mark sturdy enough to survive a busy image.
How will this get produced? Anything single-color, embroidered, engraved, or cut in vinyl?
Why ask it
Thread, a vinyl cutter and an engraving tool all struggle with gradients and hairlines, so each method the client names removes options before taste comes into it. Ask who supplies their uniforms, signage and packaging, since those suppliers can tell you the thinnest line they can hold.
What is the first thing the new logo goes on once it's approved?
Why ask it
Whatever comes first is the thing to mock up in the presentation, because clients judge a logo far better on their own shopfront than floating on a white slide. It also tells you whose lead time, the printer's or the developer's, starts the clock.
Where will this logo sit next to other logos?
Why ask it
On a sponsorship board or a retailer's shelf the mark is one of twenty, usually shrunk to the same height as the rest. Mock it up in a row of real neighbors, which shows quickly whether it needs more weight to hold its ground or more space around it to stand out.
Will it ever need to move, on video, in an app or on social media?
Why ask it
Animation is a separate piece of work, but knowing it is coming changes the drawing: a mark built from a few clear parts animates easily, and a dense illustration does not. If the answer is maybe, note it and price it later.
Will the name ever appear in another language or alphabet?
Why ask it
A wordmark built around the shapes of Latin letters may have no equivalent in Arabic, Chinese or Cyrillic. If a second script is likely, the symbol has to carry more of the recognition, and the other lettering is usually a job for someone who reads that script.
Are there words, colors, or symbols to avoid in the markets you sell into?
Why ask it
Ask the client, who knows their markets, instead of guessing: a color or an animal can carry a different meaning from one country to the next. Some sectors also have rules on claims and imagery that vary by country, so ask what their regulator or trade body requires before anything goes on packaging.
Process
Have you worked with a designer before? What went well, and what didn't?
Why ask it
Complaints about the last designer are a forecast. 'They never listened' and 'it took forever' usually have a second side, so ask how feedback was given and how many people gave it. A first-time client needs the process explained before the first concept, not during it.
What made you get in touch with me in particular?
Why ask it
If they name a project from your portfolio, they are expecting something in that vein, and it is fair to say so when their business calls for something else. If the answer is price or availability, you have learned how much weight your recommendations will carry.
Who signs this off, and does anyone else have a veto?
Why ask it
The hidden approver, a spouse, a board member, a founder abroad, is what turns two rounds into six. Ask for names and ask that they attend the presentation, because a PDF forwarded without your explanation tends to come back with the harshest comments.
How many concepts are you expecting to see, and how many rounds of changes?
Why ask it
Clients raised on contest sites may picture twenty options and unlimited tweaks. Hearing their number before you quote lets you explain yours, and why a few considered directions tend to get a clearer decision than a wall of them.
How will feedback reach me: one person with one list, or everyone separately?
Why ask it
Five people replying to the same email will contradict each other, and you become the referee. Ask for a single named contact who collects the comments, settles the conflicts and sends one list, and agree roughly how fast that list comes back.
A year from now, how will you know the new logo was the right one?
Why ask it
The answer shows whether the verdict will rest on personal taste, on agreement around a table, or on something you can check, such as customers finally reading the sign from the road. If it is taste, agree now whose taste it is.
Terms
What's the deadline, and what happens on that date?
Why ask it
If something happens on that date, a trade show, a shop opening, a funding announcement, the deadline is hard and the printer's lead time counts backwards from it. A soft date chosen for tidiness can move, and knowing which one you have tells you where to spend the time.
What's the budget for the logo itself, separate from the website, signage or anything else you're commissioning?
Why ask it
One pot often has to cover the website and the signage as well, and nobody has said how it divides. Getting the split spoken aloud early prevents the conversation where a full brand system is expected for the price of a mark. If they will not name a figure, describe two or three levels of work and see which one they lean toward.
How will the new logo roll out: everything on one day, or as things get reprinted?
Why ask it
A gradual changeover means old and new sit side by side for months, on the van and the invoice at once, so a new mark with some family resemblance is easier to live with. A hard switch needs every file ready on one date, which pulls your deadline earlier than the launch.
What files do you need at the end, and who's going to be using them?
Why ask it
The list depends on the users: a printer wants vector artwork and specified color breakdowns, an in-house team wants editable and web formats, a sign maker wants something else again. Agree here, and not at invoice time, who owns the artwork and from what point.
Do you want a guidelines sheet with the logo, or only the files?
Why ask it
One page that shows how small the logo can go, how much room to leave around it and which color codes to give a printer keeps the mark intact once other hands are on it. A full brand manual is a different job with a different price, so settle which one this is.
Has anyone run a trademark search, and will a lawyer look at the final mark?
Why ask it
You can check that a concept is not an obvious copy of a rival, but whether it is free to register is a legal question, and the answer depends on the country and the type of goods. Agree in writing who arranges that search and when, ideally before the client falls for one concept.
Is any of this confidential until launch, and may I show the work afterwards?
Why ask it
A rename, a merger or a funding round often has to stay quiet, which limits who you can ask for a second opinion and when the project can go in your portfolio. Get the date in writing now; asking after launch is a weaker position.
Running the Logo Brief
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Running the kickoff
Split the list between a form and the meeting
Nobody enjoys being asked every question on this page in one sitting, so decide which logo questions to ask in person and which to send ahead. Most of the Usage and Terms questions are factual (where the logo appears, the smallest size, the deadline, the file list) and can go out as a short questionnaire a few days ahead. Keep the ones that need a conversation for the room: why now, what they would hate, who signs off, and the picture already in their head.
Get the decision makers in the room once
One meeting with everyone who has an opinion is worth three with a middleman. If a founder or board member cannot attend, ask for fifteen minutes with them separately before you start drawing, not after you present.
Collect artifacts, not adjectives
Ask them to bring the current logo files, a photo of the shopfront or van, a sample of the packaging, and the uniform. Physical evidence answers half of the technical questions and tends to correct what people say about themselves.
Write the brief back to them
Send a one page summary of what they told you: usage list, smallest size, must-keeps, dislikes, approvers, dates, deliverables. Ask them to confirm it. That document is what you point at when a new requirement appears in round three.
Making a logo for your own business
The list still works with no client in the room. Write your answers to the Business, Market and Usage questions before you open any design software, then put the Style questions to someone who knows the business and will disagree with you, because otherwise nobody challenges your own taste. Process and Terms shrink to a date, the files your printer or web builder will ask for, and a trademark search, which is a question for a lawyer where you trade.
Translating vague answers
- 'Make it pop' often means there was too little contrast at the size they saw it. Ask where they were looking at it.
- 'More professional' often means quieter: fewer colors, a plainer typeface, more space around the mark.
- 'Modern' is a moving target. Ask for two examples they consider modern and two they consider dated.
- 'It needs to say more' is a request to add elements. Ask which single idea has to survive if only one can.
- 'I'll know it when I see it' means the approval criteria live in one person's head. Get that person in front of you.
- 'Can we see more options' is often discomfort with the presentation, not the work. Ask what they would show their own customer.
Protecting the scope
- State the number of concepts and revision rounds in writing, and what a round means: one consolidated set of feedback, not a stream of emails.
- Price extra marks separately. A logo plus a submark plus a stacked variant is three drawings, not one.
- Name the deliverable formats explicitly so the handover has a finish line.
- Say who owns the rejected concepts and when rights in the chosen one pass to the client. Many designers tie that to final payment, but how the transfer works depends on your contract and your country's law, so check both.
- Write down who arranges the trademark search and any registration. The rules differ by country and by type of goods, so that is a question for a trademark lawyer, not one to settle between designer and client.
What goes wrong
- Presenting on a screen when the mark will live on a sign, or on white when it will live on a photograph.
- Skipping the smallest-size question and losing a concept late because the detail vanishes at 32 pixels.
- Agreeing a color on a screen. Monitors differ, so show a printed proof or a physical swatch before anyone signs it off.
- Designing for the founder's taste when the buyer is a procurement officer, or the reverse.
- Letting a name change land mid-project without re-opening the schedule and the fee.
- Handing over files with no guidance on minimum size and clear space, which is how a careful mark gets stretched onto a banner.