Learn How To Grow A Successful Logo Design Business

1. How To Grow A Successful Logo Design Business Trailer: My name is Melanie Greenwood, and I'm the founder and designer at Vision City Studios. I've been running my own freelance design business for over 10 years now. I've worked with record labels, music artists, a mom and pop shops, startup companies, corporate clients, you name it. One of my favorite things to work on is Ah, love. A feeling of working on a local design and seeing it come to life become the branding and identity for a company. There's something kind of magical about that experience. So in this course, I want to talk to you guys all about power of building your own freelance business with logo design. Logo design has become a really lucrative part of my business, and I want to share that with other freelancers, maybe your freelance designer illustrator, and you really want to grow this side of your business. Or you want to make this your main income. Who's a variety of things that you should know when it comes to running a local design business, and I want to share those things with you guys. I'm gonna share with you guys things like how to pursue the logo design clients that you want to work with how to present your pricing to clients. I'm also gonna show you how to repress deposits and two invoices. I know there's a kind of yucky words for creative people, but they're really needed when it comes to business. And they're really easy. I'm gonna talk to you about consulting with your clients so that you're really hearing that needs that they have with their logos. A lot of times, clients don't really know what they want, and that's why I've created what I call a listening shoot. This listening sheet is really how to get inside their heads and really find out what they really want. Next, I'm gonna talk to you about the sketching. I still believe in the old school way of taking out a sketchbook and pencil and just started sketch I find for me that's the easiest way to hash out all the ideas before even have to get on the computer. I will give you tips and tricks that I use so that I can really go from sketching phase to completion on the computer. From there, I will talk to you all about how to present logo design ideas to your clients and really, how to communicate your message is or your ideas over. I will talk to you about the back and forth that happens with logo design and clients so that it's a lot more of a smoother process. Finally, I'm gonna show you how to package your logo design with a variety of formats so that your client go ahead and use those logos no matter where they need to use the last thing. I want to talk to you about how to ask for a girl into really end on this sweet? No. So I hope you'll join me in this course. I look forward to walking with you guys, this process to build your freelance business with logo design. 2. 1. Just Getting Started: I guys, welcome to the course. I'm so glad you decided to join me on how to build your freelance business with logo design . In this first section, I want to have a bit of a chat with you guys, especially those of you who are just getting started in logo design because when I was first getting started, I didn't even have clients initially. So it's kind of hard to work on logos when you don't have a client asking you to work on a logo. So for those of you who are in that stage, what I want encourage you to do is to create logos anyway, Now what I mean by that I mean, find other brands that are already out there or even make up names of companies, make up words, things that you could just create logos for Now the reason wise, because you want to create a portfolio that you could at least show two people to say This is the kind of work that I can do. Ah, whether they are fictional companies or not, you can add that to your portfolio. As long as you're up front about it. You're not saying they're real logo design clients or anything like that. Well, just to show people that you can create to send your work to people that you hope to work with, this is one of the ways that I got started. I actually would just kind of create sketches and ideas just to let people know that I had a creative mind. I had the ability to do design as well as logo design. And so this is a great way to get started for those of you who are literally have never worked the client before. Or maybe you just don't have a client at the moment and you want to just drum up some new business, this is a great way to do so. Another way that you can get new local designs is to actually do some local designs for free. Now you can always just let people know that you are a local designer and offer your services for free Initially. Now I am all about making an income, so this is not what I want you to stay at all. But sometimes doing one or two pro bono logos would just get the ball rolling and actually create a referral pattern. So say you work on one or two or three great logos and people that you are are in the sphere that you want to work in, and that way that people that are around them, their colleagues, their friends, their family, people that you want to associate with can also see your work as this person is sharing it . This is a great way to drum up. Business is well, so say, that's you. You want to do more logo's. You're not sure where to kind of drum up the business. I would say that do either one of those two suggestions to create kind of fictional logo designs just to kind of put something in in your portfolio. Or I would do a couple of pro bono logos and just do some free work just for now because I'm all about you and I'm making some serious income with local design. But that's a great way to just get your foot in the door. And then from there, what will happen is people will see your work and they will begin to kind of file in and start asking you about your pricing and and how you work and how they can work with you. But you have to show something. Another great way to drum up more business is with social media. So, for example, on instagram, our Pinterest or any of the really visual social media's, I would encourage you to constantly just be putting up creative work to say you're in hand . Lederer on illustrator or designer. You can constantly coming up with new ideas and just posting, so maybe you make a goal to post you know, one or two great pieces a week. Oh, are gosh, once a day, a sketch today, whatever you want to do, just let people out there know that your creative person, you put your contact information in your profile and then people can contact you that way. That's another great way to drum up business. So if any of those ways could help you guys, I hope that that does. But now, in the next section, I'm gonna get into Mawr of how to work with clients that you do have. So let's click over to the next section 3. 2. Pricing, Deposits and Invoices: Hi, guys. Welcome back in this section, I want to talk to you all about pricing deposits and invoices now pressing a deposits and invoices concerned like a really scary area of logo design. But this is necessary, especially if you want logo design to become a main income or a major contributing income into your business. So the first things first, now client has come to you and they are asking your price. This is the 1st 1 The first questions they're going to ask you is, What do you charge for logo? Now, how do you really decide? What do I charge for a logo? There's a few things I want to run through just to kind of give you a bit of a criteria. Now, one of the things I would say is, how long have you been designing logos for how much experience do you have? Um, and how does your work really compared to other local designers out there Now, maybe you have some friends who are also doing a little good design, and they're in the same kind of experience level as you, or maybe they have a few years above you, or they're just getting started. Um, this is a great way to kind of just chat with other local designers and find out what they charge. That way, you can kind of compare where you're at relative to them. So maybe they've been designing logos for, like 15 years, and they're like the logo master, you know, and then you maybe you're just three or four years in. Then they should probably be charging a little bit more than you know. That's just a rule that's a general rule that's not always accurate, cause some people just charge more or less. But you really want to charge something that you're comfortable charging. Another thing people usually ask me is what I charge based on time or based on the actual final logo itself. I personally do not ever charge based on time. Now that might be surprising to some, but I find logos or any kind of creativity. It really depends on the project, like something's might just take me, ah, lot less time than others. So if I'm charging by the hour, for example, I might get paid much less than I would normally. So I always charge a flat rate for local design. Um, just something I've decided on the amount of experience I have, how many years I've been doing this as well as the real quality level that I'm offering to my clients Now, the other thing you also want to think about is who else have you worked with? So maybe you are just getting started, and you are, you know, at the stage where you're even doing logos for free, which is fine. Just for a few times. I wouldn't do that too many times. Or maybe you're just trying to charge. You might want to charge a little bit on the lower side just because it's your first initial clientele. But if you've been working with, like, major brands and you've got a few major brands in your portfolio, that in itself will allow you to increase your prices like say, for example, you've worked with, like, something related to like Coca Cola or something like that, or some major brand that we all know off. If that branding is in your portfolio on your website, um, then you basically just got a ticket to charge a lot more for your logo design as funny as it sounds, it's really true. I would encourage you again with pricing. It's really about the amount of time even working on logos as well as the quality level of your work. So sometimes people may have been working for, you know, 10 15 years, but maybe their quality level hasn't improved much or somebody may have only been doing logos for two or three years. But they've got major branding under their belt as faras, like very recognized brands they've worked with. So it really depends on that. I think that who you've worked with is probably one of the biggest contributors. Teoh the pricing that you can charge now when it comes to deposits. I am absolutely a stickler for deposits, and I want to encourage you guys to be the Samos. Well, now the reason wise because as well meaning and a sweet as clients can be. If you don't take a deposit from a client, it's very, very, very likely that you may not get paid on time or sometimes as bad as it sounds. Not at all now I've had this happen to you before, and it really was hard because you put your heart and soul into creating something, and then you're waiting around for payments. So maybe you do the whole job, and then you send the full invoice at the end, and I find that that is one sure way to be waiting around for payment for a long time. However, if you requested deposit, it makes the client have to pull other wallet and get serious because you and I were business people and we are not doing this only for funnel that we're passionate. We are doing this as a business, and so I want to encourage you to make sure you take a deposit. I personally take 50% deposit on everything I do, whether it's a local design or not any kind of creative work. I don't even think about the logo design or even think creatively at all. Until that, um, 50% deposit arrives to me Now you can have it arrive over pay, pal. I'm in a check form, whatever way is best for you, but I literally would not do anything. I wouldn't even have the consultation for my clients before I get that deposited. Now some might say that's kind of stick you know, Stickler, or kind of like a strong way of being, But I've found that, actually, my clients respect me for it, and it actually makes them know that I'm really serious. But what I do. So I encourage you to make sure take deposits in the next video. I'm gonna show you, actually, one of my invoices just to give you a breakdown on the way that I have set up my invoice to help you guys to do the same. Obviously, your invoice design might be your own and in your own way. But I would encourage you to just take a look at this video just to give you a bit of an outline for your own invoices. Okay, guys, as promised, I want to go through my actual invoice with you just to show you how things are set up and how you may want to set yours up. This is just the way I've decided to do mine. So, first and foremost, I have my logo and my description of the top left corner. You can put it anywhere you want. This is totally a subjective thing. Creative thing. So I keep mind. Really clean and simple because a lot of my clients tend to be more corporate, and so I just want to keep it really clean for them. As I go down, you're gonna see name, phone number, email, address website. Basically, just your contact information should be on your invoice invoice number. The date and the client Neymar obviously really important. The invoice number is going to be something that the payables department in any corporate company will refer to. So you want to make sure to include an invoice number? I would just kind of go from zero up or you want to go from 100 up or whatever you want to do. But basically, I invoice number is really important when it comes to pay payable accounts as I scroll down here. Invoice description. So in my case, this description would be for a logo design and business card layout of the total price for the quote. So I have it at $700. That's not necessarily accurate. I'm just kind of putting this all as an example for you. I would write down the deposit so the deposit would be exactly 1/2 of that. So 3 50 So if I were to send this into a client before beginning a project, I would say the deposit is clarified and written out there. So that's the total cause that needs to made before I can go ahead and begin this project and I would actually pull. I have this all bold ID. So the deposit and the total amount there would be bold ID, so it's really clear for them to see. But in this case, I have this invoice as though the job is done. So the balance owing is the sub total. It's the balance owing would be 3 50 now, HST, Since I'm in Toronto, Canada, we have HST, which is 13%. So I add that onto invoice so dependent where you live, you know, if you're in America, are where you are, what state you live in or what country. If you're in Europe, Asia, all the different places in the world, we all have our own tax set up, so you may want to include that on your on your invoice. Now, if you don't ultimately, we all know that the tax man will get paid regardless. So whether whether we eat the tax now and pay it later or we charge it is You know it's up to you. That's up to the model you've decided to set up and how you've registered your company. Now the bottom. I've got payment options, so I've made it really clear how I will be paid. I'll be paid either by PayPal by a check, and the check could be mailed to this address. So make it really clear and simple. Some clients might come back and say, Hey, can I send you like a direct payment over email or other different, You know, transfers and things like that. Usually it's fine, but give them some kind of an option that's already set up and easy for them makes the whole process just kind of flow. But easier. Make sure that your correct spelling is written out there for checks, because obviously, if you take a check to the bank and its incorrect spelling, the your banker may not cash it. So, um, that's basically it when it comes to an invoice. So that is how I create invoices and how I take deposits 4. 3. Client Consultation: hi guys in this video, I want to talk to all about your consultation with your client. Now your consultation may happen in person, over at a coffee shop or might happen over Skype. Sometimes you might be working with a client who's actually overseas or on a different country. That happens a lot with myself. I tend to work with clients that are not in my actual city, or you might be over the phone with your client. These the ways I encourage you to do this consultation. I find this a lot harder to do over email or over obviously social media over text. I would encourage you to actually either be in person with them in some way, Whether it's in person sitting with them over Skype or over the phone, you need to actually interact with them. I know it sounds funny to say that, but nowadays were so fast paced that a lot of times we don't think we have to actually talk to anybody. But I find with logos it's such a personal journey of really discovering what's going to work with each client that you really want to connect with that client and hear their voice fluctuation and hear their emotion and hear them talk about their own company. This will help you so much, and it will also save a lot of time that can just be wasted with bad communication over email or a text. So I want you to go ahead and download the listening sheet that created for you. This will help you to really listen to your client's needs and to go through consultation that will serve you as you're designing for them. So on the listening sheet, there are several things I want to go through with you to make sure that you're aware of how and why thes things air on this sheet, obviously at the top of the sheet, it says. Name of the company and what the company does. So what is the name of this brand and what do they do now? If it's a coffee shop, I want you to obviously say the full name with the correct spelling. Obviously so correct. Make sure you have correct spelling. I've done that before, for I've designed a logo with the wrong spelling. It's super awkward us to make sure you get the right spelling off the bat and go ahead and ask them, What do they do? Are they not only a service but a product? Do they have products at their coffee shop? Is it not just them serving coffee are Do they also serve sandwiches? And, you know, do they also serve cup cakes and desserts as well? Really get a whole idea of what they do on Write that down on on your sheet. So basically, in this case, it's what do they want to be known for, what kind of service or product they want to be known for, because I know sometimes companies can be doing several things. So what is the main thing that they do? Who is their audience? So who are the kind of people that they serve? What is the demographic of people? For example, you might want to write down things like, What is the age range of these people? Are the more women more men? Is it a place where people come for dates or is this service for ah, animals? Is it like a dog grooming service? I mean, different companies have different things that they do. So is this service Or is this product more for babies? Is it more for adults who are the end users of the product or business that you're working with now? What is the vibe of the company now? I know it sounds like a funny word, but what is the overall five Meaning, What is the kind of or our that the way they want to be perceived? Is it a very young, hip cool company? Or is it something that is more of a classic, um, kind of old school company that they don't want to look too cool and hip? They want to feel a bit more classic and timeless. So what is the vibe of the company? Are they more oven, ICO friendly kind of company? Do they want to be perceived that way? Do they want to be more perceived as a very futuristic technology company? You know, it really depends on who you're working with. So write down some words for yourself to refer to. That really describes the type of company that it is Logo applications air really important to Noah's? Well, where will this logo end up? So if this logo is going to be for stationery and paper products. Or is it going to be on the side of the shipment trucks on sign Ege? Is it going to go on T shirts? Is it going to be embroidered on two hats? You know, you want to know where this logo is going to end up, because that will definitely affect the way you approach designing it. For example, if it's going to be embroidered on its on materials, you may want to make some of the shapes a bit more simplistic so that it's not to detail to embroider. I've had that happen before. I've had to almost readdress the logo to make lines thicker and things so that it can actually be applied to say, would maybe if something is being edged out of wood or hand engraved, um, or yeah, like sand blasted. If it's being sandblasted, it has to have. There's minimum areas that they can't go lower then. So, for example, you don't want to make it too thin for lines and fonts and things like that. So you want to know, where is this local going to be applied? What are some other brands that they relate? Teoh, This is a question that I often ask my clients and they actually really love. I ask them this because they kind of just get to rave about the other companies that they admire. So you want to write down a few names, maybe like four or five different companies that they also just really love, But not just they love, but they want to kind of feel like in their branding so they might have another fashion company, for example, that they just really admire. They love their branding. They love the way that their commercials and their advertisements are in magazines like You want to find out the brands that they're attracted to. You also want to find out what are the colors that they are drawn to. So, for example, if it's an environmental company, they may not want really hot pink and neon colors because they're not as much natural colors. They they might want more greens and earthy tones and beiges and off whites. And, um, you know, browns and things like that because it's more of a natural vibe there, trying to bring across. They might want to feel even recycled. You know, that's the kind of thing I'm thinking about when it comes to colors. Or is it a very, you know, poppy happy, young and vibrant hair salon, And they want to feel like bright colors. And they wanna have very dramatic, fun, young, cool colors. They might want to be more unnatural. If that makes sense, they might want to have the neon colors even wanna have Rich black. You wanna have silvers and golds and different things in there as well. So this is the kind of things you want to think about when it comes to colors, So write down some colors that they're naturally drawn to. The same goes for textures. What are the kind of textures that they really want to associate with now? If there are a company that works with in fashion, then it might be easier for them to speak on this kind of terminology. But, for example, do they want their branding to feel very slick and modern and crisp and clean and and timeless, or do they want to feel more tactile and vintage? Maybe they wanted to feel a bit more worn in edgy, thes air. The kinds of textures you want to kind of ask them about and just ask them is OK by exploring these different textures. Is there something that you definitely don't want me to do? Um, and you know those the kind of questions you want to be asking when it comes to textures. Is there a certain time era that they want to associate with? This is a really big question, because nowadays I find there's not like one thing that's kind of popular. I find that every company really wants to feel like their own. So, for example, you might go into a Barbara shop and you see a logo like painted on the wall as a wall display, and it's literally looks like something out of the sixties. And it's a very old school Barbara logo. And it was just a barber shop that opened this year, for example, so it really depends on what company what the company wants, whereas sometimes companies want a very slick, modern, simplified Helvetica vaunted logo. Um, they want to feel very modern and clean, and they want to feel like they will look the same for the next 20 years, so it really depends on the kind of client working with. And again, it always goes back to the vibe and who they're really trying to relate to. For example, sometimes maybe a very cool old school, almost like a like a pin up style hair salon or, um or even like a vintage clothing shop, things like that. They may want to really play that up, and then they want to make it feel like it's, say, the seventies or it's you know, that really fifties. They really wanted Teoh lay on those eras. So you want to ask them, What kind of a time arrow do they want to relate to? Sometimes they might just say, I want to relate to just present day. They may not not even fully understand that question. Or sometimes, you know, based on your client, they might say, Oh, I just love Marilyn Monroe and I love that whole look, you know, so you can kind of pull on those influences within your designs. This is really big when it comes to choosing your fonts, for example, the lines that you have within your shapes and things. So you want to play that up for sure and last but not least you want to find out the due date. This is an obvious question, but it could be missed in the conversation because you're just having fun chatting with your client. You want to make sure you know when they need this logo. By that you can then plan accordingly. So you need to have time to not only create ideas but then present them to your client and have them in only approved of. But any back and forth happened, and all that before the logo is do I would generally not take on a logo if it's do like the next day, for example. I mean, you could if you're really fast. I usually give it at least a week. I usually prefer more like two weeks to work on logo, but it really depends on your style and how fast you work. I like to have a couple days to kind of create, um, or even at least a couple, maybe two days to create. And then that way the third day. I'm kind of sitting with it and really figuring out which are the really greatest ones, Aiken send forward and actually sent over to the client, so that's the way I work. But it really depends on your style. So I would encourage you to make sure you always ask the due date. So this is the listening she Guys, I hope this really serves you guys. This is a great way to make sure you don't forget any questions As your consult with your client. I find that clients love when we ask them these questions and makes them feel confident and us as designers, because we're really getting inside their heads and we're asking them the questions that maybe they haven't even asked themselves yet. And it helps them to feel like, really looking after them. And we're really pulling out of them what they really are about, because we want them to feel like we're helping them discover their look, um, as a logo. So this is a great way to do that. Now. You can always just have these questions on file. Say, if you're working with a variety of different clients, just print out a bunch of these and then have them, you know, on your desk or whatever are in your laptop case. If you're traveling and then that way, you could be working on with a variety of different people, and you always have that sheet handy. You could take a photo of it when you're done writing on it with your ticket followed with your iPhones to make sure you have it, you'll lose it, Um, and then that way you are good to go to get creating. So let's go on to the next section and get started. 5. 4. Sketching and Concept Development Phase: Hi, guys. Welcome back in this section, we're going to talk all about thes sketching phase now the sketching phases really in my mind where the actual designing takes place. So when I'm working with a new client, my sketching phase is really the most special phase of the whole process, because it's really when I take all the notes for my consultation, and I really try and translate them into visuals into fonts, icons, overall shape and texture to really create a branded logo for my clients, the first thing I do when I'm working on a new logo, as I think about the overall shape I want to create now shape is really a great starting point because it gives you an idea of what you wanna work within. So, for example, maybe your overall shape is going to be more of a rectangle shape. Maybe it's going to be more of a circle or an oval. If it's vintage, it might be more of a horizontal oval shape. Maybe you want team or organic. You don't want to fit within a traditional shape. Or maybe it's more of a triangle or an octagon. Hexagon. I mean, you name it. You can use any and all shapes. When it comes to logo designs, you can also create a combination of shape. So if you put like a triangle together with a square, what happens and then use that as your overall organic shape, I find it. That helps me sometimes when getting started, but by creating the overall shape you need on and knowing where it's going to end up. For example, if you know the logo is going to end up in a large square surface or a large rectangle truck, you know how much space you want to fill, so you may not want to do a more vertical logo. In that case, you may want to do more of a wider oval or more of a wider rectangular shape. Now, within that, you can do all kinds of things. But I'm trying just give you a visual, um, place to start. That's what I do anyway, and I find it helps me a lot now after shape. The next thing I think about our visuals or imagery now, what kind of visuals are going to go with the brand that I'm creating? So, for example, I never start sketching until I write out words in my sketchbook, so I will actually think of visuals or graphic ideas or images that relate in some way, even if it's obscure away. But they relate somehow to the brand that I'm working on. So, for example, I designed for a record company called Full Circle Music. Now, Full Circle Music is a record label, a swell as a recording studio in Nashville. It's an Grammy Award winning studio. They are awesome at what they do, and we wanted to create something that had a bit of a vintage feel. But that was going to be timeless enoughto last the test of time. So I went with more of a record shape, which, as you can see, is more of a circle, and it's a very kind of graphic and simplified version of a record, but it still is a record Now anyone in music knows that that's where really music and production of music began and, as as we all know, records air coming back. So it's such a great graphic for that specific, um, job. So it really depends on what you're working on. You may want Teoh pull on. More natural graphics are natural imagery. You know, maybe if you're working Maurin the natural brands you might want to work more with, like flowers, shapes of leaves, trees, the earth seeds, things like that that might just kind of pull on the sense of nature. Maybe if the branding our the company name has certain words in it like, say, say the company is called, like vanilla being coffee or something like that, and you may want to actually use those kind of graphics in it now, without being too literally, you may want to just create different spin on those ideas. Maybe they are animated in some way. Or maybe they are presented in a fund graphic way that actually looks a bit not as literal as I find. When it looks too literal, I can almost not translate for as long of a period of time. You want to keep things fairly graphics that they lot last as long as possible. So this is kind of some of the things you need to think about when it comes to the actual visual in the logo. Now some locals air not visual as faras graphics or imagery at all. Some are purely typographic, so in that case, then you don't need to even consider this step. But for most Logo's, I find there's some kind of, AH, visual graphic in there is in some way. So it's really important to really think through visuals that associate with the brand, even if they're not is obvious, and you can almost kind of create metaphoric visuals and then later on explain to your client. This is why this shape of this flower really relates to your brand because you are relating to this customer, and this flower might relate to them in this way. There's a variety of ways to do that, and it's so subjective. So be creative here and make your visual something that is really going. Teoh work with the overall branding and the overall customer of the logo company that you're working with the next step in the sketching processes, really associating with a style of typography. So fonts as well as handmade fonts are, um, they really add personality and flavor to any and every design, especially logos. They can really create a sense of a time era of masculine feminine, of um, more handmade feel or more of a corporate feel. They can make something look very ultramodern, or they can take it back into a totally different time area based on bonds that we use. So the next step relieves to decide on fonts as well. Or in this case, it might be a hand made font. Ah, hand lettering and handmade fonts have become a major major thing again, which I love, because I love to create that, and it's actually a great way Teoh create branding because nobody else is going tohave that fawn in that exact form of a letter A or that exact form oven F or whatever it might be. So it may actually be a bit of an advantage if you operate in more of a handmade feel, because then that way your clients are getting truly a one of a kind logo, which is very cool. So I wanted heard you then to think about the fonts that you want to work with and how that will actually serve the end messaging. Because again fonts really carry personality. They carry style. They actually could change the entire silhouette of your logo. So, um that that's a very important step when it comes to selecting the correct don't just go with the most obvious thing, either. It could be one of the first mistakes. I think of somebody who's just starting out is to just go with the most commonly used font . I find that if we really dig a bit deeper and we just create a bit of a twist on a traditional thought, it actually makes the logo feel more authentic, more authentic to that brand. Like, for example, you could take a Helvetica font and actually create a twist of it in some way. Or maybe one of the letter forms is actually becoming the graphic. I mean, there's a variety of ways that you can solve that. So I encourage you to really play with the font as well as the font and the graphic interaction. Sometimes the interaction between the thought and the graphic is what really makes a logo, and so I would encourage you to think about that as well. Now, texture, texture, again is all about personality. If something is really clean and there's no grit on it, and it's just looks shiny and new that has its own feeling, whereas if it's something that's been warning, it could have a bit more vintage feel. So if your brand that your building is actually, um, they want to feel a bit more aged and they want to feel like they're relating to older time era, you may want to add texture to your logo to really amp that up and to make it feel as though this love has been around for a few decades. So that's a really fun way to add personality to any logo. Or if you really want to feel kind of fun and Corky and young, um, and kind of like silly, you can always make it look as though the font is maybe wet so you could make it look like with highlights within rounded kind of bubbled fonts. You can actually make it look as though the font is actually lacquered or wet or plastic or leather. You can create a variety of different textures with different techniques with an illustrator, for example, so these kind of things you can have showed on paper and then eventually take onto the computer. So now that you've created a variety of sketches. I would encourage you to now select three to work up to present to your client. Now why 33 is a great round number, and it's a standard when it comes to local design, because if you send only one logo than the client feels a bit ripped off like, well, worse arrested the ideas. But if you send to again, they just don't like they're getting enough. But I find three is a real sweet spot so that they feel like they're getting a variety of ideas and make sure that each of those ideas are completely separate. You don't want it to be like Here's three ideas. They're all kind of the same. You know, that makes some sense. So send three completely different ideas that are all going to serve the client in some way , shape or form, but in different ways. So that gives a client a rial ability to see the three ideas and make a decision on which one that they like Now, once they look at those ideas, then it's then time to kind of start the back and forth, which I'll talk about in a moment. But this is now the time where you want to take these three sketches, bring them into your computer and then begin to work them up in the next phase. 6. 5. Converting Sketches To Vectors: in this section. I want to talk to you guys about taking your three sketches that you've decided on and actually bringing them into your computer to work them up to three great concepts to show to your design clients. Now, one way that you can bring your sketches into your computer is the old fashioned way of scanning them. I don't even have a scanner anymore. I haven't used one in a while. But if you do have a scanner, that's still a great way to scan your sketches and then bring them into photo shop to then start the process. One of the ways that I bring in my local designs onto the computer is I actually just take a photo of them on my phone. The fun thing about this is you can actually take the photo at different angles, and then that way, while you're translating your local later on on to say Illustrator, it's created vector. You can actually then begin to trace it on and angles that the whole locals on an angle that's just a little tip, or you can just take it really squared on and get a really great squared on photo of it and then take it into the computer. That way it's really up to you. You're basically taking your sketch, and it's becoming kind like a guide for you as you're working in illustrator to create a vector logo file. So that's the way I would encourage you to do that. And once you do that, then you can start sketching them back. She going around and actually outlining things with an illustrator. I'm not going into that in this course, but that's the way that I would do it once I've outlined the shapes that fonts everything in illustrator. Or maybe I'm actually recreating the fonts by actually using the font palette in illustrator. But by then, what I would do is I would create one vector file, Um, in in black and white, I was designed in black and white and then add color, and from there I would then decide what kind of texture I want to add to my logo. So you always want to save one file that is not textured because I find you want to have to go back later on and redesign it so I would always save one file Ah, that is the native file and illustrated the AI file that does not have any texture added to its. You wanted to be kind of like the basic simplified logo without any texture at it. And then I would do separate variations by adding textures this way and really covering your bases. I would also do the same thing with colors. I always designed everything in black and white first, because I find that actually just covers the bases so that later on, if that logo is, you know, sent through a fax er or ah, photocopier of some kind, it's still gonna work, whether it's just black and white. Or if there's color added, I've actually created an entire course all about just black and white, so you could check that out if you want. Now there's a variety of ways you can add texture to your logo's. One of the ways I do that actually will find a texture and take it into photo shop and make sure that it's made into Onley black and white. I can then bring that texture into illustrator, and then that way I can actually outline that texture or auto trace it, and that could become a actual vectored texture file. I can then take that texture and mask it within the shapes that I've want, or within the font that I want to create textured shapes and use that within my local file . I find this is the easiest way because your overall shape of your logo or the L Illustrated details become kind of like a mask that can actually be applied over top of any texture you want. So you could have it look really slick and modern. Or you can have it look really texturizing age. And technically, your logo shape is not being compromised. That's the way that I would approach it, and I encourage you to a swell. The most important thing is that we are always working towards a vector file because in Illustrator of Vector file means that your shape is comprised of a variety of points so that you're not dependent ever on pixels. Now, photo shop is great for a variety of reasons. I love photo shop, but it's not ideal for actually fully designing your logo in. You can start there. You can play with shapes there, you can play with visuals there. But ultimately everything has to be outlined as a factor file so that I cannot actually be sent off to printers or two. People were going to produce a variety of different materials with this logo so very, very important to make sure that everything ends up as a vector file as a logo design. 7. 6. Presenting Logo Ideas To Your Client: So now that you've created your three logo designs that you're ready to present to your client, what you want to do is save them as J pegs and attach them into an email. You want to present three completely different ideas over email to your clients, and I'm gonna show you how to really write an email to your client to make sure that they know that you're not just sending off random ideas but that you're presenting three ideas to them. One of the ways to really limit any back and forth when it comes to presenting ideas with your clients is to be super clear in your first initial email submitting ideas. So, for example, I would say in an email, Hello, John, or whatever their name is. And I would say, Here are my three initial logo design ideas for your brand. Then I would my next line would be logo one colon and I would literally describe in one sentence the concept behind that logo design. So I might say, in this logo design, we decided to take on a vintage spin on things and use a vintage font with this symbol. You know, whatever it might be. And then I would do the same thing for local number two and local number three. Now these air considered rationales, if you will. Now those of you who are designed students, you'd be familiar with that term. Those of you who are self talk designers may not be as familiar with it, but basically you're kind of giving them one selling point or kind of your reasoning behind each logo design. And don't go on in like a paragraph for each one because people just don't have time. I find nowadays. So I would just say in literally one sentence, This is wide this logo design and answer that question and I find that's really all you want. You don't want to go on for too much and overwhelming your client as a really email. Most importantly, they're just gonna open up the email there and open up the visuals and start clicking through them. They just want to know what you designed, which one they like the most and which one they are drawn to the most. They may not even know why they love it so much, but there's just something about it connects with them, and you want to find out which one of those is the one that connects your client the most. There's gonna do one of those, hopefully that actually, really feels right or feels like they're kind of home or their It feels the most like them , and I find that that's how it is in general with design. People are looking for kind of like themselves in design, so there's certain reasons why we're attracted to certain things. So that's basically the experience your client is having as they're looking through these designs. So then they will respond to you, hopefully within the time frame that you've requested with which one they are drawn to the most. So they might respond and say, Hey, I love number two. It might just get that, and then you could work up number two to the final or they might say, Hey, like number three. But I really love a lot Number two. Can we mix those two together somehow? And then from there, you can go ahead and work on that now, within your business, you may have certain rules as far as how many times you do, Um, and it's now I personally will send three logo designs and I will do, like wanted Teoh edit rounds. So in other words, I will take their notes to say they come back and they say, I love number one But I would like to maybe try different font. I would be like, Great, I will do that for you. No problem. And then I would go back and send another one. Now, if they want to keep going back and forth and back and forth many times, I then save them. I will. Do you No two edits on, and then I will need to charge you extra feet. So maybe your extra fee is an extra $100 or it's an extra $75. You be the judge on that, and you have to base on on based on your original pricing. Um, but I find that when you say that you charged after a certain number of edits upfront on, that would be in your consultation as well. But, um, that just gives them an idea that your time is valuable and that you can't just keep going around in circles, so you want to get them a bit of an overall timeframe to work with and a few different edits. You can't just say these local idea is take it or leave it. You want to be a little bit flexible to them to be able to make some edits. But I would say like two more rounds at the most assed faras to new variations of ideas. Now that is just one way that I find helps me to stay on top of really completing the logo design because some clients could go on and on forever. But I don't want to go on Go on forever. I want this logo designed to be great, and I want Teoh complete it and move on to my next client because this is a business, right? So again, I would limit the number of edits to about two extras and on top of the three so that that way you are not over doing it and spending hours and hours and days rookie on logos for the same client, so the back and forth conversation can go on a little while. But I find by limiting the number edits it lacks, you shorten that whole conversation and Sometimes you may need to get on the phone with your client. Say, if you're not fully finding that what you're presenting is fully connected with them. Um, maybe even after your first round of show, your 1st 3 you might want to say, Hey, look, if none of these work for you, let's talk about why. So what was it about them that you did like? What did you hate? Um, what is it you didn't love about it? Why did not connect? So that way, if you are creating another, um, logo or two, you're not basically working in the dark and just taking stabs in the dark. That is one sure way to get frustrated as a designer and feel like you're being taken advantage of. So again, communications everything. And don't just only do it over email. If there's a flat out no to your 1st 3 ideas, I would get on the phone for sure, because that means that something along the way the communication was off. And even if you have your consultation sheet, you're listening sheep and you feel like you're actually answering and you're doing what they're asking for. If it's still not hitting the mark. Then you may want to have a phone call and just make sure that there really communicating where they're at what they want. And at that time, I would also talk to them about the fact that for me to continue designing, I need to charge more so I could do to new ideas. Um, but after that I have to charge a extra feet. That's really important to know guys. And again, this could be kind of the sticky area or the scary area for creatives because we always like to get on the phone and talk about challenges of our clients are we don't always like to work through those kind of challenges, but the way you handle this is the way that people are going to remember you. So you want to always be friendly, always the corneal and always be willing to adjust like there's gonna be times we're going to just your idea a little bit. As long as you're being true to yourself, then just keep makes your clients really happy with their logo 8. 7. Sending Final Logo Files To Your Client: Hi, guys. Welcome back. And in this video, I'm gonna talk to you guys all about finalizing your logo. Design your client now, once any back and forth or any changes have been made to the logo, it's now time to finalize your logo. Make sure that you have a nice clean vector file that you can then present to your client and send them the finals. For now, in some cases, when I'm working with my design clients, I'll actually be sending them a few different variations of the same logo. So, for example, sometimes in a logo design there's an icon or a visual. And then there's the text, and sometimes they're not intertwined together. They might be kind of beside each other on top of each other underneath each other, and so on. So at some points, the logo design may be needed to present it as separate entities. So sometimes I'm actually presenting arm, sending one final logo as a one completed item. But I'm also sending a file folder that's just got the icon, and then I'm also sending a file folder that's just got the typography treatment now. Yes, this is way more work and it's kind of, you know, might be a bit of, ah pain. But again, it's just service by really serving your client and providing kind like a grouping of the same logo kind of broken up together. Sometimes you might even create one folder that is just that logo texturizing. So in some cases that may or may not need to be texturizing texture may work in some things , and it may not work in others. So again, I find that you send everything nicely organized unfold er's this way that your clients will just love you. Number one there teams will love you. Anyone who works with them and their marketing teams or anyone who is, You know, their printers will love you because they'll be getting everything so organized in folders . So say you're working on a Barber shops logo now in the logo folder that you're going to be sending them. You're gonna also have these subcategory folders that are going to have, say, the full logo with the logo, typography and icon. You're also going to have just the typography in a different folder. Euronext folder is going to be just the icon or just the visual. And then maybe you're gonna have 1/4 folder that's going to be the entire logo textured. So you're going to make sure that your tiling of each of those folders is simple so that they know exactly what's in that folder. Aziz. Well as, say, colors. So sometimes I might provide a logo design in color, and then another folder. Is that logo design in just black ink or just black or just white? So again, it really depends on your client. But by serving them by providing separate folders of different variations of the logo, I find it really helps him out. And it really keeps them organized so that if they need to send off their logo to a printer for anything, they have it all right there. They're not like calling you in two months going, Oh, my gosh, I'm in a panic. I need this special logo for an embroidery job, and I don't have the color that need or it's texturizing. I need be simple. Five. Those kind of calls are just sort of frustrating for you as a designer, because you've already moved on past the job I find do everything once and do it really well, and that way your clients are happy and you could move onto your next jobs. For example, you might have one logo, but you have it for print, so you might have it in some formats for print and some formats for Web and some for social media. So you made size your files differently for those purposes, and I always provide a variety of file four months for my clients because again, I want them to be able to print the logo anywhere. So I want them to have an AI file, which is the vector file I wanted also have a Pdf because pdf it's so easy to translate on a variety of things that I would provide the logo on like a standard sheet document in a pdf just that they have it. I would also provide the logo as a J peg for the purposes of social media. I would often crop them as a square, even if it's not a square logo I always cropping as a square space around. It's that they can use it in their social media as their profile, for example, or I find a square crop J. Pegasus super important and needed at this time. And I also provide a transparent background file as a PNG. This way, if they want to take their file on their logo file and use it four social media or on their website, they have a PNG file that is a transparent background, that they can then apply to their website as maybe it's going over like a textured image or it's going over top of really any kind of backdrop on their website. So those the four months I always provide so again, guys thes the ways that I would be sending my finals to my client to make sure that they have everything that they need. Um, moving forward, I would gather all of these file formats inside of each of the sub folders, Technically would have usually four sub folders inside of each of those sub folders. I would have all four formats out having a ay file, a pdf A J peg and a PNG. Now those four seemed to really cover all their basis, and I would encourage you to use those as well. This way, your customers are going to be thrilled to have all of these things in one place. Now I know that sounds like a lot of work again. It's really about serving your customers serving these clients are coming to you. They're asking us to build them a branding, build them their logo, so it's really are privileged to be able to provide these things. And yes, it's a bit more work up front. But that way it's done once, and it's done well. Lastly, when I'm gathering all of my file formats and sub folders for my client with their new logo design, what I would also do is I would gather all these folders and I would gather them into one folder and give it the name, local design and then the brand's name. And I would then put it, put that all into a Dropbox link. Um, or, you know, there's a variety of different file transfer ways that you can send your files. I typically like to use Dropbox, for example, and then I am sending only one Dropbox link in my email to my client, and I would say something like, Hey, here's your new ah, local design. It's been a pleasure working with you. And in this link, you will be able to download all of the variations of your logo as well as the formats so that you can have convenience when it comes to production. I always will say, at the end of my email, working the client is anything else you need. I'm here for you. You let me know and I will make sure you get it as well. There may or may not be some kind of special request that they might have. So go ahead and and include that as well in your email to your client. 9. 8. Final Design Invoice: now. Last but not least, what I would do. Send one final email to my client, where I would give them the final invoice of the 50% balance owing on the logo design. Now the email would go something like this. It would say Low John. It's been a pleasure working on your logo. Here's my final invoice for the 50% still outstanding. Um, please let me know if you need anything else, and I look forward to working with you again. There's nothing wrong with kind of putting a bug in their ear that you'd love to work with other clients, like them, their colleagues or friends or family that might could maybe you could use some of your design service. So this is just a nice way to end on a sweet note and to make sure that they know you're always, um, very happy to receive the referrals. Now, when it comes to the invoice, Um, on your invoice, you can say something like, um, you know, here's the balance owing some people like to say, do in 15 days or in 30 days. I just don't really see any of that. I just send the email, and it's kind of just an implication or implied that, um, the balances Teoh pretty much pronto or like right away. So I don't say, Oh, I'll give you 15 days or 30 days or 45 days. I just don't even like to give that thought to the client. I think if you send somebody in voice, it's a kind of an obvious thing that you're requesting that they just pay it. So my clients always just pay it, like literally within a day or two. Um, and they just sent either e transfer or PayPal payment or check or whatever it might be. So, depending on how you want to work it, you can actually include those details on your invoice. But as just a recommendation, I maybe wouldn't just because if you're kind of giving them the idea that you don't have to pay me now, you can pay me in 30 days. Then they might forget later, and then you're going to be playing that catch up with them game and trying to, like, find them to pay off your 50% going. So I just like to send them in even email with the invoice, and it's implied that its do immediately. So I encourage you to do that. And I hope that that has helped you in your final invoice stage. 10. 9. Project: Logo Design Challenge: No, my project challenge for you would be to create a logo and post it on our projects section . And I hope that that would encourage you to really go through the process that this courses offered. When it comes to really consulting with a client, maybe you print out your listening sheet and you actually go through this process and you also post you're listening sheet on the things that the client was looking for. And even if you're just getting started and you want to just play and have this process just to be able to post something and include it just that we can all see your work, um, I encourage it. You know, if you make up listening, she just for fun and you make up a client name and you go through this process is for fun to just get your ball off. You're just get yourself rolling with these ideas of working in this way on logo designs. And this is a really great way to build a business by going through these kind of processes because I find it's like you're creating, um, the system of how you're going to operate as a design business by going through these processes because after a while they'll become like second nature. But at first it might seem a bit uncomfortable. So by practicing and posting a local design on the project section, it's just one other way to kind of get your mind working in that way. Someone Did you wait to work with a client, or maybe you have a client right now and you can actually use this listing sheet right now , and it's a real client, and you can go through this whole process and post their local design as long as they're okay with it. Um, then that would be a nice way to just get this whole process started in the way of really serving your client as a very professional local designer. Because a lot of logo designers out there is guys. There's a lot of people that call themselves logo designers. But you and I know that not everyone who has a computer or has skill is a designer. It's really the ones who are gonna take things to the next level, be professional and really listen to their client really serve their quiet well that are really going to be able to make an income with design and an income logo design. So encourage you guys to go ahead and try this out and try out this the things that I taught you in this course and create something for us and post it in the project section and let us all see your style. Let us see the kind of work that you can create with logos. We look forward to seeing them in the project section. Thank you guys so much for taking my course. I love hearing your feedback, any comments, any questions. I'm definitely here for you guys, and I encourage you guys to continue to build. You're a freelance business with logo design.