Designing a logo for a new business is the ultimate of blank slates. No history, no existing perceptions, no legacy constraints. There also may not be full product lines, core values, or other helpful starting points.
Even still, there’s always “stuff” to work with and places to find design inspiration. The spark can come from founder stories, from the physical place where the business is located, or the aspirations of what the organization hopes to become.
When you’re in that space of newness, I think it’s important to explore more than one idea or vibe. There may be a notion in the mind of a founder or marketing team of what the logo should look like. Especially then, I recommend seeing options and questioning things to get to the point where there is a confident certainty about the path forward.
For example, with the branding of Alchemy Farm, a mushroom farm in New Jersey, we started with dozens of sketches before narrowing to 3 concepts for rough digital mock ups.
Natural/organic:
Playful/magical:
Scientific/mythical:
From that point, the farm could easily rule out one of the options and we focused on the remaining two to build out further:
After another round, the farm knew they wanted to go with the scientific, alchemy symbol focused marks, and it was down to refining the shapes and color palette.
Here’s the finished product:
When I work with an organization on branding, even established ones that are rebranding, I always include this kind of variety. You don’t have to go too far down the path of different concepts to understand what is working for you. Sometimes a sketch is enough. You may need rough digitizations.
I often equate it to house hunting. You go to open houses. You check out homes that don’t seem like they’ll be right for you. You see five or six homes in a day, scour online listings and image galleries. Every visit helps you whittle down what you like and what you don’t. You begin to really know what you want, and then we you see it, at long last, you now you’ve found the one.
The process of branding can be similar. Considering multiple options helps you discover all of the nuances and desires for your brand. In the end, you should have that “YES, this is the one” feeling. A logo is something you live with for a long time, not a hasty choice to make.