How to brief a designer.

What a good brief does

A brief is a short note that tells a designer what problem they are solving. It doesn't need to be fancy. One page is plenty.

A good brief saves rounds. Most logo projects that drag on do it because nobody said up front that the logo has to work in one color on a hat, or that the owner hates green.

Write it down before the first meeting. You'll get a better first draft and fewer surprises.

The brief is also the thing you hand the next vendor. Keep a copy with your logo files.

What to put in the brief

• The business in one sentence. What you do and where. "Roofing company in Round Rock" is enough.
• Who your customers are. Homeowners, schools, other businesses. It changes the tone.
• The exact name. Spelling, capitals, LLC or not, and any tagline that must appear.
• Where it will live. Truck doors, yard signs, polos, hats, a website, a social icon, invoices.
• Colors. Ones you want, ones you already use and ones that are off limits.
• Likes and dislikes. Two or three logos you like and one you don't, with a line on why.
• What must stay. If an old logo has a mark people know, say so.
• The date. If the trucks get wrapped in three weeks, the designer needs to know.

Where the logo has to work

This is the part most briefs skip. A logo is not one picture. It has to hold up in a lot of places.

• Embroidery on a hat can't hold thin lines or tiny text.
• Screen printing charges by color, so a one or two color version saves money on every shirt order.
• Yard signs and banners are read from the street, so bold beats detailed.
• A social icon is a tiny circle. A wide logo with a long name won't fit.

Ask for a full version, a stacked or square version, and a one color version. Our screen printing and embroidery pages show why simple marks print better.

Engraving is its own case. A laser marks one tone, so a gradient or a drop shadow turns into a smudge. A one color version solves that too.

Files to ask for back

When the logo is done, get these files. Put it in the agreement so it isn't a surprise later.

• Vector master. AI, EPS, SVG or vector PDF. This is the one that scales from a business card to a 4x8 ft banner. If you only get one file, get this one.
• PNG with a transparent background. For your website, email signature and slides. Get it large.
• PDF. Easy to send to any printer and opens on any computer.
• Color codes. Pantone for print matching, CMYK for presses, RGB and HEX for screens.
• Font names. So a menu or flyer can use the same type.
• Versions. Full color, one color black, and white for dark backgrounds.

A logo saved off your website is not a print file. For why, read what print ready means.

How a logo project usually runs

1. You send the brief and any old files on a job ticket.
2. The designer asks a few questions, then builds first concepts.
3. You pick a direction and send one set of notes.
4. The designer refines it and tests it where you said it will live: a shirt, a sign, a social icon.
5. You approve, and you get the vector master, PNGs, PDF and color codes.

Test it before you sign off. Print the logo small on plain paper and look at it from across the room. If it doesn't read at both sizes, say so now.

What our design costs

Here is how we bill design at Fingerprint Ideas:

• Logo design, $250 flat.
• Layout, $45 per hour. Resizing a design to a new shape, adding bleed, setting up a print file.
• Graphic design, $65 per hour. Rebuilding a blurry logo as vector, cleaning up photos, fixing colors.
• Full project design, $125 per hour. Building a piece from scratch, like a brochure or a truck layout.

Proofs on new jobs come back in 1 to 2 business days. Anything outside those rates is quoted on the ticket before we start.

A brand board keeps everything matching

A brand board is one page with your logo versions, your colors with their codes and your fonts. That's it.

A simple one holds:

• Primary logo, stacked version and icon
• One color and white versions
• Two to four colors, each with Pantone, CMYK, RGB and HEX
• One or two fonts, by name
• A note on spacing, like how much room to leave around the logo

It matters because a business ends up with a lot of vendors. A sign company, a shirt printer, a web person, a truck wrap shop. Each one asks for your logo, and each one gets whatever file is handy. That is how the blue on the sign ends up different from the blue on the polo and the website.

Hand every vendor the same brand board and the same vector file. The sign, the polo and the website start from one source. If you'd like us to build a brand board with your logo, the cost is quoted on the ticket.

When we print the sign, the shirts and the cards ourselves, we match them side by side. See our printing and signs and banners pages.

Common brief mistakes

• "Make it pop." Say what you mean instead: bigger, brighter, easier to read from the road.
• Too many cooks. Pick one person to give feedback. Mixed notes from five people make a muddy logo.
• No size list. If nobody mentions hats, you find out at the embroidery proof.
• Only getting a JPG. Ask for the vector master before you pay the final invoice.
• Skipping the one color version. It costs you on every screen printed order after.
• Chasing trends. A logo should still look right in ten years on a truck door.
• Too much text. A phone number and a list of services belong on the sign, not in the logo.

Send it to us

Open a job ticket and paste your brief into the notes. Upload any old logos, photos of your trucks or signs, and logos you like. The uploader takes 20 files at 100MB each, so send originals.

If you would rather talk it through, call or text 512-817-2200. Once your logo and files are clean, every sign, shirt and card after that gets easier.

Have an old logo you want to keep? Send the best file you can find, even a photo of your truck. We'll tell you if it can be rebuilt or if a new one makes more sense.