A quick glance at the new and re-designed logos in 2011 got me thinking about all the work that goes into what in the end should be a very simple design. One group wrote an excellent 'behind-the-scenes' piece on a remodel of an existing logo that captures all the minutia that goes into what the client and the public see: Atlassian logo re-design Consider that this intense process is a 'simple' redesign and imagine the work that goes into (or...should go into!) creating a unique logo from scratch.
Every client is different, every product is different and every market is different. And yet designers the world over somehow keep coming up with amazing new ideas, new fonts, new concepts, new....everything. My favorite part of the Atlassian re-design process is the study of existing humanoid logos. It really is a challenge to come up with a new and decent way to represent a generic human-type being. Same for trees. and handprints.
We cleaned up the InHouse Design Studio logo; it's a logo we re-visit in an attempt to keep things fresh, this is version 3 in as many years. And because most of our work is digital and the fundamental design remains the same small adjustments are not costly. Once you commit to printing business cards and letterhead and signs, etc, these adjustments can become costly.
We encourage clients to make changes gradually if the cost of updating a logo is cost-prohibitive. The new artwork can be 'rolled out' gradually as you run out of old cards, as you use up old stationary, as signs fade. In a perfect world new logos would be 'launched' properly and thrown out into the world with great fan-fare. You will let me know when this perfect world scenario comes around?
In the meantime, enjoy the sneak peek that Atlassian provides into their design process.
