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It’s always been amazing to me that as industry professionals, we send creative work out to you, our darling clients, and expect to have logical rational feedback on what is set in front of you. We then have the gal to let our creative tempers flame when the comments that return are based on subjective and highly personalized references.

But really – what did we expect?  As a client, you are simply pulling from what little you know. You like blue, but that shape reminds you of this or that, make the font bigger – cause isn’t the whole point of having a logo to advertise your brand name with flare?
 
In an ideal world, your designers have taken the time to educate you and help create a certain level of expectation. We designers and consultants have ‘the eye’ to instinctively see what works and what doesn’t, and it’s our responsibility to share some of the basic insights with the end users of our creative works.
 
The basics of what any and all logos (or brand marques) need to answer fall into two categories: 1.    The strategic accountability (or concept)
2.    The technical functionality
 
Strategic accountability (or concept)
 
Your brand strategy is most probably the criteria that determined needing a specialist to help you in creating your logo in the first place. There is a reason that companies invest tens of thousands of dollars on developing their brand, let alone the brand marque that reflects it. So how do you, as a regular everyday human being, determine if this wonderful logo fits the bill? Simple: does it answer and live within the parameters of your brands strategy? ?If you don’t have a brand strategy, unfortunately you have embarked on this exercise by putting the cart before the horse. The brand strategy is the foundation on which any expression of your brand will live, including your brand marque. This is so the entire life and breath of your brand across all forums communicate your business position and corporate culture clearly and consistently.
 
The great thing about having the brand strategy is that it actually ends up guiding all decisions. All those personal preferences and subjective likes and dislikes stop having any relationship to the decision at hand. You now have a clear check-list of what your marque should strategically represent:

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