Which is more difficult - Designing a logo for yourself or a client?
Charlie B. Johnson Comments  18

Well, to feel better and drive myself out of the guilt of not updating my blog for so many days, I decided to do something new for my blog and thought what better than a new logo design can contribute.  Tell me something friends, isn’t it much harder to make a logo for yourself than for a client or I am being exceptional. Trust me; my idea for my new blog logo design has driven me crazy.

Although, we all know ourselves so well but still I think designing for yourself is one of the hardest things to do. Please, don’t think I am justifying working for clients as an easy job…..winning that battlefield has its own difficulties.

Being a graphic designer, we all know how to satisfy our clients and fulfill their demands…every graphic designing blog has enough stuff on it. However, I want you to help make things easy for me. I am listing advices on how to work when we our own clients. I would really appreciate if you add more points because longer is the list, easier will become my job.

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1: Treat yourself like an important client

Don’t take yourself for granted and give your self ample of time. Make several of designs before opting the final one. If we can put in so much of hard work for our customers then why not for ourselves?

2: Schedule your work in priority list

Never underestimate your project…add it to your priority list because your work is as important as your client’s projects.

3: Compare your designs with your favorite logo designs

Keep some of your all-time favorite, inspiring logo designs in your mind. They will help you come up with some creative ideas.

4: Get your designer friends review it

I think best person to guide you about your logo design are your friend designers as they have a good know-how on designing.

5: Be open to criticism

Don’t sit with a sour heart if anyone doesn’t appreciate your design much. Start from a scratch again.

6: Hide it for few days

After coming up with a design, hide it under job folders and then take it out after few days to study with a fresh mind. Maybe, you might see something you missed or might want to change.

7: Your logo is for your audience

Never miss your targeted audience and people whom you are offering your service/product.

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8: Don’t miss your business essence:

As we always keep taking business details from our clients, similarly we should not forget our business goals and theme.

9:Don’t be much influenced by your competitor’s logo

We all want to be unique but sometime’s we are so impressed by our competitor’s work that unconsciously we come up with a logo design, resembling his logo….better be careful.

10: Color, fonts and size should not be neglected

A logo is not just about a creative idea. Often, important facets of a logo design are overlooked, even by experienced design professionals but you better check all aspects well.

Well, I am working on these points to come up with a stunning logo design (at least, that’s what I expect my logo to be ;) If you have more points to contribute…please don’t hesitate.

But guys, I would like you to leave after sharing your answer with us
“Designing a logo for yourself or a client – which is difficult?”

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Posted in: Design Inspiration, General Graphic Design, Logo Design, Resources for Graphic Designers, Tips for Graphic Designers

18 Responses to “Which is more difficult - Designing a logo for yourself or a client?”

Squashed Rainbows | May 13th, 2009 at 7:29 am

It’s because you are your own worst critique and when designing for a client there is a deadline but when its for yourself the ability to move deadlines to alter it one more time is too easy! Great satisfaction in the end though!!

SaraKate | May 13th, 2009 at 8:23 am

Great tips. I’m going to keep them in mind. I need to set aside some time to do just this. :)

416 Studios | May 13th, 2009 at 8:45 am

That is what we are just struggling with… new logo and website for ourselves…. Thank you for this article :)

Daniel | May 13th, 2009 at 10:44 am

Just in answer to your question, I think it is a lot more difficult to design for yourself! When you design for yourself it has to be representative of what you can do.

Mr Kuzio | May 13th, 2009 at 10:47 am

The best challenge is to drawing a logo for myself because I have more than one proposal to offer. One logo is not enough for me.

Drawing a logo for a society that offer only one service or product is really easy. But this is only a dream. XD

Mahdi | May 13th, 2009 at 2:00 pm

Great article! I think the points can very easily carry over to a variety of fields and projects. We just don’t spend enough time on designing/developing/synthesizing for ourselves.

Jmanu | May 13th, 2009 at 2:49 pm

Great tips, thanks!
I will put into practice.
When I’m working for someone else, the client goes helping me to choosing and demarcate the work line until it’s ready and he’s satisfied. Design for myself it’s more difficult, because I wants the best work for me and I always turn on the same subject and some days later there is no advance…My advice is to define things, fix own deadlines of the differents stages of process and forward to the next stage

design northampton | May 13th, 2009 at 3:21 pm

Designing for yourself is definitely more difficult. Everytime i see a new website/logo i really like i always want to re-design ours… i don’t think i’ll ever be satisfied!

Paulo Fragatti | May 13th, 2009 at 8:35 pm

I think that the difficult is because we, designer know the concepts about art, about our area, anyway.

And when we’re designing for ourselves, we are most demanding than when we’re designing for a costumer

Congrats for the blog.

GearModa | May 13th, 2009 at 10:24 pm

I think that designing a logo for yourself is much harder, I find that I get too emotionally attached to my logo! Every little detail becomes a big deal. Whereas when designing a logo for a client, I follow through swiftly, without second guessing myself. Thanks for these tips they will be helpful.

mysticdave | May 13th, 2009 at 11:24 pm

I think designing for yourself is much harder, For me personally i am such a perfectionist, i am never satisfied, i keep trying to improve and improve, until it drives me crazy and i have to put down my work and be satisfied with what i already have. I used to run a silk-screening company, you know, making t-shirts for people. Even though i was hardly ever satisfied with their product design, they always loved it, so i am learning not to listen too much to that critic inside me.

Norman Flecha "STRAIGHTALK" | May 14th, 2009 at 12:39 am

Well this really depends on your customer I think, but I must agree that we ourselves are the hardest clients to please!

rajeev | May 14th, 2009 at 2:29 am

thanks for ur valuable information

Mokokoma Mokhonoana | May 14th, 2009 at 4:14 am

I think most designers struggle in *hiring* themselves, reasons for that differs from designer to designer.

But how many times do you hear designers sulking that the client chose the *wrong* or *least effective* design?

The fact that we know what makes an effective design should make the process easier as opposed to having a client that has minimal (or no design literacy at all) given the authority to have the final say on which design stays and which goes.

Plus one gets too obsessed with perfection.

Michael | May 14th, 2009 at 1:16 pm

It is tough when designing for yourself. There are several factors for this. I believe one of the biggest is that you are (as many say) your own worst critic. You are also challenged with finding your inner self (which is difficult for most of us, especially artist), what style should your logo present, what colors and fonts are most comfortable for you and your product or service, which designs represent you? When you are working for a client all you have to go by is what they tell you and the feelings you get of the client during your meetings. This narrows your scope of vision and makes it easier to target your sites on the client.

netultimate | May 14th, 2009 at 11:32 pm

well i think this is a very good blog and it can be made more rich by posting useful posts.thank you and congratulation for this blog.

Mark H | May 15th, 2009 at 6:21 pm

I suspect it is trickier designing one for yourself as you are creator, judge and jury. With a client, you get feedback and direction to help the creative juices.

joyologo design shop 2.0 | May 15th, 2009 at 6:28 pm

nice article, thanks for tips..

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