a comp

SEE PAGE 60

(for further instructions!)

LOGO, FONT a LETTERING BIBLE

37

The first step in tackling a logo design
is immersing yourself in the mentality of
the product and the client company. As adver¬
tising legend Jerry Della Femina once wrote
of this process, "I can tell you how to be a

route salesman for a product called Moxie___

I know more about the feminine-hygiene bus¬
iness than I should legally know."

That's right, dive into it! Start buying books
and magazines on the subject, drink the cola,
wear the shoes, study the web site, interview
company employees, arrange focus groups,
and so on. If it's a restaurant logo, eat at the
restaurant, then check out competing restau¬
rants and their logos. One very important
aspect of the immersion stage—which is real¬
ly about doing your homework—is that you'll
be able to speak knowledgeably to your client
about his or her product or company, and this
will give them confidence in you.

On the other hand, immersion is sometimes
completely unnecessary. All that's required is
just some hip-looking lettering that relates
more to current fashion than to anything
about the client company. A mystique gets
attached to the logo creation process, because
a design firm likes to make clients think that
there is some magical logo solution only it can
provide. And companies, wanting to feel that
they've hired the hottest designer on the
planet, come to assume that a logo by any less
a talent than you would spell doom for their
enterprise.

I believe that if one thousand halfway
decent designers each presented logos to
Exxon, Sony and Nike and each of those com¬
panies picked one logo out of their respective

hats and used them, there would be no meas¬
urable effect upon these companies' year-end
financial statements. Unless a logo is really
terrible—which can indeed do damage to a
company's image and thus affect sales—the
choice of this logo vs. that logo just isn't so
important; it's more about the context in which
the logo is used.

Usually, the logo version that gets chosen is
never the best one—if such a criteria as "best"
even exists. It's the logo that the CEO's
spouse or drinking buddies preferred. Several
times I found myself sitting with presidents
and vice presidents of large companies, dis¬
cussing ads or logos. I realized that these guys
were not really smarter than anybody else,
mainly they just had bigger inferiority com¬
plexes, which caused them to become more
unconscionably avaricious than other men.

But anyway, immersion can also involve
coming to understand a client's needs. Lou
Dorfsman said, "I do my best work when I
perceive the need, the solution to the need,
and sell that perception to management."
Herbert Bayer said, "[When making a presen¬
tation to a client] I concentrate on the pur¬
pose of a project, or meaning and content. I
use the word art as little as possible. By
explaining the nature of the solution, I have
few difficulties getting ideas accepted."

And according to Bill Golden, "My solutions
do not spring from aesthetic considerations
but from a business or marketing position.
The aesthetics will take care of itself."

So that's why we immerse ourselves in
research (then end up doing whatever it was
we wanted to do in the first place).