The logo design process is more structured than most clients expect — and understanding it leads to better results for everyone involved.

Most clients have no idea what goes into a logo. That’s not a criticism — there’s no reason they should. But that gap in understanding creates real problems during the project: misaligned expectations about timeline, surprise at the number of concepts presented, frustration when feedback in week three requires revisiting work from week one.

Here’s what the process actually looks like, from brief to delivery.

The Logo Design Process Step by Step

Further reading: Wikipedia: Logo · AIGA: Design Process

Stage 1: The Discovery Brief

Before any visual work starts, we need to understand the business. Not just “what does the company do” but who the clients are, what the competitive landscape looks like, what the brand needs to communicate, and what three words describe how the company wants to feel.

We also need to understand context: where will the logo appear? Business cards and a website are very different from vehicle livery and signage. A logo designed without knowing its context gets constrained later, when the designer discovers it doesn’t work at four centimetres or in embroidery.

A good brief takes two to three hours to develop properly. Clients who skip this stage or rush through it tend to be disappointed with the first round of concepts — because the concepts were built on incomplete information.

Stage 2: Research and Moodboarding

Before sketching anything, we look at the competitive landscape — what do logos in this sector look like? What are the conventions? Which ones are worth following and which are worth breaking?

We build a moodboard: visual references that establish a direction. This is presented to the client before any logo concepts are shown, because it’s much faster to agree on a direction in the abstract than to redirect after three concepts have been developed in the wrong direction. The moodboard conversation saves more time than it takes.

Stage 3: Concept Exploration

This is where the actual design work happens. We explore multiple directions — typically two to four distinct approaches, each with a clear strategic rationale. Not variations of the same idea. Different answers to the brief.

This stage happens out of sight of the client. Showing early sketches before they’re developed enough to be evaluated fairly is a common mistake — it invites feedback on unfinished thinking, which derails the process. We develop concepts to a level where they can be properly assessed, then present them.

Stage 4: Presentation and Selection

Concepts are presented in context — shown on the surfaces they’ll actually appear on. Not just a logo on a white background, but on a business card, a phone screen, a document header. This is how you evaluate whether a logo actually works, not by looking at it in isolation.

The client selects a direction. Sometimes it’s clear. Sometimes it requires a conversation about what’s working in each concept and why. That conversation is part of the process — it’s not a problem to solve, it’s information that makes the next stage better.

Stage 5: Refinement

The selected concept is refined: proportions adjusted, spacing tightened, alternative weights and sizes tested, colour variations developed. This stage can take one round or several, depending on how clear the feedback is and how much the brief has evolved since the start.

One thing that extends timelines reliably: feedback that changes the strategic direction in round three. “We’d like it to feel more approachable” in the third refinement round, when the concept was selected specifically for its authority — that’s a different brief, not a refinement note. Clear, specific feedback at each stage keeps the project on track.

Stage 6: Final Delivery

The final logo package should include: the primary logo in all variants (horizontal, stacked, icon-only, reversed), in vector format (AI, EPS, SVG) and raster format (PNG with transparency), in both colour and monochrome versions, with a simple one-page usage guide covering minimum size and clear space.

If a brand book is part of the project scope, the logo files are part of that deliverable. If it’s logo-only, the usage guide travels with the files.

You should receive files you can actually open and use. If your designer delivers something you can’t open, or files that only work in one program, ask for the standard formats listed above.

Timeline and What Slows It Down

A logo project with a clear brief, responsive client feedback, and no major strategic shifts takes four to six weeks from brief to final delivery. Projects take longer when: the brief is unclear and needs multiple iterations to stabilise, feedback takes more than a few days to come back between rounds, or the direction changes significantly after concepts have been developed.

The fastest projects are the ones where the client has done the positioning work before the brief — they know who they are, who they’re for, and what they need to communicate. The slowest are the ones where those questions are still being answered during the design process.

If you’re planning a logo or identity project in Switzerland, get in touch. We’ll tell you honestly what scope and timeline makes sense for where your business is.