Thoughts On The Logo

I wrote the following note to someone I'm working with on a brand identity project. It feels worth sharing more broadly as it sums up Trischler Design Co.'s worldview on logo design and more generally the brand identity system. The person writing to me shared that they didn't want their logo to have some inside story baked in that always needed explaining.

Here's my response: 

"I’m a big believer in the logo as an “empty vessel” (hat tip to Michael Bierut), a container that takes on meaning with time and interaction. That doesn’t mean creating a mark that's super abstract without intention. All of the design decisions should be purposeful and connected to the work we did yesterday (we just finished a Messaging and Strategy Workshop). It’s just that the end result won’t likely be super literal (like representing some amazing personal story in precise detail). The goal is to create an identifier that represents the company now and grows with you as you grow. Lastly, there’s so much more to a brand identity system than a logo like words, colors, images, etc. It’s helpful not to put too much pressure on the logo, making it carry all of the weight."

I'm sure there are as many approaches to logo design as there are logos. A ton. That's ours at this moment in time. And, speaking of logos, here's a collection of logos we've worked on.