How To Ask for Logo Design Feedback

By Eko S

Artists create their work with passion; they infuse their emotions into their crafts. Designers are similar, the design creatively, honestly and keep their third eye open.

Although a designer knows how magnificent his/her design is, sometimes, the lookout to have a second opinion or thought on their crafts.

We have always heard that it is wise to showcase your work and get a second opinion which will help you get better results; however, in the case of a logo designer, things aren’t what they seem.

The designer presents their work to clients and share ideas with design communities to get honest feedback and hone their design skills.

This write-up will help both designers and business owners who have had a logo designed for them.

Subjective Feedbacks – Why Avoid Them?

You must avoid any subjective feedback, here’s why;

All this starts when you present your designs to your client or approach your friends and family to give feedback on your design.

Remember! It does not matter what they think; what someone thinks about a logo that you’ve made doesn’t matter. A logo design is an irrelevant entity to anyone who cannot understand the design language like you.

With any area of design, NEVER ask anyone what they think of your design. Now, this sounds a little rude and erratic so let’s dig deep into the reasoning of it.

What do you think of this Logo Design?

A logo is not a piece of art. It is a brand identity and a functional piece of design.

A logo that is carefully crafted to capture the attention of potential customers represent the brand has to be designed with specific design knowledge

Also, a logo has a technical design side as well. It has to be versatile to be effectively represented on different social media channels, websites, clothing, building etc. this makes a logo design legible and simple to be accommodated everywhere.

A logo is designed to perform a specific task that is understood by the designer while others have little knowledge about it. It was rightly said if you’re good at something, do it to the end and do not take the advice or opinions of anyone.

In a logo, every curve, every colour, every line has a meaning. The detail and personality of it is something that is only understood by the designer who is making it or the brand manager who owns it.

The feedback and thoughts you will receive will not justify your creativity and efforts.

Presenting your Designs

To better understand why you should never get a second opinion with your designs from anyone less design frenzy as you, here is a quick example.

Consider this, if I place a diary on your table and ask what you do think about it?

You will pick it up, place it down, and will have a couple of things to say about it. That’s completely natural, isn’t it?

But then, you will have an opinion, an opinion that goes like this;

“I think the cover page of this diary should be a little colourful; there should be some blues, greens and red to it. It looks a little boring right now. The page quality can be made better, no?”

So when you ask, “How do you feel about it?” it leads to subjective opinions.

This sadly is a dilemma of the design world that you should not ask your friend, family or anyone about your design. Unfortunately, some designers agree to do the changes, and it turns into a nightmare situation.

So just to elaborate this further, let’s bring in that diary again and pretend as if I designed that diary for you.

So here’s the diary, hold it and tell me how do you feel about it?

Now comes along the opinionated piece that will change your entire design of the diary. In this case, you have no option but to accept the changes and do as you’re told.

Now there is a way to present your design; you can say;

“I am presenting to you my artwork for a diary cover; every element on this design has meaning and brainstorming behind it. I have added pink as a colour to give this diary a personalized feel; I’ve used blue so that it becomes unisexual and people accept it as a piece to share their secrets. I have made this very design on top of this diary to encourage people to use it and feel that there’s someone with who you can share your secrets or keep notes of your meetings or write something that is important to you.”

By presenting the work in a different capacity and in a different way, you can shape the conversation and, eventually, the feedback.

Focus on delivering your project in or design in such a way that you elaborate and justify your doing with it.

This way, the feedback you will receive will improve the product and will be constructive.

Asking Friend for Feedback

What if you’re in a condition where you ask a friend or family for feedback on your logo design? Well, the answer is simple, provide them with the context of it, and they will understand what it is about.

Ask your friends & family if you have effectively designed it the way you want t to be designed? Ask them if the design is fulfilling the requisites as described?

Try getting feedback on the area of design identity; you can also try asking them target audience specific questions to further narrow down your design style.

Give them two options and ask which one they would prefer over the other. Ask them the reasons why they chose this design over the other, and while they do that, you will understand the flaws or the elements where you are lacking.

Here are some types of questions you can ask them to further hone your designing skills as per the target audience.

Which design is more futuristic?
Which logo feels and looks more premium?
Which design represents an accounting business?
What would you expect from the company to cost when seeing their logo?
Which logo looks and feels like t is of a trusted organization?
Which of the logo feels like it belongs to a company that is friendly?

There are endless questions that you can ask; however, just understand one thing; getting the perspective of people around you isn’t bad, but narrowing it down to help you design is fruitful; there’s no other way around it.

Illustration by Kunal Krishna via Dribbble

Feedback from the Design Community

Assuming you’re asking a mass crowd for criticism/feedback or to a logo community where 8000 logo fashioners hang out on the web. Here your methodology will play a vital role. Make it something more perplexing and worth talking about.

Refrain from asking individuals’ what they think about the design. Simply remember this whenever you feel like sharing designs with others. Trust me; it will help.

Since you’re addressing a community of designers doesn’t change what is happening. Everybody, regardless of what their identity is, will have private feelings or opinions, and those assessments are generally insignificant to you. You should ask the specific question as mentioned and give them the context of it.

You really want to guarantee everybody knows about the issue you are attempting to tackle, and that will support clear, evenhanded and accommodating criticism. That being said, you’ll most likely still hear emotional thoughts.

That is, unfortunately, the idea of enormous hordes of individuals. In any case, overlook the emotional criticism. It’s difficult to, I know. However, you want to remove those as it’s not useful. As I’ve referenced on different occasions, emotional criticism is insignificant.

How do you ask the right questions?

I understand that there will be people reading this and struggling to understand how to wireframe the right questions?

Well, to answer it, you need to fall back to the start of your project.

You need to ask questions to create a logo design; you must understand the challenges which are faced while designing one.

In terms of a logo design, there are these four key areas that need special attention.

The business (whose logo is being made)
The competition of the business (Whose logo is being made)
The target audience
The expectation of the client from the logo design

Let me further elaborate on the questions part;

Business

What is the name of the company you’re working for?
What are the product or services they provide?
Is there a unique hidden story in making the business?
What is the platform where the logo will be used?
Is there a company slogan or tagline?

Competition

Who are the direct competitors of the business?
Why should the target audience choose your business over your competitor?
How different are you from your competitor?

Audience

Who is your target audience?
What is the message that you want to give to your target audience?
Describe your target customer

Expectations Hurt, Preferences Differ

One easy way to understand the expectations of your clients is to ask these questions;

What logos capture a similar look that you are going with?
Are there any fonts or colours that you want to use in the logo? Is there any specific preference?
What are the elements that you want to avoid?

Conclusion

Getting an opinion for a logo is always discouraged a feedback however, a constructive one is welcomed.

This write-up explains my side of the story; you can mention yours in the comments below. Until next time.

About the Author!

Syed Fahad Ahmed is a Digital Marketer and content producer at Appsocio who build innovative ideas and content to promote various products of the company in the market. He aims to extend his assistance in B2B and IT marketing through his engaging Blog.