A logo can only carry what is already there. The work that makes a brand memorable starts with a decision, not a sketch.
Most rebrands begin in the wrong place. Someone says the logo feels dated, a brief is written around that feeling, and three weeks later a room full of people is choosing between shapes. The shapes are fine. The problem is that nobody has decided what they are meant to say.
A logo is a container
A mark does not create meaning. It collects it, slowly, through everything a company says and does around it. If a business has no clear position, the best identity in the world just becomes a well-made container with nothing inside.
That is why we start every project by writing, not drawing. Who is this for? What do they believe today? What do we want them to believe instead? If those answers fit on one page, the design work gets faster and the debates get shorter.
Start with what you refuse to do
A point of view is only real if it excludes something. "We care about quality" excludes nobody. "We only take on four clients a year" excludes almost everyone, and that is exactly why people remember it.
Ask the team to list what the company will never do. The answers are usually uncomfortable, and they are usually the most useful thing in the room.
Then, and only then, draw
Once the position is written down, the design brief almost writes itself. Colour, type and tone stop being matters of taste and become matters of fit. You can look at a direction and ask a better question than "do we like it". You can ask whether it is true.
Written by
Anna Hart
Partner, Strategy
Leads positioning and naming. Fifteen years of turning messy briefs into one clear sentence.
