Here’s the inside story of the evolution one of WSI’s recent logo designs.

Once upon a time (earlier this year), the beautiful Heritage Park Amphitheater was born in Simpsonville, SC. And so, it needed a logo. They showed us some ideas of what they wanted, and we did our research. The venue itself wasn’t built yet, so all we had to go on was renderings of the stage and some words like “colorful”.

Our initial drafts didn’t go over so well. I kept hearing things like “more color!” and “more modern!” and so forth. As many designers have said before, there is a measure of difficulty in communicating visual ideas using a verbal medium. But hey, that’s my job: to figure out what exactly people mean when they say things like “You know . . . more trendy.”

The difficulties and meaningless revisions continued. Frustrations mounted. Deadlines were approaching rapidly. It was time. I played my trump card – The Live Design Session.

I know you may not believe me, but this has NEVER failed to produce a satisfied client (I’ll let you know when this changes). The Live Design Session is simply sitting down with the client and my computer and doing kind of a group design. It may seem crazy to allow this kind of interference in the design process, and I wouldn’t recommend it as a regular practice, but it does have some key benefits.

1.) It puts distance between you and your design. You wake and realize, “Hey. It doesn’t matter what I like. What matters is what’s effective.” As a designer, it’s easy to pander to your own personal taste and disregard the research of your team. As basic as this next sentence seems, I find myself needing to hear it frequently. Commercial design is not the place for prima donnas.

2.) It creates a healthy respect for your craft. This one may seem a little manipulative, but honestly, it’s a good thing. Just watching you work will create some understanding of the high level of skill required to design a good logo.

3.) It speeds things up. For one thing, it just doesn’t work to have 15 people sitting around one computer giving their opinions. And it speeds up communication. The client asks for a specific color. You say, “I don’t think that will work.” They say, “Let me see it anyway. Oh, that doesn’t work at all.” When they are sitting with you, this happens in 10 seconds – instead of a week of emails and versions being emailed around and discussed by everyone that could possibly be involved in the process.

4.) But the ultimate reason that the Live Design Sessions are so successful is the sense of ownership and partnership that it brings. Sending designs back and forth sometimes reminds me a tennis match. You serve up your best design, and they send it right back. Somehow, when you are sitting side by side, facing the same direction, the atmosphere changes. The sense of opposition disappears, and good things happen.

Of course, this won’t work for every client. A primary point of contact is needed, and you will need define a general design direction before jumping into a session. But sometimes, it may be just what you need.

See the evolution of the logos in the video below. Music courtesy of Super U. Visit their website at www.myspace.com/superu.