Steve Jobs on Logo Design
I find this gem of an interview inspirational on several fronts.
First, for all the hype around Steve Jobs being a control freak, it’s clear that he understands the limits of his expertise. This is sometimes a difficult concept for anyone to get, but our beloved icon of technology and design knows how to gently take his ego out of the equation. It’s an astonishing Zen moment!
Second, it shows the self-confidence a designer must have to be able to do his best work. Even Paul Rand is asked to come up with a dessert tray of logo options for the client to take his pick from. But, as Steve Jobs describes, Paul Rand respectfully declines to work that way. Rather, he stands by his logo as the best business solution he can deliver.
If the client isn’t satisfied with his work, Paul Rand suggests they ask another designer for a different solution. He doesn’t “rework” his solution. That takes guts. And, as Steve Jobs notes, it also takes a real clarity about design as a business solution, rather than design as decoration.
It takes guts and clarity because clients are often highly influenced by their personal likes and dislikes. And, like all of us, they can be pretty attached to those preferences and aversions. If a designer tries to jerry-rig a logo within the parameters of personal color or design experiences, without the clarity of focusing on the goal of a business solution, the logo ends up being ineffectual. And nobody wins – not the client, and not the designer.
The risk of getting a patchwork logo increases if a designer brings the client into the creative decision-making process too early. By showing a range of sketches of possible design directions in an effort to give the client a sense of “choice,” the designer runs the risk of presenting logos that, at the end of the day, are not good business solutions. It might make clients feel good, but it really doesn’t serve their long-term business goals.
So, does this mean that clients shouldn’t participate in the logo design process? Absolutely not! Their customer insight and market knowledge hold the “secret sauce” for a successful logo.
The designer needs to tap into the client’s expertise early on, and the conversation needs to be an extensive deep dive. A superficial hour or two discussion with key decision makers isn’t sufficient. A good block of time, a half day at least, needs to be devoted to this mind meld. On top of hours of market and design research the designer does on his own.
So, with our next logo project, we’re going to do the very best we can to provide our single, best solution to the business problem, and then invest more time and resources in presenting this solution in a way that the client gets it. My sense is that in this way, everyone will win.