I’ve been in the logo design and marketing business for a while, and although some people might not share my tastes in design, I can safely say that I know an ugly logo when I see one. The problem is that the majority of business owners like their logos ugly.

Really ugly.

Now there are some designers out there who want the business owner out of the picture altogether when it comes to the logo design process. I disagree. The average business owner knows far more about their company, their clients, and the direction they are going in then the designer ever will. However, this does not mean that many business owners won’t end up settling on a very hideous logo to adorn their business cards, storefront and vehicles with.

Now before I explain why I think this is, I have to admit that there have been a few occasions when I saw some concept logos before they were presented to the client, and I would have put good money on the fact that the client was going to completely lose it when they saw the ideas. I was wrong. Every time. Without fail. For some reason some people like very gaudy, flashy, ugly logos! I won’t even try to explain it.

There are the majority of the other cases though, where a client ENDS UP with a really bad logo after going through extensive revisions. The problem is that when a reputable designer creates a logo, there is a continuity to it. There is a reason behind everything in the logo. The font is just so for a reason, and the way that blue contrasts the yellow was very carefully thought out. When the client gets a hold of the logo and breaks it down into different elements they destroy it, because you can’t change individual elements of the logo without considering the whole, or you end up with a mangled mess.

Of course, there is the age old adage, “the customer is always right”, and I suppose that there is some truth to it. I just think that in order to achieve the perfect custom logo, the designer needs to fully involve the client. The designer should be able to explain exactly why the logo looks the way it does, and work with the client on revising the logo while still maintaining the integrity of the design. In short, it’s all about communication.