Logo brief template
A logo brief is a small identity brief with the applications named. This page gives you the sections, the decisions that matter, and the mistakes that cost a round.
For anyone briefing a logo, on its own or as the first piece of a new identity.
Motion, web or print. Free, no account. About ninety seconds.
Start a logo briefThis is what a finished brief contains, with an example line in each section. Write it by hand from this, or answer the questions below by tapping and the page writes it for you.
The one thing that must not be got wrong
Every brief has one. It is rarely written down because it feels obvious to the person who knows it.
“The launch date is fixed by the trade show. Everything else can move.”
What we are making
The work in physical terms, so it can be counted and priced.
“A campaign identity and its first three applications: a film, a landing page and a poster.”
Who it is for and what they should do
One person, one verb.
“For a buyer who saw us last year and did not order. They should book a meeting at the stand.”
Tone
Positions on scales, not adjectives.
“Bold rather than understated. Considered rather than energetic.”
References
Work to sit beside, and work to avoid, one reason each.
“Like the 2024 Design Week identity for its type. Not like last year’s stand; too busy.”
What exists
What the designer will not have to make.
“Logo, guidelines, product photography. No copy yet.”
Budget, dates, sign-off
A band, the date, and who says yes.
“Around 200k DKK across all three pieces. Show opens 12 May. Two people sign off; Mette decides a tie.”
Open questions
What is not decided, said plainly.
“Whether the film is live action or animation. Whether the poster is printed or screen only.”
You answer the questions. The brief writes these.
- Print method from the quantity
- Whether a dieline is needed
- Bleed, safety and resolution
- Lead times and the real artwork deadline
- The regulatory content list
A logo brief is the hardest brief to write well, because a logo is the one piece of design where your taste and your designer's craft meet most directly, and because a logo is almost never only a logo. It is a mark, a wordmark, a lock-up, a set of colour versions, a set of minimum sizes, and a short rulebook for where it can and cannot go. A brief that asks for "a logo" and means all of that has under-briefed by a factor of ten.
The document above shows what that brief contains. You can write it by hand from it, or answer the questions below by tapping: choose a new identity or logo when the brief asks what you are making, then say whether you need the mark alone, a core set, or the whole system documented. The file set, the clear space, the colour system and the trademark search all follow from that answer without being asked for.
The decisions that move the quote
What the logo has to do. A logo has a job before it has a look. It has to work at favicon size and on the side of a building. It has to survive one colour on a kraft bag and full colour on a screen. It has to sit beside partner marks without losing. List the places it will actually appear; that list, more than any adjective, decides what kind of mark is possible.
New, refined, or a wordmark for a fixed name. A new logo for a company with twenty years of signage is a different job from a new logo for a company that does not exist yet. Say which this is.
What exists. A colour palette in use. A typeface already licensed. A brand the logo has to sit beside. A name that is settled, or one that is still moving.
Direction by recognition. Nobody can describe the logo they want. Everybody can recognise the ones they like and the ones they would never accept. Five marks you admire and two you would not want, with a reason each. The contradictions between them are the most useful part.
The deliverables. A finished logo is a file set: vector masters, colour and single-colour versions, positive and reverse, a favicon, minimum sizes, clear space, and usually a short guide to using them. Say which of these you need. A logo without the guide is misused within a month.
Who approves it. Logos attract opinions. The number of people who must approve, and what happens when they disagree, decides how many rounds this takes more surely than anything in the design.
What it must never be. The competitor's shape. The old mark's colour. The cliché of the category. One line here saves a whole round.
Mistakes we see most
“We need a logo that is modern, memorable and timeless.”
“A mark and a wordmark that work at favicon size, on a kraft coffee bag in one colour, and on the shop front. Understated rather than bold. Never a coffee bean or a cup.”
Three places, one position and one exclusion. The designer knows the job.
“Deliverables: the logo files.”
“Vector masters, full colour and single colour, positive and reverse, a favicon, minimum sizes, clear space, and a two-page usage guide.”
A logo is a file set and a rulebook. Naming it prevents a month of misuse.
“The whole team is excited to give input.”
“Mette approves. Jonas and the team see the first round and comment through Mette. One round of changes after the first presentation.”
Logos attract opinions. One decision-maker, named, is the schedule.
When the identity exists and a piece of work needs briefing against it, pick the brief below. Until then, the list above is the first call.
What it asks, and why.
These are the questions in the print and packaging brief. The other two briefs ask their own.
- ScopeWhat are you making?
Packaging, editorial and signage share almost nothing. Naming which removes most of the tree.
- ScopeWhat kind of packaging?only when it applies
The container decides whether a dieline is needed, whether the artwork wraps, and whether a structural supplier must be involved before design starts. A missing dieline is the most common packaging delay there is.
- ScopeWhat size, and how many pages?only when it applies
Page count decides the binding, and a count not divisible by four cannot bind. It is the print rule people break most.
- ScopeWhat kind of signage, and where?only when it applies
A door sign and a vehicle wrap are different trades. The kind, the environment and the count decide material, survey and installation before anyone designs.
- ScopeHow much identity, and applied to what?only when it applies
A logo alone and a full identity with guidelines are a fourfold difference in scope, and the applications decide what gets designed on it.
- ScopeWhich templates?only when it applies
Each kind of template has its own sizes and format, all of them known. Naming the kinds is the whole specification.
- CraftHow many are being made?only when it applies
Quantity decides the print method, and the method decides whether spot colours and finishes make sense. You are not expected to know this; the printer will assume it.
- CraftWhich finishes and colours?only when it applies
Each finish is a separate vector file and an extra proof. Foil and emboss carry tooling costs that make short runs disproportionately expensive.
- CraftWhat must be on it, and who prints it?only when it applies
Missing regulatory content is the second most common cause of packaging reprints, after dielines. A named printer turns bleed, type sizes and colour profile from assumptions into facts.
- CraftHow are colours defined?only when it applies
Colour is decided once, for an identity, and everything printed on it inherits the decision.
- LookWhat already exists?
A logo that only exists as a JPEG cannot be printed at this quality, and this is found out late almost every time. A logo and guidelines that do exist make this a job of applying them.
- LookWho is this for, and where will they see it?
Where it is seen changes the design more than who buys it. Online product photography is almost never mentioned and changes everything.
- PracticalitiesBudget range
A band is a signal about which kind of job is on the table, not a commitment. Without one the designer guesses.
- PracticalitiesKey date
A date only means something next to the minimum production window. If they do not fit, better to know now.
- PracticalitiesThe one thing that must not be got wrong
Every project has one. It is rarely written down because it feels obvious to the person who knows it.