How to Commission a Logo — Brief, Process and Acceptance
Half of all bad logos aren't the designer's fault: the project fails on the client's side before the first sketch. A vague "make it pretty" brief, taste‑based revisions, acceptance of a single JPG with no rights or sources — money spent, nothing usable. Here's the full commissioning process, from choosing the contractor to signing the acceptance act — so you end up with a working mark, not an argument in a chat thread.
The sequence: set the budget and contractor tier, checking typical market price ranges first → write a brief made of business facts, not beauty wishes → fix stages, concept count and revision rounds in the contract → accept against a checklist: all mark versions, vector sources, exclusive rights transfer. Skip any item and it comes back: without rights you can't register the trademark; without sources you can't change anything.
Step 1Pick the contractor tier
The market splits into three tiers, and expecting one tier's results from another is the cardinal error:
- Novice freelancers / gig marketplaces. Cheap and fast; lottery results, often template- and stock‑based. Fine for niche testing — roughly the same league as building a logo in Canva yourself.
- Experienced freelancers. The small‑business sweet spot: a unique mark, a sane process, a portfolio with visible range. Judge not "is it pretty" but whether the portfolio contains tasks of your type.
- Studios. A process with research, testing and a full visual identity delivered as a package. Justified when the brand is the core of the business.
Where to look: Behance and Dribbble (portfolios), designer channels, referrals. The first‑call test: a good contractor asks about your business; a bad one leads with "stylish minimalism".
Step 2Write the brief
The brief is half the result. Designers need facts, not adjectives:
- The business: product, pricing, how you differ from competitors.
- The customer: age, buying context, what reads as "expensive" and "one of us" to them.
- Competitors: 3-5 links. The designer must see whom to differ from — and which niche colors are taken, a pattern that shows clearly in Russian banks or messengers, where the palette is long spoken for.
- Annotated references: 3-5 logos you like and dislike — always with "why". The logo catalog is a handy source: point at logo types, not prettiness.
- Media: where the mark will live — site, packaging, signage, app. This determines versions and formats — check platform-specific logo sizes.
- Technical requirements: readable at 16 px, monochrome version, both scripts if you need Cyrillic and Latin.
End the brief with: "Seeing the logo, the customer should think: '___'" Fill the blank — and the designer gets an objective criterion for judging sketches instead of taste.
Step 3Agree on the process
Before the advance payment, fix in writing (contract, or at minimum the chat):
- Concept count in the first presentation (usually 2-3) and revision rounds (usually 2-3; more — paid).
- Deadlines per stage and what counts as a slip.
- The deliverables — as a file list (see step 5).
- Exclusive rights transfer — as its own clause (see step 6).
- Interim reviews: ask to see sketches in black and white — early color masks weak form.
Step 4Give revisions that help
Revisions are where clients most often ruin good work:
- State the problem, not the solution: not "make the letter blue and bigger" but "the mark disappears in the avatar". Solutions are the designer's job.
- Check against the brief, not your mood: "we wrote the customer is premium, and this reads discount" is a valid note; "my spouse doesn't like it" is not.
- Review sketches in real contexts: ask to see the mark as a messenger avatar, in a favicon and on signage — weak options eliminate themselves.
- Don't assemble a Frankenstein from pieces of different concepts — ask the designer to evolve the strongest one.
Step 5Acceptance: the file checklist
Don't sign off until the full kit arrives:
| What | Format | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Source with live text | AI / master SVG | future edits |
| Outlined mark | SVG, PDF | web, print — see which vector format fits which use |
| All versions: full, compact, mono, inverse | SVG + PNG | why different logo types exist |
| Transparent PNGs, 2-3 sizes | PNG | platforms without vector, and why transparency matters |
| Mini guideline | HEX/CMYK colors, fonts, clear space — the seed of a proper brand book |
Inspect the SVG: it must contain curves, not a pasted picture — here's how to open a file and check its structure. If print is planned, request CMYK versions immediately; they matter when preparing a logo for print.
Step 6Rights: the clause worth the most
In most jurisdictions (Russia included), the exclusive right stays with the author until it is transferred in writing. Paying for the work ≠ receiving the rights. Without the transfer you can't register the trademark, and the designer can formally sell the mark again. The contract must state: full alienation of exclusive rights, for all uses, perpetual. Also ask about fonts and stock elements used — their licenses must allow commercial use.
Contractor red flags
- Shows sketches "before prepayment" an hour after the brief — almost certainly a template or an AI-generated logo.
- Refuses to hand over sources ("the AI file costs extra") — deliverables must be agreed up front.
- Asks no questions about the business.
- Not a single small‑size‑tested mark in the portfolio.
- Dodges written rights transfer.
If the budget isn't there yet — start with DIY routes (how to make a logo yourself) and return to a designer once the business is proven: a good mark is worth commissioning once and for the long haul — worth checking typical market prices ahead of time.