I agree with you on the different point of view of designers and clients, and I’d like to add a third party - the ultimate consumers (our client’s customers). Branding is an effort to create a brand image about the client’s brand in the consumer’s minds.

The largest part of the readers of Dosh Dosh are sure to flare about a change in identitly like this. That’s expected from them. They are users of a brand and all of a sudden, that brand has changed. Kristarella put it very eloquently and completely: the common resistance to change.

So I think the point you made is absolutely right, it’s up to the designer to educate the client about the impact of a change of identity. It’s a constant struggle between what the client wants and what we, as the professionals, know he really needs.

Communicating this to the client is a part of our job, as these two things aren’t always the same. Very often, we are in the position of understanding the aspects of branding and re-branding way better than our clients, which, often enough, puts us in the predicament of having to accomodate the client’s demands although we know they are not the best solution. That’s a classic, and I think that’s what David went through with this logo as well.

I had a meeting with a client just yesterday, with exactly the same issue. Our client decided to change a very important aspect of a print ad, which in our eyes waters the whole thing down and makes it close to useless. After spending hours discussing the subject, we finally managed to at least meet half the way, which still wasn’t ideal. But what can you do, it’s the client’s demands. And sometimes, they just don’t want to listen to us.

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Been following this on the sidelines for a bit and we have spoken briefly on it as well.

Some thoughts:

Seems most designers seem to like the new logo, but most readers of Dosh Dosh do not seem to…I think in this case, and no insult intended to your abilities, the logo is not as successful as it could be.

In many cases designing a logo, has a lot of foundation in branding principles. For one what we think of as a brand is often different from what our customers think it may be. Brand perception is something that is very difficult to manage.

Regardless, it looks like Maki wanted to head into a different direction. This though is something you cannot control, as it was Maki’s decision, as was his choice of the final logo.

But it might be interesting to get your customers to think about it in the future?

Cheers and great write up as usual.

PS: I wonder if it could have been a lot stronger concept, if the meaning of “Dosh” was implied in the logo shape?

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Good of you to comment. It’s always nice to know people appreciate the info I publish. I hope all’s well with you.

Charity,

Thanks to you also for the kind comment!

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It’s interesting how you mention the graduated effect I added to the logo image. A couple of days ago I removed these effects from the logos in my portfolio page, preferred to concentrate fully on the logo form, in black only. I’ve left the effects on the actual blog post images, just not in my portfolio, where all designs are shown side-by-side. Thanks very much for the compliment.

Thanks very much for adding some constructive criticism. Especially as you are also a fan of Maki’s Dosh Dosh. I’m not sure if he has dropped by, but I recently sent him an email with a link to this post.

Vivien,

You’re very kind, thanks, and I’ve since added this one to my portfolio page.

Shaan,

I appreciate the comment.

Eamon,

You’re right by saying the more options presented, the harder the final choice becomes. It’s why I normally don’t present so many variations, and this project was a little different due to client preferences.

Amanda,

You make an interesting point about how people read the logo (from left to right). It’s why my proposed idea was to include the icon on the right, forming an arrow-like shape. A few comments have been made about this issue, but I completely understand you don’t have time to read through them all.

Karl,

I’ll be sure to highlight timeframes for each stage when I publish my next portfolio entry. Good of you to make the suggestion.

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