Logo and brand identity brief: a printable template to fill in
Fifteen questions to answer before a logo is ordered or drawn, a table of placements and six checks that replace arguments about taste.
This is a two-to-three-page brief that you print and fill in by hand before ordering a logo and visual identity, or before designing them yourself. It asks what the business does and for whom, what customers should remember, what the brand must never resemble, where the mark will be used and at what smallest size, which languages and scripts the name needs, what has to be delivered, by when and within what budget. It is for owners of small businesses and freelancers who hire a designer, and for students who need a real brief to practise on. Fill it in before the first sketch, not after the first presentation.
What is inside
- Fill-in fields about the business, its customers and the three things they should feel or remember
- A field for what the brand must never look like, and a field for competitors and how their marks look
- A table of placements: sign, packaging, app icon, social avatar, invoice, with the size and what the logo must survive on each
- Fields for the exact name, the slogan, and the languages and scripts the mark must support
- Fields for existing colours, fonts and materials to keep, and for references liked and disliked, with reasons
- Who decides and how, the deliverables expected, the deadline and the budget range
- A six-point checklist for judging concepts, a filled-in example and a note on trademark registers
How to use it
- Print the PDF and fill it in by hand, alone, in one sitting. Short answers are enough; where there is no answer yet, write “don't know yet”.
- If there are partners, each one fills in a separate copy. Compare the copies and settle the differences before the designer sees anything.
- Go through the table of placements with a ruler: measure the label, the sign, the invoice header, and write the smallest real size in the field that follows.
- Attach the references as pictures and send the brief to the designer. Ask them to say it back in their own words, and correct whatever was misread.
- When concepts arrive, take the checklist from part 7 and run every concept through it before anyone says whether they like it.
- Keep the agreed brief. Every later request for a change is compared with it: either the concept breaks the brief, or the brief itself has changed.
Why a written brief shortens revision rounds
A revision round is often spent on a requirement nobody said out loud. The designer shows a thin, detailed emblem, and only then does it turn out that the mark will mostly be printed on a 20 mm sticker. The mark is approved, and then a co-owner who was not in the room sees it. The name was drawn in Latin letters, and the shop front needs it in a second script as well.
A brief does not make these requirements disappear. It moves the moment they are discovered to before the first sketch, when a change of direction costs a conversation rather than a redrawn concept. It also gives both sides one text to point at: a comment turns from “I am not sure about it” into “it is not readable at the smallest size in the brief”.
How many rounds that removes depends on the project and the people, and no template can put a number on it. What changes is the kind of revisions that remain: fewer about forgotten constraints, more about the drawing itself.
How to turn a taste argument into a question for the brief
The checklist in the file works only when comments are tied to something that was written down earlier. The table shows how common reactions translate into a question the brief can answer.
| What people say | What to ask instead | Where the answer is |
|---|---|---|
| “I don't like it” | Which of the three things customers should feel is missing here? | Part 1 |
| “Make it more modern” | Which reference did we mark as liked, and what exactly did we like in it? | Part 5 |
| “Make the logo bigger” | Is it readable at the smallest size we wrote down? | Part 3 |
| “It looks like someone else's” | Which competitor from our list, and in what: colour, shape, lettering? | Part 2 |
| “My partner wants another colour” | Who decides, and was that colour on the list of things to keep? | Parts 5 and 6 |
What the brief does not do
The brief is a list of constraints and decisions. It draws nothing, and a carefully filled-in brief can still be followed by a weak concept; then the conversation is about the concept, and the brief is the measure.
- It does not replace a conversation with the designer: they will still ask questions, and the good ones often come from the gaps in the brief.
- It does not check whether a similar mark is already registered. That is a separate step, taken with the trademark office of each country where you will trade or with a trademark lawyer.
- It does not set the price. The budget range tells the designer what scope is realistic; the quote is theirs to make.
- It does not settle the strategy. If you cannot say who the customers are, the brief shows that gap; it does not close it.
Questions
Can I use the brief if I am designing the logo myself?
Yes. The constraints are the same whoever makes the mark, a designer, you or an AI tool: smallest size, one-colour version, scripts, placements. Fill in the brief first, then run your own drafts through the checklist exactly as you would someone else's.
How long should the answers be?
One or two lines per question; the number of lines in the file is the hint. A brief that runs to several pages of text gets skimmed. If an answer does not fit, it is probably two answers, or the matter is not decided yet, and it is better to write that down as it is.
What if the partners give different answers?
That is the most useful thing a brief can show, and it is better seen on paper than in front of finished concepts. Compare the copies, agree on one version and put a single name in the “who decides” field. The designer receives only the agreed copy.
Does the brief show whether the logo can be registered as a trademark?
No. A similar mark may already be registered for the same kind of goods or services, and a brief cannot see that. Searching the registers is a separate step, taken with the trademark office of each country where you plan to trade or with a trademark lawyer. This page is not legal advice.