What should a logo brief include?

Your business name and one-sentence description, who your customer is, your price position, where the logo must work at its smallest and largest, whether a one-colour version is needed, three reference brands with a reason for each, three things it must never look like, the full deliverables list, an ownership clause, your budget and your deadline. That fits on one page.

Should I tell a designer my budget?

Yes. Withholding it is the most common way people get a generic result. A designer is not trying to find your ceiling, they are working out how many hours the job can carry. A stated budget gets you a considered answer inside it; a hidden budget gets you the safest, fastest thing they can produce.

How many logo revisions should I expect?

Two to three rounds is normal on a well-briefed job. Be wary of unlimited revisions: it usually signals there was no brief and no judgment, so the process substitutes volume for direction and takes months. Rounds are a symptom of brief quality, not generosity.

What files should I get from a logo designer?

At minimum: SVG, the editable vector source, a vector PDF, transparent PNGs in three sizes, a black one-colour version, a white or knockout version, the icon alone in square format, horizontal and stacked layouts, colour values in HEX, RGB, CMYK and Pantone, the font names with licence details, and a one-page rules sheet covering clear space and minimum size.

Do I own the logo after I pay for it?

Only if the brief or contract says so. Copyright does not transfer automatically in most countries just because you paid; it commonly stays with the creator unless assigned in writing. Put one line in the brief: full copyright and source files transfer to us on final payment. Competent designers agree without hesitation.

How to Brief a Logo Designer: One-Page Template

Decide five things before you contact anyone: where the logo will appear smallest and largest, whether it must work in one colour, whether the name is legible to a stranger, three brands you want to sit beside and why, and what it must never look like. Then send a one-page brief that names those, the full file list you require, and your budget.

How do you brief a logo designer?

Decide five things yourself, then send them on one page along with the deliverables list and your budget. That is the whole method, and it is the difference between two rounds of revisions and five months of drift.

When a small business is unhappy with its logo, the designer usually did exactly what was asked. The business did not decide anything, so the designer decided everything, and now nobody can articulate what is wrong other than that it feels wrong.

We are not a branding agency. We build websites and stores, which means we are the people who receive your logo files afterward and find out what is missing. That is the angle here, and it is the part most branding advice leaves out.

The five decisions to make before you contact anyone

1. Where will this be smallest, and where largest?

Name the actual worst case. A 16 pixel browser tab. A stitched polo shirt. An embossed business card. A van door. A three metre banner. A logo designed only for a website falls apart everywhere else, and you find out at the print shop.

Write down the three places it must work, ordered by how often people will see it there.

2. Does it need to work in one colour?

Anything stamped, engraved, embroidered, photocopied or printed on a receipt is one colour. If any of that is in your future, say so now. Retrofitting a gradient logo to one colour is a redesign, not a tweak, and it gets quoted as one.

3. Is the name legible to someone who has never heard it?

Most small business logos are read before they are recognised. Nobody has your brand memorised yet. A stylised wordmark that your regulars would decode is illegible to the customer you are actually trying to win.

4. Which three brands do you want to sit beside, and why?

Not brands you like. Brands your customer already trusts, in your price bracket. Bring three, with one sentence each on what you are borrowing: their calm, their confidence, their cheapness.

Say the why. “I like this” gives a designer nothing to execute. “This one feels expensive without shouting” gives them a direction.

5. What must it never look like?

The single most useful line in any brief. Cheap. Medical. Corporate. Childish. Dated. Too much like a named competitor. Exclusions narrow the space faster than any inspiration board.

The one-page brief, copy this

Business: [name]
One sentence: [what you are] for [who you serve] in [where]
Customer: [who buys, and roughly what they earn or spend]
Price position: [budget / mid / premium], because [reason]
Must work at: [smallest use], [most common use], [largest use]
One colour needed: [yes / no], because [where]
Three brands to sit beside: [a], [b], [c]. Borrowing [what] from each.
Must never look: [three exclusions]
Deliverables required: [the full list below, no exceptions]
Ownership: full copyright and source files transfer to us on final payment
Budget: [number, stated]
Deadline: [date, and what it is tied to]

The files you must receive

This is the section nobody sends us. If you get a folder of PNGs and nothing else, you have bought a picture of a logo rather than a logo.

File	What it is for	Required
SVG	Websites, any size without blurring	Always
Editable vector source (AI, EPS or native)	Any future change, by anyone	Always
PDF, vector	What printers and sign makers ask for	Always
Transparent PNG, three sizes	Documents, slides, email signature	Always
One colour, black	Stamps, engraving, single colour print	Almost always
One colour, white or knockout	Dark backgrounds, photography, merchandise	Almost always
Icon alone, square	Favicon, app icon, social avatar	Always
Horizontal and stacked layouts	Wide headers and narrow spaces	Usually
Colour values: HEX, RGB, CMYK, Pantone	Screen, print and merchandise matching	Always
Font names and licences	So the next person can set matching type	Always
One page of rules: clear space, minimum size	Everyone who touches it later	Usually

Fonts are the trap. A logo set in a licensed font is fine. A brand guide instructing your future web developer to use a font you hold no licence for is not. Ask one question before you approve: which fonts are these, and what licence do I hold?

Seven tests before you approve

The 16 pixel test. Shrink it to browser-tab size. Recognisable shape, or grey mush?
The photocopy test. Print in black and white, then photocopy the photocopy. Detail that dies here also dies on embroidery and cheap print.
The stranger test. Show someone outside your industry for two seconds and ask what the business does. You are not looking for praise, you are checking the guess lands in the right category.
The search test. Reverse image search it, and search the name plus your industry. You are checking it is not a stock mark forty other businesses also bought.
The competitor line-up. Put it on one page beside your five closest competitors. If it disappears into the row, it is doing nothing for you.
The real-world mock-up. On the actual van, shirt, packaging or shopfront. Not on the designer’s moody grey background, which flatters everything.
The tomorrow test. Look again the next morning, alone, before anyone asks your opinion. First-day enthusiasm and second-day doubt are both real, and only one of them survives to next year.

The one thing worth remembering

A logo is not your brand and it is not what makes people buy. It is a label that has to survive being shrunk, printed, stitched and copied for years.

Spend your energy on the brief and the file list. That is the part that decides whether you pay for this once or three times.

What to do next

If you have not settled a budget yet, what a small business logo should cost gives the honest bands by route, and the warning signs at each one.

If the logo is one step in a larger setup, what you actually need to start a business online puts it in order against the domain, the site and everything else. And if a website is coming next, how to get a website made for your business covers the brief for that side.

How to Brief a Logo Designer (The One-Page Brief That Prevents a Redesign)