Key Takeaways
- Give feedback against the agreed audience, purpose and applications, with personal preferences labelled separately.
- Describe what you observe, where it happens and why it affects the job the logo must do.
- Review the identity in realistic sizes and settings rather than judging only a large presentation slide.
- Consolidate stakeholder comments into one decision-led response, while keeping unresolved disagreements visible.
- Agree what the next revision needs to solve and how you will decide whether it has done so.
Useful logo feedback explains a problem clearly enough for the designer to solve it. “The name is difficult to read on the van mock-up” gives them something to investigate. “Make it more premium” could mean almost anything.
You don't need to know design terminology to review the work. You know the business, its customers and where the identity needs to appear. The designer brings the expertise to turn those requirements into visual choices.
The review works best when both sides keep those roles clear. You can challenge a direction without drawing the replacement yourself, and the designer should explain their reasoning without treating every client concern as a lack of taste.
Put the brief beside the concepts
Before opening the presentation, write down the criteria already agreed. Who needs to recognise the business? What should the identity communicate? Which existing associations must remain? Where will the logo appear most often? If those answers are missing, our guide to how to brief a designer helps you settle them.
Choose criteria that can guide a decision. “Professional” is broad. “Credible enough for a facilities manager to include us on a supplier shortlist, while still approachable to a small-business owner” gives the discussion more context.
If the business position is unresolved, say so. Don't ask the designer to settle a changing service offer through another typeface. A brand strategy conversation may be needed before the identity can be reviewed fairly.
The Design Council's design-process framework allows for exploring and testing ideas as they develop. A first concept is therefore a point for informed discussion, not a demand that you approve everything or restart the whole project.
Let the designer explain the route
Listen to the presentation before collecting reactions. Ask how the idea relates to the brief, which alternatives were considered and what the designer expects to develop after a route is chosen.
This doesn't mean accepting the explanation as proof that the design works. It gives you the intended reasoning, which you can then compare with what you see. A clever reference may remain invisible to the audience; an unfamiliar direction may make more sense once shown in context.
Ask what you are being asked to approve today. The overall direction, detailed spacing, colour palette and final production artwork are different decisions. Mixing them makes a review feel more final, and more confusing, than it needs to be.
Take notes during the presentation, then give yourself a little distance before sending the combined feedback. Immediate reactions can be useful, but they aren't the whole review.
Separate observations, interpretations and preferences
An observation describes something visible: the name is hard to read at a particular size. An interpretation explains what it suggests to you: the symbol looks more like a restaurant than an accountancy firm. A preference describes your taste: you prefer green to blue.
All three can be discussed, but they carry different weight. A preference from the owner may be a legitimate constraint; it should be recorded as that rather than presented as a fact about every customer.
Avoid claiming “people won't like this” when you haven't asked relevant people. If the audience's interpretation is uncertain, identify a suitable test. Our guide to testing a brand message with customers explains neutral questioning; the same care applies when asking what an identity communicates.
For a visual review, ask what somebody believes the business does or which impression they take away. A popularity vote among friends tells you little about whether the identity fits a buyer's situation.
Use a feedback sentence with four parts
Try this structure: “In this application, I notice this issue, which affects this requirement. Can we explore a way to resolve it?” It gives the designer the context and the problem while leaving room for expertise.
These are illustrative examples, not comments from real client projects:
| Vague feedback | More useful feedback |
|---|---|
| Make it bigger | On the mobile header, the company name is difficult to read at the proposed size. Can we test a clearer variation? |
| It feels too corporate | The brief calls for a local, approachable service. The current examples feel formal to our team; can you show how the identity works with warmer imagery and copy? |
| Use a different font | The narrow letters become unclear on the embroidered uniform sample. Which alternatives would reproduce better? |
| Combine the two logos | We prefer the clarity of route A and the compact shape of route B. Can you recommend a coherent way to address both needs? |
You may still decide to change a typeface or colour. The difference is that the change answers a named requirement instead of becoming another isolated experiment.
Test the applications that matter
Ask for the logo in your priority settings. For a service business, these might be the website header, quotation cover, vehicle graphics and a small social profile. For a product business, a label or pack may need to join the review.
Use realistic sizes and surroundings. A logo centred on an empty white slide has fewer demands than a busy quotation. A small icon must remain recognisable without the space available on a sign. The guide to logotype design types gives you examples to discuss when different formats need different versions.
Check ordinary practical details: can the name be read, does the shape survive reduction and is the mark distinguishable against the intended background? Ask a production specialist about embroidery, engraving or other constrained uses rather than guessing from the screen.
For digital work, treat page text separately from the logo. W3C's contrast guidance includes a logotype exception, but ordinary branded text still needs suitable contrast. A logo exception is not a good reason to make the company name unnecessarily difficult to see.
Avoid assembling a logo by committee
One partner likes the symbol from route one. Another likes the lettering from route two. Someone else wants a colour from route three. Combining the parts may remove the relationships that made the original directions coherent.
Ask each person what they value in their preferred choice. It could be legibility, warmth, recognisability or suitability for a particular application. Give those requirements to the designer rather than a shopping list of components.
Choose one person to submit the final response. They should gather comments, identify agreements and make the decisions they are authorised to make. This isn't permission to hide unresolved concerns. It is a way to prevent the designer receiving contradictory instructions from five inboxes. Whether you use a branding agency or freelance designer, agree who coordinates those decisions.
When decision-makers disagree, return to the brief or arrange a short discussion. More design revisions won't automatically resolve a disagreement about what the business wants to be.
Keep the revision request small enough to act on
Group feedback into three categories: problems that must be resolved, areas worth exploring and details that can wait. Tell the designer which direction should continue and which decisions remain open.
Be specific about the next review. For example, you might ask for a more legible small-format version, a darker application and a revised quotation example. That is a manageable set of checks. “Send more options” doesn't explain what the new options need to do differently.
Discuss scope if the brief has changed. Discovering a new business name, audience or product range may justify new work, but it shouldn't be disguised as a routine revision. Both sides need to understand any effect on cost and timing. Our guide to what logo design costs in the UK explains the scope and revision questions to ask.
A well-run logo design project should make those stages visible. You should know what you are reviewing, how feedback is recorded and what happens after you approve a direction. Use the checklist of what a branding agency delivers to distinguish concept approval from finished applications and handover.
Record the reason for approval
Keep a short decision log. Note the selected route, the requirements it meets, agreed changes and any remaining production checks. Save the version being approved so a later file cannot be confused with it.
This protects you from reopening settled choices without new information. If a stakeholder later questions the colour, you can see whether it was chosen for recognition, production, accessibility or a personal constraint. You can still change it, but the decision starts from the recorded reasoning.
Approval should also identify its boundary. Approving a concept doesn't prove every export or supplier file is correct. Use the brand identity handover checklist when the project reaches final delivery.
A short agenda for your next review
Begin by reading the purpose and criteria aloud. Let the designer present, then look at the priority applications. Gather observations before debating solutions. Finish by confirming the chosen direction, the next changes, the owner and the review point.
If feedback keeps returning to the same unresolved question, write that question down separately. You may need a business decision, an audience check or a production test rather than another visual variation.
Our brand identity work connects the logo with the materials around it. For your next review, bring three real applications and a single consolidated feedback sheet. Those give a designer much better starting information than a request to make everything feel a bit more exciting.
If you are partway through a logo review and want help turning comments into one clear note for the designer, talk to us.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I say if I don't like any logo concepts?
Explain which brief requirements the concepts miss and what you observed in the examples. Ask the designer to discuss the reasoning before requesting new routes. If the brief itself has changed, agree that explicitly rather than treating the change as a minor revision.
Should I tell the designer exactly how to change the logo?
You can suggest an idea, but explain the underlying problem first. A requirement such as better small-size legibility gives the designer more useful freedom than an instruction to use a particular font without context.
Should we ask customers to vote on the best logo?
A vote measures preference within the group you ask. It doesn't automatically show which design communicates the offer or works in practice. Test relevant interpretations and applications with suitable people, and keep personal preference separate from those findings.
How can we stop partners giving conflicting feedback?
Agree decision rights before the review and nominate one person to consolidate comments. Record the reason behind each concern. Resolve disagreements about the brief before asking the designer to follow incompatible instructions.
When is a logo ready for final approval?
Approve the direction when it meets the agreed criteria and the important applications work. Then check final production files, usage guidance and any specialist requirements separately. Keep a record of the exact version and what the approval covers.
