Logo & Brand Identity Design: From Brief to Brand Guide

Design logos and full identities clients pay properly for: the brief, research, sketching, vector construction, type and colour, the identity system, the brand guide, file delivery, pricing and contracts.

• Free
• Beginner to intermediate
• 5 weeks · ~4 hrs/week
• 10 lessons
• ~3 hours
• Certificate on passing the project

Free account required to open the lessons. No card, no fees.

About this course

Anyone can make a logo in five minutes; clients pay for one that is recognisable, works everywhere from a WhatsApp profile picture to a signboard and a van, and comes with the system that keeps a brand consistent. This course teaches that craft from brief to handover. You will learn what clients are really buying and which kind of mark suits which business, how to run a discovery call and write a brief the client signs, how to research competitors and culture and build a moodboard, how to sketch dozens of ideas fast and narrow them to three strong directions, how to build a clean logo in vector with free tools, how to choose and customise type and understand font licences, how to specify colour for screen and print, how to extend a logo into a full identity system, how to write a brand guide and deliver every file a client and printer will need, and how to present, handle revisions, price, contract and point clients to trademark protection. Every lesson follows a freelance designer in Enugu taking on three Nigerian clients. It builds on the Design Fundamentals and Brand Strategy courses without repeating them. Free, like every Skillnaija course.

Kelechi Eze has spent two years in Enugu making church programmes and birthday flyers at ₦5,000 each. Then Mrs Folake Adewale calls from Lagos. Her food business, Mama Put Deluxe, now has three branches, and the logo her nephew made on a phone app is letting her down: the new signboard printed blurry, the embroiderer would not stitch the gold gradient onto the aprons, and the printer keeps asking for 'a vector file'. She wants a proper logo. Kelechi nearly replies with ₦15,000 and 'three options by tomorrow'. His mentor Uche, a senior designer, stops him. 'She is not buying a drawing,' Uche says. 'She is buying decisions that will still work on a van, a receipt and a WhatsApp photo in five years. Plan and price for that.'

What you'll learn

• Client discovery and design briefs
• Competitor and cultural research
• Moodboards and concept sketching
• Vector logo construction
• Logo typography and font licensing
• Identity colour for screen and print
• Identity systems and applications
• Brand guidelines
• File preparation and delivery
• Presenting and handling revisions
• Pricing, contracts and trademarks in outline
• Case-study portfolios

Course syllabus — 10 lessons

1. What clients actually buy when they buy a logo16 min
2. The brief and the research16 min
3. Concepts: from words to thumbnails16 min
4. Building the logo in vector16 min
5. Typography for logos16 min
6. Colour for identities16 min
7. The identity system: lock-ups, rules and applications16 min
8. The brand guide and file delivery16 min
9. Presenting, revisions, pricing and contracts18 min
10. Your identity portfolio and the project17 min

Frequently asked questions

Is Logo & Brand Identity Design: From Brief to Brand Guide free?

Yes. Logo & Brand Identity Design: From Brief to Brand Guide is completely free on Skillnaija. You need a free account to open the lessons, and there is no charge for the course, the project, or the certificate.

How long does Logo & Brand Identity Design: From Brief to Brand Guide take to complete?

5 weeks · ~4 hrs/week. There are 10 lessons, about 3 hours of material in total. You learn at your own pace and your progress is saved.

Do I need any experience to start Logo & Brand Identity Design: From Brief to Brand Guide?

Beginner to intermediate. Some prior grounding in the subject will help you move faster.

What will I learn in Logo & Brand Identity Design: From Brief to Brand Guide?

You will build practical skills in Client discovery and design briefs, Competitor and cultural research, Moodboards and concept sketching, Vector logo construction, Logo typography and font licensing, Identity colour for screen and print, Identity systems and applications, Brand guidelines, File preparation and delivery, Presenting and handling revisions, Pricing, contracts and trademarks in outline, Case-study portfolios. Every lesson is written for a Nigerian context, with examples drawn from how the work is actually done and paid for here.

Do I get a certificate for Logo & Brand Identity Design: From Brief to Brand Guide?

Yes, but it has to be earned. You complete the course project — Your Brand Identity Case Study and submit it for grading. Passing the project issues a verifiable certificate; finishing the lessons alone does not.

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