Logo Direction

---
name: logo-direction
description: Develop or evaluate logo direction through brand meaning, distinctiveness, form, scalability, typography, lockups, monochrome behavior, and practical application rather than decoration alone.
---
# Logo Direction

Use when a brand needs a new logo direction or a logo must be reviewed for system readiness.

## Procedure
1. Start from the brand's positioning, audience, name, values, competitive context, and the jobs the mark must perform.
2. Define whether the system needs wordmark, symbol, monogram, responsive variants, sub-brand lockups, or only a primary mark.
3. Explore multiple concept territories based on distinct brand ideas rather than cosmetic variations of one shape.
4. Evaluate silhouette, proportion, negative space, typography relationship, uniqueness, and recognition at small and large sizes.
5. Test monochrome, reversed, low-resolution, favicon or app-icon, print, signage, motion, and constrained-placement contexts relevant to the brand.
6. Check for confusing similarity and obvious cultural or semantic conflicts in intended markets; route formal trademark clearance to qualified legal review.
7. Define clearspace, minimum size, color variants, and misuse examples only after the direction is approved.
8. Deliver vector or source assets and practical export variants with consistent naming and reproducible packaging.

## Decision rules
- A logo is one component of a brand system, not the brand itself.
- Distinctiveness and legibility matter more than adding symbolic meaning nobody can perceive.
- Do not promise trademark availability from a design review.
- Test the mark where it will actually live, especially tiny digital contexts.

## Quality gate
The logo direction is ready when it expresses an approved brand idea, remains distinctive and legible across required contexts, has coherent variants and lockups, avoids obvious application failures, and can be handed into a broader brand system without hidden production assumptions.