Any company has a message to communicate to their customers. A
 designer's job is to express the very core of the company's message. In
 order to get to the core, it is important that the designer has as good and
 detailed descriptions of your company as possible. This is mainly done
 through four main categories:

    Your business

    This category involves describing what your company does. It can be a
 short introduction of what you do, and what you stand for. To give such a
 description, it could be necessary to ask questions like:

    Why are you existing?
    What is your company's core competence?
    What makes you unique?
    What makes you different?

    Your image

    This category involves your company's values, philosophy, goals and
 visions. It can be compared to yourself as a human being; if your company
 were a human being, what words would you use to describe it? What values
 do you have? What makes you happy? What are your dreams and visions?
 Examples of other questions:

 What few words would render a good description of your company or
 organization as a whole? What few important principles is your company
 built on? What do you wish to achieve?

    Your customers

    It is mainly for your customers your logo will make a difference. A logo is
 often the first thing a customer looks at. To make a lasting impression on
 the customer, you first have to know who your customers really are. A good
 start would first be to define your target group or market. Who is going to
 buy your products or services? Can you find specific characteristics of your
 customer? The description does not need to be extensive, but may be just a
 sentence like:

    ”Our customers will be over 50 years, traditional in values, quality and
 price concerned”

    For this group it would be a bad match having a techno font type with
 strong colors. A more traditional font combined with comfortable, mild, yet
 clear colors would be more appealing for this type of customers.

    Don’t underestimate the strength of your customers. The customer will in
 the end decide how successful your company will become. Therefore keep in
 mind that the customer often has irrational buying moments. First
 impressions and feelings often affects the customer first. Let them affect

    Your competitors

    Your competitors will be those who offer equivalent products or services
 as you. Knowledge about what they offer and how they offer it, will be
 valuable information for your business. Your goal should be to have an edge
 on competition that at the same time benefits your customer. This can be
 done through outstanding customer service, good products, good value for
 money, and so on. No matter what you choose to base your competition on,
 the graphical profile will play an important role for how your customer
 perceives you. In the beginning, the customers know your competitors, but
 not you. The customer will therefore remember the visual impression your
 competitors give. This will be your customer's reference impression.

    Your job is to define your competitors properly towards the designer.
 What are their strengths and weaknesses? How long have they been in the
 market? How large market share do they have? Through answering these
 questions, a designer will better know what kind of profile that will be the
 most beneficial. If all your customers are blue in color, why should you also
 choose blue? The only thing that would happen, was your customer choosing
 the blue they know best. If you were green, you would make the customer
 actually wonder what this green color really means.

    Also, do your competitors have long and solid market shares as well as
 long experience; it will most likely be expressed through their graphical
 profile. To at all be considered as a real competitor, your graphic profile has
 to stand out, and at the same time not lose the attractiveness of your target
 customer group. Your competitors have already created their market. In
 order to win market shares from them, you need a fresh bucket of painting
 to paint over blue with green. Stand out in the market, or you will get lost in
 the market.