How to present logos to clients?

[EGGO]

I was given the task of creating logos for a company. The logos are created and I'm prepared to e-mail them a PDF of the logos that they can choose from. My question to those who know how to do this is really:

Do I provide a description of what the logo represents, or should they just "feel" which one is right for them without a description. I ask this because once I gave a description to a design I once did and the viewer got something a little different and I think it affected her somehow.

If you can think of other information to give me that'd be great. =0)

 

[meatycheesyboy]

The key is to ask the right questions upfront so that no descriptor is necessary because they already told you what they want to feel when they see the logo.

If the logos represent the company appropriately based on what the client has told you about the company then no description should be necessary.

Also, excessive talking or explaining is often percieved as a sign that you aren't confident in your own work.

So, I say, no description.

 

[MixManSC]

I would have to agree with Meaty on this. When we do logo designs we first have a good talk with the client to determine what the company is about, colors, etc. I then present them a few design ideas and they choose one and we tweak it from there to suit their specific needs.

 

[Ice Czar]

depends on the client
from truely interactive with say an art director
to the Paul Rand approach
(I started here > I ended here these are the reasons why, here is your new logo pay me )

http://acg.media.mit.edu/events/rand/ideamag.html

He told many stories about his different logomark presentations. One that particularly stuck out was the story for the NeXT computer logomark. Rand spoke about how as Steve Jobs turned each page of the presentation booklet Jobs' smile seemed to grow bigger and bigger until finally he reached the last page and asked Rand, "Can I hug you?" and Rand replied "Sure." He then commented, "You know you've made a good logomark when your client wants to hug you."

He then relayed a separate story about work for a different client where there was a similar eager acceptance of his presentation booklet, at which time the client (a female) asked Rand, "Can I kiss you?" And Rand replied "Sure." He then commented, "You should be sure to tell your clients stories of what previous clients have done (in reference to the Jobs story). That way they try to one up the last client."

largely dependent on the power ratio of the relationship