Stop approving logos on gut feel: the 5-point checklist

Approving a logo because you like it is the surest way to discover six months later that it does not work in embroidery. Here are the five checks I run before saying yes.

A logo approved on gut feel is a logo approved on a 27-inch screen, in colour, at 400% zoom, in a context that will never exist in real life. The wake-up call comes at the first print run.

The problem with gut feel

Taste is not the issue: it is essential. But it does not answer the right questions. It tells you whether it is beautiful, not whether it holds. These five checks are factual: you can answer them yes or no.

The 5 checks

1. Legibility at small size. Does the mark stay clear at 16 by 16 pixels? That is favicon size, but also roughly the scale of embroidery or engraving.
2. Monochrome version. Does it work in a single colour or greyscale, without losing meaning? Think stamps, invoices, technical marking.
3. Memorability. Is the overall shape recognizable without the details and gradients?
4. Construction. Grid, spacing, alignment: is it smooth, or improvised?
5. Real-world uses. Business card, website, app icon: does the logo live properly on your actual materials?

Taste tells you whether it is beautiful. The checklist tells you whether it holds. You need both, but in that order.

Why it prevents client revisions

A designer's nemesis is not the blank page, it is late client revisions. And most of those revisions are not about taste: they are about a use case nobody tested. The logo that becomes illegible on a polo shirt. The mark that vanishes as a favicon. The mono version that loses its meaning.

Running this checklist before the presentation shifts the conversation: you no longer debate preferences, you observe facts. And if you want to know where your current identity stands, the brand audit starts with exactly these checks.

---

Frequently asked questions

Why 16 by 16 pixels as the reference?

Because it is favicon size, and a good revealer: if the mark holds at micro scale, it will hold everywhere, including embroidery and engraving.

Must a logo work in monochrome?

Yes. Stamps, invoices, marking, a partner's fax: single-colour uses still exist. A logo that loses meaning in mono is an unfinished logo.

Does this checklist replace taste?

No, it completes it. Taste picks a direction, the checklist verifies it survives reality.