From The Desk Of Pamela J. Bates: In The Mood

Setting The Tone

Hi guys. Today I'd like to tell you a little bit more about my logo design process. Something that I neglected to include in my recent 'how a logo is created' posts 'Part 1' and 'Part 2', was creating a moodboard.  I'd like to backtrack for a moment, if I may..............

When I work with a client on custom logo design or branding collateral design, I send them a creative style brief questionnaire. As you guessed by the name, it has a lot of questions for my clients to answer.  All are aimed at giving me better insight regarding a client's needs, a good understanding of their business and their market, the benefits their product/service provides to customers, their business belief system, as well as a their style likes and dislikes. Once I receive the creative style brief questionnaire back from my clients, I think it is important to speak with them and review their answers. I find that there are some things that come out through conversation that aren't always unearthed by the questionnaire, and they can be important to the design direction of their project. Plus, call me old fashioned, but I think it is a good thing to have a person to person conversation.  Email is great, but it's not always a replacement for a phone call or face to face meeting.  Inflections and tones can be misread in an email and having a conversation can help to avoid that.

As I  move from the creative brief review, I'm generally sketching and collecting ideas for their custom logo design.  If my clients have pinterest accounts, we connect there so we can look at visual examples of things that we both think speak to the direction a design should take.  If not, they will send me images they've collected, or links to things that speak to them.  These examples are are not always literal. It's more about mood, shapes, colors, and tone. That's where a moodboard comes in. It's one more point of reference for me as I work on logo and branding collateral design.

One of my current clients, is Northbound Knitting. 
 
 


Owner Lisa Mutch is located up north in Ontario, Canada and has successfully built a great following and a niche market for herself.  Her shop is very representative of the style she wants to convey to her market. Her vision is clear, but Lisa knew it was time to rebrand her business so that her logo better reflected that same vision and style. She continues to increase her business' foothold and is ready to take it to the next level with a new logo that will support her market reach and future growth. 

The moodboard that I created for the Northbound Knitting project is all about sharp/clean lines, shapes within shapes, the entire gamut gray hues, angular motifs, and a modern, slightly edgy sensibility. Plus some.

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stoneware bowls:michael graydon for herriot & grace / coffee table: west elm
hand-dyed yarn and patterns: northbound knitting / arora borealis ring: hybrid handmade
atlantic ocean: pamela j. bates/the muse / geometric line art: jeele martens
studio mister: overlapping transparent squares
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The thing with moodboards is that there aren't really any rules.  They're about feel, texture, color, shape, tone, and so much more. They speak to a business' market, and product or service.  They're a visual representation of a client's creative style brief and our collaborative review.  It wraps their style and direction up in a collage of sorts, that becomes one more piece in the design process.

As a designer it's important for me to use all the tools at my disposal to create a solid foundation for the design work to be done, and moodboards do just that.

One thing I really love about moodboards, is that they are as varied as my clients, their businesses, and their projects. 

If you have any questions about the design process, feel free to ask. After 20 years of working with small business owners on their visual and written marketing/advertising/pr efforts, I've had a lot of experience with a large variety of clients, projects, and situations. If I can help one of you with things that I've learned along the way, that's great. So, shoot.

Make it a great day in your corner of the world and I'll do the same.

Ciao for now,

From The Desk Of Pamela J. Bates: How A Logo Is Created Part II

Revisions: Part of The Process

 

Hi guys! On Tuesday I shared with you my process in designing an effective logo for my clients. I left off at the stage of the initial design presentation to my client.  

Perhaps I should have given you a little more background, so let me backtrack a moment.

Helios is a natural, artisan skincare company that creates its products in very small, customized batches.  Helios was chosen as the name for the business because it is the name of the Greek sun god, and the natural ingredients used in Helios' skincare line would be nothing without the sun to help them grow.  Helios, the sun god, was said have worn a crown of sun rays and rode a golden chariot to Mount Olympus bringing the dawn of each day. 

Here are the two initial logo design branding boards I showed you on Tuesday.................

and the cliffhanger I left you with............which design did the client decide to move forward with?

drum roll please............

the design on the left.

However, it needed tweaking. The H and sun ray lines in the middle just weren't quite what my client Jamie was looking for, but she felt it needed something. So, we moved into revisions, which are more often than not, part of the logo design process.

It requires more communication between client and designer. It requires more clear communication regarding the direction a client wants to move in and more listening on the designer end as well as advising. Then, then it requires more design work..........tweaking the design, making changes, taking away elements, adding elements and so forth.

Here's the revised logo I presented to my client.

BUT, still..................it wasn't quite right for her. That is why revisions are part of the process and you have to trust in the process to get to the final logo.  My client thought perhaps it shouldn't have anything in the middle, but after trying it that way, I felt that it did need to have some design element in the middle and communicated that to her as I worked on second round revisions.

I went back and read more about Helios and how, as night fell Helios would hide himself in a golden cup and his wife Selene, the goddess of the moon, departed for her own, nightly journey.

Ah, now I was onto something. I did more designing and eventually presented my client with this:

Success!

Working through the process with my client, we reached the final logo that had her saying, "You killed it! It's beautiful and I absolutely love the moon and the star in the centre. It's a beauty and I can't believe I have a logo!"

I'm sure at this point you get the idea, but it is worth repeating. Logo design is a give and take process between client and designer. It requires excellent communication and patience.  Even though clients are usually quite excited about having a logo designed for their business, you have to keep in mind that on the client end you are reviewing designs, while on the designer end there is a lot of research, brainstorming ideas, roughing out designs, streamlining designs, presenting, more communication between parties, revisions rounds, changes....well, you get the picture.Creating your new identity is not something you want to rush, it's too important.

I ask my clients to trust in the process. If each party communicates and listens throughout, eventually you reach the logo design that feels right 'in their gut'.

It's my hope that this post, combined with the first part, gives all of you business owners out there insight into this design process and how you might approach it with a designer so that you are both able to work together in a positive, fruitful way that results in a logo that is representative of your business and effectively speaks to your market.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

And of course, if you're are in need of a logo or a rebranding for your business, please visit my shop. I love what I do!


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In other news....................it's snowing again.  Getting quite heavy and we're expected to get upwards of another 12 inches.  I'm not surprised after last night's sunset.
 

It was so pretty, I had to pull over at the next door neighbors for another shot as I headed out to bookclub/champagne ladies.


What a crazy Winter...........it's throwing all it's got at us.  That snow pile in the first picture, will be getting much larger over night.

See you on the flip side.

Ciao for now,