creating my logo / the process

I thought it would be fun to share a little more of the story behind the design that finally came to be, since it basically took me a year of working through ideas haha. I am far from an expert, and will tell you I am almost completely self-taught in graphic design (I credit Blogshop for giving me a kickstart). That said, I really enjoyed the process (and would have found it helpful to read someone else’s experience like this when I began).

As I had mentioned, it was a long process, involving many months. It’s funny how such a simple task caused a little soul-searching. After coming to the conclusion that the first design I completed lacked my personality, it took time to decide I wanted to try using hand-lettering to give it that personal and original touch. Hand lettering was something I had started to play around with and really enjoyed. In the end, creating my logo was quite the process and I’d love to share more about my experience, if you’re interested…

After completing my first version of the website, it took time for me to even have the desire to work on my the redesign again. But still with time, I kept at it…I just kept trying, mostly without expectations. Over the course of months, I worked on sketching and experimenting as I felt like it. I didn’t want to force a design this time around; I was trying to remove the pressure and let my creative process run it’s course. I made tons of sketches and thought way too much, but mostly I struggled to come up with a clear vision and an original style that I was happy with. Throughout the process, I turned to Pinterest to search for inspiration (here, here, and here), which helped me refine my ideas and gain insight into the style and aesthetic that I liked and felt suited my personality. After time and research, I came to the conclusion that I wanted something a little bit formal with a calligraphy influence, yet still casual, modern, and fun. At this point, I now had a good idea of my taste and style, but I still needed a design.

It wasn’t until August of this year as we were in the process of buying a house that a vision for the logo came together for me. (Let’s be clear this was a full year after I began designing version one of the site!) Our new house opened up so many doors for me creatively and I was spinning with ideas. With the pressure of a closing date and new chapter emerging, I had a burst of energy. With that excitement, I was determined to make it happen. I had a clearer vision of the lettering style I wanted to create, but at this point I was still putting the pieces together in how to create a finished logo. I relied on a close friends and family to talk about my ideas. I am so grateful for these friends for providing support and continuous feedback throughout the process. It’s so important to get an outside perspective in this stage! Putting words to a design helped me process and fully develop my brand.

While we were on vacation in North Carolina this past September, a conversation with my sister turned into the catalyst for me to complete the design. I was finally ready to to draw my (hopefully) final logo. Throughout that trip, I spent time drawing my vision. My goal was to get the drawing as close to the final design in order to minimize editing time. I drew the layout as it was in my mind, with a different type style for each word. I then went over everything with black ink (I love micron pens).

I thought it would be fun to show a few different versions throughout the process, as it went through stages and took time. First I scanned my drawing (original shown at the beginning of this post) into the computer. I was surprised at how different it looked to me as a scan vs. a drawing! It’s funny that I thought my drawing was a pretty good starting point because suddenly I saw how it was completely uneven and with many problem areas. So, I went to work editing the image in Adobe Illustrator and creating letters out of my design…

Once I got the letters just how I wanted them, I started playing with how to incorporate stripes, as that was one of the original ideas that my sister and I had talked about for my design. After experimenting, I ended up putting the stripes inside the letters and using a combination of my favorite colors.

What do you think? Here’s a visual of the process…

Hopefully that’s either helpful or interesting. :) Is there anything else you’re curious about?

It’s crazy the things that we can teach ourselves if we put our minds to it, right?!

xoxo