Story of My New Brand Design

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Still getting used to my new brand design over here. Sometimes I find myself just looking at- it's a mixture of love & pride I think.

But it really does feel like "me." 

I thought I'd share a bit of the design process....

So once I had finally decided that I had grown out of my last design & was looking for a transformation...I had to make a decision about how to get it done. And true to my stubborn, independent, must-do-it-all personality, I decided to give it a try myself!  

I considered embroidering my name on linen, using an extreme close-up of one of my products, or piecing together bits of my favorite fabrics as the background. But in the end, I didn't want to be committed to a specific print & since my shop doesn't focus on embroidery that went out the window too.
Sooo, I began focusing on colors...which probably became obvious with my excessive posts on color mixes & palettes! This is a little collection of color I made which felt like a good representation of me & where I wanted my shop to go.

So then, the design. I thought about it for about 2 weeks & then one day I just knew what I wanted; a handmade flower on top of linen.  I went for yellow on gray & scrapped the teal. That night I made a few sketches playing with the layout:

As for my typeface, I imagined either a typewriter-y or my own handwriting. Here's a few attempts:
Ultimately, I chose a typewrite print I found online.

This mood board I made from shops & items I'd stored away in my favorites, helped me narrow down the feeling, style, point of view I was hoping to achieve.

Then, off to gather supplies.... 
I found a lovely gray linen & a thick butter yellow felt.  As soon as I could, I hid myself away in the studio & made gobs of flowers. Felt poppies, linen chrysanthemums, cotton magnolias. In the end, I went with the felt poppy...the little flower that has become such a big part of my shop!

With the linen ironed & the flower perfect, I set up my photography area next to our big living room window.  Satisfied with what I saw, I handed it over to my husband who cropped it, added my typeface, & set the pixels. And then, quick as that, it was all done.


Hooray! I danced & jumped & squealed around the house...coming back to look at it again & again.   And two weeks later, I'm still admiring it......and the process I took to get there.


3 comments :

Live a Colorful Life said...

Fascinating to read about the process. And the end result seems like just the right representation of you and your shop.

Terri said...

I really do love the new look, I have been working with 2 designers to get mine right and I am just not feeling it. Thanks for sharing how you came up with yours

m.fay said...

happy to find your blog, its darling!

m.fay
http://www.amateurcouture.com

hope you stop by my blog and say hello.