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It’s here. I’m official. My logo has finally dropped! It’s been a long time coming, a sub-passion project of the passion project, and I am so excited to finally share it with you!
My boyfriend’s beautiful and incredibly talented sister, Jenny, generously agreed to collaborate with me on creating a logo, a visual representation of my blog, and I am so very grateful for her time, effort, and professional expertise. It has been a true joy working on something with a fellow artist - especially during these times. I didn’t realize how much I was craving collaboration. How much I was missing it in these months void of theatre, rehearsal, and physical presence. That buzz you get from brainstorming and bouncing ideas off one another. The invigorating feeling of working towards a common goal and seeing that dream come to life. And that is why working on this logo has been such a delight for me, and an artistic journey all its own.
To start off our creative partnership, Jenny asked for some background info: the name, the vibe, descriptors, aesthetic, and other sample logos I admired. What a sweet, sweet invitation. It was a blank canvas on which to create an image, a design, an emblem that stands for all I am and all I’m passionate about. And how dreamy it was, how inspiring, to brainstorm and put the concept of my blog, my project, into words, to try and describe my “brand,” and to do some thorough research on other blogs and logos that spoke to me. I wrote, ad nauseam I’m sure, about my goals for the blog, my vision, my reasoning behind the name and the content, what images, colors, and fonts spoke to me, and the feeling I was hoping to achieve when my readers gazed upon that singular image.
The main vibe I want people to take from this blog is one of optimism. One of gratitude and presence. I want it to be filled with concepts of loving life, having fun, working hard, garnering lessons, trying new things, not being afraid, trusting in God and the process, and leading with love and with light in our everyday lives.
As you know from my intro, I am using this blog as a creative outlet and as an examination of things in my life that have left a mark on me, or made an impression - both big and small. The epic and the mundane. I’d like to provide a different way of looking at things that might already be in our lives, and/or suggest simple things one might be able to add or include! My hope is that each post is informative, inspirational, and encouraging in its own way.
With all of these thoughts in mind, I craved an image for my website that was bold, neat, and pretty. One that was open and elegant, but also strong and unique. I knew that having a star in the logo would be the obvious choice, so I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go in that direction or not, but I left it up to Jenny and her thoughts on the matter - and more importantly, her creativity. And man, was I stunned by the images she was able to just pull out of thin air.
Her initial response back gave me chills. She got it. She felt it. She understood it…me. I threw out thoughts, possibilities, musings, and she narrowed it down and zeroed in on the meat of it, the crux, the core. She found the image amongst the words - something my word-centered, don’t-know-until-I-try-it brain would not have been able to do on its own.
In her first “noodling” email she wrote the following:
“You’ll see I sort of got fixated on the shooting star concept. The way you described the idea behind the blog entries - love and light, lessons learned, moments and experiences that bring a sense of clarity and enlightenment - this all brings to mind for me visuals of light. The shooting star in particular resonated since it represents movement and growth within a sky of permanent fixtures."
That’s it. That’s the image, I was sure of it. A shooting star. It honestly hadn’t even crossed my mind. Now, where do we go from here?
In the same beautifully imaginative email she provided me with some initial logo samples and a “font dump”. Things to get us started. A base from which to work. I was so invigorated by her initial email that I read through, analyzed, thought out, and responded to her all within an hour of receiving it.
She presented me with a few initial ideas and we used that as our spring board to settle in on what truly worked. I wanted a font with whimsy and femininity, but also one with sophistication and strength, so we tried a few until we got it just right. We played with the type and tilt of the star and whether it should be illuminated or not. We played with the path of the shooting star and whether it was best in a horizontal banner or more of a vertical style. Then we added the byline, we played around again with fonts and placements and design.
Once a theme was found, we (and by we, I mean Jenny, because she was doing all of the physical adjustments, I was just giving her feedback - like I said, she’s a genius) created a full logo package. A banner logo to use for the main blog page, a stand alone logo to use for emails, headers, social media, the like, and an abbreviated version of it to use for…something I'm sure! We were covering all of our bases. It felt so official. So refreshing. So professional. So creative. And so inspiring.
Coming to you now with the logo fully published, I finally feel like we nailed it, and I am so happy to now include this effort-filled emblem on the blog and all its iterations (including my new Instagram page - make sure you check it out)!
This has been a true journey of love and support, and I have cherished every single second. Thank you Jenny for bringing my vision, my words, to life. For collaborating with me and taking the time to add one more project onto your already full plate. Thank you for your passion, your commitment, and your wonderful ideas. I will forever be grateful to you for extending your knowledge and your generosity over these last few months.
It’s amazing what a little bit of camaraderie, encouragement, and inspiration will do. Seek out these moments in your life - even when they don’t feel at the ready. Go the extra mile to conceptualize and collaborate. You’ll always be glad you did.
And now here we are. This girl’s got a LOGO!
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