GRAPHICS & WORDS ETC
Logo design and brand development takes time, research, plenty of consideration, a dash of creativity, more consideration, a few tweaks and some 'sleeping on it'… before the final design comes into fruition.
The process is rarely straight forward. Some may think… "Pick a font, a colour, maybe an icon… Bob's your Uncle." (actually he is!) … however it's not quite that simple. I thought I'd share the process from a recent project.
After working alongside copywriter, Mel Silver of Words etc on a number of previous projects I was delighted to be commissioned to work on her rebrand.

CONSIDERATIONS
Mel didn't need a completely new design as she required some continuity from her previous logo, plus it had to complement her current website, so I wasn't starting from scratch. Easy – as part of the 'work' is surely already done!? I think this actually makes it harder, as everything has to fit together and balance nicely, plus there are already some 'fixed' design elements.
We needed to address the conflict between the company name 'Words etc', at the same time promoting Melanie Silver herself. Another aspect was finding the right balance between Mel’s creativity, appealing to creative industry clients and still aligning with corporate clients.
THE BRIEF
Mel wanted to retain the scrabble letters from her previous logo and a script signature, plus she loved the splash of pink from her previous brand. She also wanted to include a head-shot on business cards to aid recognition from networking events.
MY DESIGN PROCESS
I updated the scrabble tiles from plastic, to warmer, more 'trendy' wooden tiles, which links well with the website. I tried a variety of script fonts (There are thousands of fonts to choose from) before settling on a more modern font that was easily readable but nodded to Mel's creativity and personality. I kept a bright pink for the signature and introduced a dusky pink in the background, plus 'plum' for all other typography. I wanted to bring the signature, tiles and sub heading together as one logo rather than splitting elements like the previous stationery. I also showed an alternative colour palette of creams and greys which more closely aligned with the website.

TWEAKING
Mel loved the pink but then had a mini battle between heart and head, finally plumping for the cream colour combo. The preference was to drop the head-shot. From that point, there were some minor amends to wording and typography before I provided the finished logo, email signature, letterhead, word template, compliment slips and business cards.
FEEDBACK
There has been some really positive feedback to new designs and I'm really pleased with the final results too. I feel we've created a great-looking fresh brand that meets all of Melanie’s requirements.
You may be interested to read Mel's blog post about the process here.



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