LOGO WORK: REVISIONS

Whoa, it's been a while!

Remember when I said that the logo could be entirely different on my last post? Yeah, that totally happened. I love it though, because it made me feel like I was in art class all over again in high school--just madly drawing away, paying attention to the details. Except unlike high school, I actually feel like I have a bit stronger sense of styling and direction, let's say. Well I hope, at least! :)

Even though we're sailing (har har) toward a completely new direction, I didn't want to leave y'all hanging and never show you what the previous color options looked like:

Above was the option with the compass, and below was the design with the family crest. 

In the new options, we were trying to go for something that's much more reminiscent of old world designs, and what better way to achieve that effect than making use of hand-drawn elements?

I had designed the previous "R" in the old options, but since this new direction was so detailed, I thought it would be best to recreate an R that would better suit the new logo. We're still in the process of editing the R, along with surrounding the letter with sea-monsterish dolphins--which annoyingly looked like weird unicorns for far longer than I'd like to admit. How do I get these weird images in my head, anyway? Obviously, they're being edited and drawn-in along the way. 

And here is a new ship…two will be flanking the central elements of the sea monsters surrounding the R. 

Hope you guys are enjoying yourselves!

In the meantime, I'll be crumpling up/burning paper, flinging it in the dirt, and then taking photos of it to create good textures for the logo. You know I'm excited for that part! :) 

LOGO WORK: SNEAK PEEK

Yesterday night, I sent off the black and white logo options to be reviewed. As excited as I am to show clients the options in full color, I found that it works best for everyone if the designs are first sent in black and white. That way, it usually becomes easier to choose which design to lean toward when people can see the shapes without worrying about color. Toward the end of the process, color is added to its heart content. Hopefully I'm headed in the right direction with these options. We'll see!

We're trying to shoot for a nautical-feel that's reminiscent of old-world style, with a really cool detail of "12." The client grew up in a family of twelve (twelve!) children, and I thought it was awesome that he wanted to incorporate his brothers and sisters into his brand. If you kinda squint, can you count the 12 dots around the outer edge of the compass?

Despite the fact that I only sent the possible logos in black and white, I couldn't resist showing you guys a teensy snippet of the color I was thinking about in this little head of mine. It's so crazy-different from my usual feminine work. You can't even imagine how much I bug my husband to evaluate my work on this logo so far. Who knew that men would be so helpful? ;) 

I digress.

Because the client is closely tied with his family, he was looking for something that would involve his family name and crest. It's odd now that I know more about his ancient family history more than my own at this point. This crest below is a really abstract version of the ancient family crest, and again the "12" is incorporated into the pattern above the dolphin. 

And that's what it looks like for me to be mid-design in a logo that's significantly different from my usual style. I'm excited to see where the logo goes from here…based on past work, it could be very different from what's shown above!  

OH, THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

…used to be somewhat Christmas-worthy. 

I'm patiently (okay, not-so-patiently) waiting for the skies to look closer to these sights I was able to experience last week. This sun just won't let up, you know??

In the meantime, I've been working on a project that's crazy-different from what I'm generally used to, and I'm actually adoring it (minus the times when I get stumped). It's very nautical, dark with bits of light shining through, and masculine. Seems like I get most of the work finished when I listen to the soundtrack of Pirates of the Caribbean on loop endlessly, since that's what my mind immediately related it with in the initial phases. It's on my to-do list to show you guys what we have so far in the very near future. :) 

Hope you're all enjoying the week! 

A HAPPY THANKSGIVING

We went home for the past few days to spend Thanksgiving with family, and it was such a welcomed break for us. 

It was so good to see family again, including my big sister, who was such a trooper and went running with Clay and me only a few hours following the feast. Even after the daunting task, she went running with us the next morning with three dogs on leashes. She only fell once. ;) I would've crashed down to the ground multiple times with that many animals lunging around. 

These photos were taken a little bit before we went on our death run at my husband's parents' home. I always love this view, along with sweet Taco. 

Sweet Taco is so willing to be pet every time I see him, and this time was no different. I remember the exact night before leaving for Europe in the summer--the country sky was lit up with fireworks because it was July 4th, and poor Taco was so skittish and practically yelling out of fear. We just stayed with him through the bursts of light and sound, petting his soft ears. 

Michelle couldn't tear herself away from the guy. He would just stand as close to the fence as possible, every time she wandered away, waiting for her to come back. 

Seeing these shots make me grin and wish I were back in the country again. *Sigh*

And of course, they make me miss family, such as Exhibit A pictured directly ahead. Nevertheless, I couldn't be more grateful for all that I have right here and now. 

Hope you guys had a wonderful Thanksgiving!