Business Vinyl Week: Logos

I love logos. 

They are fun to create and I love to see what some people come up with.

Here are two of my favorites.

Everytime I see them, I have to tell my husband how much I love them.

I love the simplicity of the words and the graphics. 

When starting a business there are two major upfront decisions that have to be made:

1. Business Name

2. What's the logo going to look like???

(sure there are more decisions to be made,

 like how you are going to finance the whole thing...

but logos are more fun to think about.)

The logo says a lot about your company, for that reason, it can be a process to create one.

For me, creating the logo for strawberrypearl has been a three year journey.

When I originally started doing vinyl,

I knew I wanted to use the name 'strawberrypearl.'

It was an email address I created in high school and it has just stuck with me.

One of the many hats my brother wears is that of graphic designer.

So, I asked him to create a logo for me.

This is how it started.

As I journeyed into the vinyl world and became more comfortable

with text and designing type,

I couldn't keep myself from playing with my logo.

I actually quite like the logo my brother designed

but I'm a creative spirit and I just couldn't keep my hands off it.

For awhile, I tried something super simple and did this:

but of couse I got tired of that and currently the logo is this:

Occassionally, I'll throw it inside the strawberrypearl icon:

Playing with your logo can be risky business.

Your logo helps build your brand

and your customers will come to rely on it. 

Do you remember when Gap tried to 're-invent' their logo? 

I don't think I read one positive comment about it.

As a result, they called it all off and went back to their old logo within a week.

Recently, Toni asked me to create a logo for her hair salon.

When I first met with Toni to discuss her logo,

she showed me a design she had created on a build your own logo website.

It was similar to the top logo here:

As I worked with the logo, it slowly morphed into the bottom design.

Toni had asked that the logo be non-gender specific because they

cut both men's and women's hair.

She also asked that the logo include 'LLC.'

The best part about creating a design is the moment when you know you finally got it.

You can work hard at something and tweak things here and there,

but the best feeling in the world is when you make that last tweak

and you just want to exclaim 'Viola!'

That's how I felt when I came up with the logo for Toni:

Here's one more logo I've been working on:

This is for a project I'm working on in my spare time.

A project that I hope to share with you in the near future.

If you are looking to start your own business

or need a logo re-design,

email me at strawberrypearlstudios(at)gmail(dot)come and we'll talk.

I'd love to create something for you!