Hikers And Thinkers Logo

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I've been pin-diddling around and was asked to help out with a logo design for a budding outdoors company.

Of course I said yes.

I worked for peanuts too.

Just because it was for a *dear* friend. (Simple friends and acquaintances do not qualify for below-the-belt-sucker-punch-fees).

Hikers And Thinkers is a unique service offering guides, tips, and helpful hints for camping and hiking the mountains of Western North Carolina. They have a neato idea for handmade hammocks and I hope they can get them implemented soon.

Follow their blog: Hikers And Thinkers

And for the logo:


This is what I was sent as far as the direction they wanted to take.

The concept

This is my final vision of where I felt it needed to go:

Final Version - Client Approved
©HikersAndThinkers

What do you think?

I've always been told by mentors and instructors to include a design of my own free will when doing anything freelance related so potential employers could see "me". Well. This is me. I always include "me" in my designs. How can I not include "me"?

Thoughts?

Ground Control To Major Tom

Launching A Start-Up. Ignition Fail!



I am only steps closer to being able to stay at home again... it will be so much easier to focus on my own endeavors when I don't have to worry about stress in retail employment.

I was on the phone with my best friend (whom I've had the pleasure in knowing and keeping up with for over 25 years! Dang that's a long time.) and she asked how my freelancing was going.

I laughed.

It is so difficult to do a start-up of any business if you truly cannot devote ALL of your time to launching it and maintaining it. I've been totally neglecting my OHTY re-brand (we are now Yankee Burrow Creations). Been working on a logo and I was so desperate to fix what my *ahem* partner did as far as banners and avatars so I threw something together to get our "look" going:

Deciding color can be a real pain in the ass when you are designing a new brand/company. Orange is used by a lot of big name companies, and quite frankly it would be hard to use a color that NO ONE ELSE is using. Impossible. The color spectrum itself may span as wide as the universe, but I mean when comparing Pantone 3262 and 3272- it's stinking TEAL for pete's sake. Thalo blue and Cerulean blue are both B L U E. So to sit and think of a color that is unique to the corporate world is a complete waste of time. Use a color that fits your brand and expresses it's nature and emotion.

I'm using orange. Preferably a burnt, rust orange that holds sentimental value to myself and my partner since it reminds me of my Nana (my mother's mother. My mother is my business partner if you don't remember). She is the source of our crafty and artsy nature, herself being an artist and her favorite color being orange I thought the color befitting our crafty and artsy handmade shop.

This is just the beginning, I still need to work on a type style that is as close to unique as possible. Just not satisfied with anything I've encountered yet. Time to break out my graph paper...

Been scouring the web for inspiration and I've been sucked into Pinterest.

Oh yes Pinterest you have lassoed me and made me your slave. Not really though. I like getting on board and window shop. I re-pin items that have already been pinned, I very rarely (ok well never) pin original items because of their Terms of Service. But you know. Whatever.

What frustrates me the most about Pinterest is not being able to find the original link of an item pinned. I was on a search to find this because I thought it was awesome and sums up a designer's dilemma when dealing with logo design and clients who just don't understand. When viewing stuff on Pinterest it's super hard reading the small print and since the poster was pinned from this site which is just a scrapbook of cool sh!t, I couldn't find the original link.

After pulling out a magnifying glass I was able to see the url on the poster and I found this guy. He's been at this for a long time and I appreciate his style and keeping his designs classic yet updated. Will definitely be following him for inspired pick-me-ups.

Drop me a line or two if you've found something cool and snazzy that pertains to logos!

I've also been stalking Logo Design Love for inspirations and articles, they rock. If you are having trouble designing a logo that *doesn't* look like someone else's- this is a good article and also encouraging, because everything HAS already been done. We just need to try to do it differently.

What's in a Name

Our Home To Yours Re-brand Series

What’s in a Name…

Well I chose Tuesdays to write posts on branding, but today is Wednesday. What’s up with that? My apologies folks! The customers at Wallyworld wait for no one. Ugh.

Let me tell you, I sure am getting tired of teaching people to use a scanner. Or their smartphone. If you have hundreds of dollars to spend on a piece of technology you better learn how to use it! Life is so unfair.

I could go on about retail life, however that whole debacle is for another blog entirely!

Back to the task at hand…

I’m still brainstorming names for the Our Home To Yours re-brand. And I tell ya it ain’t easy. Every handcraft shop out there has some cutesy-fartsy name that ties in some element of the crafting process. And every website is filled with pastel colors and elements that imply sewed characteristics.

Now hold on there. I’m not necessarily dissing this stuff. I have good friends who have utilized these very traits and have successful brands. But I’m not here to be a copycat. That stuff has been done. It’s almost expected for a handcraft shop to look all frilly and pastely with vintagy labels and other adjectives that end in “y” (which may or may not be real words).

And printables!

Everyone gives out free printables.

I hate that word.

Printable.

It just sounds odd.

Moving forward!

Names!

What’s in a name? Yes we all know a rose called by any other name would smell just as sweet.

But not in the business world.

A name tells customers exactly who you are without even looking at the logo yet or taking a gander inside the store.

It needs to be different yet tell us “who” the business is.

Our names given to us at birth tell a story of whom we are. I’m a total believer that a person’s name is important to their character. It should be well thought out and on-purpose. For instance the name Addison (the proper spelling thankyouverymuch) means “son of Adam” but is more popularly being given to girls. Why? Did you know “Shannon” is traditionally a boy’s name? It’s a name free for all these days. And don’t bother getting all defensive, for if you are offended by these simple musings then surely you are simple minded.

So in light of all that I’m taking thoughtful care into brainstorming names. And I’m not satisfied with the list I came up with. We (my mother and I) are proud to hail from Western New York and would like to blend our Northern roots with our Southern habitation. I thought of the name Southern Yankee, but its already taken. Drats.

Sure it’s stereotypical to include “Yankee” in our name (especially considering the whole world considers every American to be a “Yankee”, not just pigeon holed to the Northern states), but I can’t seem to escape it. I also want to include something to imply “home”, as in a cozy home or nest. “Burrow” came up in the thesaurus and I enjoy the definition, “2. (n.) a place of retreat; shelter or refuge.” I want this business to be someplace where you can find your “happy place”. So the name Yankee Burrow went on my list. What do you think of it?

Yankee Burrow.

The Yankee Burrow.

Hmmm.

The jury is still out on that one. I’m still brainstorming.

One month left to save up some $$ for the early bird registration to the HOW Design Conference!!

Who’s going with me??

My Personal Design Profile

So I just purchased my own domain name with Blogger! I'm so excited that I have my very own personal URL... one step closer to total web domination!

Not exactly, but I am working hard on my web design skills, so hopefully sometime in the very near future this site will be totally redesigned by me.

In the meantime I would like to introduce you to my personal design style:

I am a designer with seven years immersed in the design industry; six of those years spent in higher education while also working and freelancing in the graphic arts. Acclaimed by instructors and employers for having a discerning eye and learning new methods quickly. I am in a constant state of perpetual creativity by exploring and learning through cyberspace and text.

My personal design style reflects minimalism, however I love to explore new techniques in texture and layering, pushing my creative limits to the next level. My Illustrator skills outweigh my Photoshop skills which is evident by the numerous vector graphics I have created over the years.

Here are some samples of my vector illustrations:

I'm working very hard at putting my full portfolio up here, so please be patient, with work and family it is hard to carve out time to learn new things. But I'm excited for these new opportunities to stretch my design muscles!

Here's a question for any web designers, or anyone who knows HTML: what is the code for a downloadable link? Or how do I make one?