Breaking Down the Blog Header Design Process: Organic Runner Mom

Here we go again! Another "Breaking Down the ___ Design Process" post, and this week, I'm sharing a recent watercolor blog header that I created for a wonderful blogger/mom based in New Hampshire, Organic Runner Mom (aka Sandra).

Sandra emailed me saying that she wanted her digitally-produced header recreated in watercolor in order to give her site a facelift and more of a homegrown vibe (she lives on a farm), and obviously, I was in (helloooo, right up my alley!). So we got to work right away!

​Here's how the process went down...

Step 1: Design Inspiration
As I mentioned above, the inspiration for this header was easy because Sandra already had a header that she liked and wanted to use as a jumping-off point for the design. We scheduled a quick call to talk through her ideas and preferences (how she wanted to change the current composition--including making it much taller and more eye-catching) and once we got off of the phone I felt very clear on what she wanted. You can see her old header below: 

Step 2: Watercolor Sketches
After talking through the logo, I whipped up two example compositional sketches for Sandra so that we could get clearer on color and placement of big design elements like the barn, the figures, the chickens, etc. She liked the composition on the right (below), but wanted a more plain/basic font like the one on the left. She also asked for bright, "spring" greens for the grass, so that it would really jump off the screen.

Step 3: Final Composition Sketch
Using the feedback that Sandra gave me from the sketches above, I pulled together a final compositional sketch for her approval. We started with the one on the left (below), and from there she asked for the text to be bigger and somehow stand out more. I came up with the idea to put some clouds behind the text to make it pop, and pulled together a quick mock-up of how that would look for her (image on the right). She was happy with the composition, but still wasn't in love with the "font"...

Step 4: Handwritten "Font" Selection
...So, I rendered the text in a few other styles and sent them over. Sandra liked the first one pictured below, so that's what we decided to go with for the final header. I was ready to create it!

Step 5: Final Header Delivery 
Obviously, steps #1-4 are just the preamble and prep for the final product, which I was able to easily create using all of Sandra's feedback. You can view the final version of the header that I sent her below...

And there you go! Another client project in the bag ;)

You check out Organic Runner Mom's blog here and can view more of my past blog headers and logos here. 

Have a great Wednesday!