Breaking Down the Logo Design Process: Thoughtfully Present

I've been doing a lot of logo design lately, and I am LOVING it [having a freaking blast]. So, I thought I'd use the next 3 Wednesdays to share my very basic, down-home, hand-drawn process of designing a watercolor logo for a client. 

Today, we have a logo I recently designed for Kerin of Thoughtfully Present, a new "carefully curated gifts and events" biz based in Boston and on Cape Cod. Kerin is a total delight and working with her was a perfect fit because we have very similar aesthetics. 

From the beginning, she had a clear idea of what she wanted her logo to look like: a watercolor image of her on a beach cruiser, loaded down with party supplies and presents. Done and done! Here's how we got to her final logo design and color scheme...

Step 1: Design Inspiration
After our initial conversation, I had Kerin pull together a Pinterest board of inspirational images, fonts, and color schemes that she was drawn to. This helped me to get an idea of the feel she was going for. 

Step 2: Initial Design Sketches
Next, I used our conversation and Kerin's inspiration board to come up with two sketches of what her final logo might look like. I sent these rough sketches to Kerin to get her feedback. Note: at this point in the process, she was using a different name for her business...she decided to change it up further along in the process. 

Step 3: Final composition sketch
Kerin liked the sketch on the right and had a few other ideas + preferences (Add flowers, pull hair back into a long, low pony, etc.), so I took all of her feedback into account and came up with the final drawing below.

First, I sent her version 1 (on the left), and she came back asking for a few less balloons and to see it without the flowers. I sent her version 2, which she ultimately liked, but we did add the flowers back in, because everything is better with flowers ;)

Step 4: Color Scheme
While all of this was happening, Kerin and I were going back and forth about color scheme. She had pinned a few different color scheme ideas, and had a hard time deciding which look + feel she wanted. We had many conversations about what would make sense, but ended up deciding to start with the two schemes at the bottom (below) and go from there. As you'll see in the final color scheme, things got punched up a bit so that they would stand out, but we did stick with a similar feel. 

Step 5: Final Font Selection
When I was finished with the watercolor (yay!), I sent Kerin two final versions of the log0--one with the word "thoughtfully" handwritten, the other with a basic computer font. She liked v.1 ;) 

Step 6. Final Logo
The logo was complete! Here's what we ended up with: 

Step 7. Style Guide + Logo Delivery
I delivered all of the final logo docs to Kerin (both "Primary" logo and "Secondary" logos), along with her final color scheme color codes. 

And that's it! Thoughtfully Present's website is currently under construction, but you can follow her on Instagram here (LOVING the curated gifts she's been posting!).  

Interested in going through this fun process yourself? Contact me to discuss {you can also learn more here}.