As a logo designer I expect my designs to come and go as the marketing world ebbs, flows, and changes. Therefore I am especially happy about the endurance of the Seattle Public Library globe (which I drew) that appears as part of the logo for this outstanding library system in my home town. The entire logo project was art directed by Seattle designer Bridget Culligan, founder of Golden Lasso, a Seattle design firm. While the drawing looks like it may have been jotted down on a napkin, it in fact took a lot of revising due to Bridget's renowned design scrutiny. As I recall, there were many faxes back and forth with my variations and tweaks. Yes, it was done back in the day of faxing, not emailing. It's an elderly logo now!

In 2015, the Library's name and branding were subject to a major review. Designers were asked to submit new names and new logo concepts. What happened? A lot of money was spent on the new development, but the familiar, popular logo survived and prevailed, as did the name of the library system. Thus, the globe-within-a-book lives on all around the city. 

(Please click here to read about the rebranding rejection)

While searching through file folders last week, my eye landed on one that is 20 years old. I pulled it out and opened it. As always, seeing work I did long ago stirs up various emotions. In this case, I time-traveled to the days before we all had the Adobe Creative Suite on our computers; it was a time for most graphic artists (but not all) to use French curves, technical pens, and white-out to create crisp logos by hand. I looked at the original artwork for the logo below, and had to admire how steady my hand was, back in 1993! Also, I was pleased to realize that I still like my design. This logo was done for a designer/carpenter whose business name was Creative Interiors. Nowadays, this design would not be difficult to create in Illustrator, a design program utilizing vectors.

When a prominent company comes seeking one's work, any freelance artist's heart beats a little faster. Such was the case when I was contacted by the design firm working on a new Starbucks product.

When I recently saw a display of Iced Coffee by Seattle's reknowned coffee giant, I reflected back to 1996 when I received the call and subsequently did the lettering for a new product: a bottled, carbonated, spiced and sweetened coffee. Sound a little odd? Well, it evidently was too odd, because the California test market for Mazagran ended with the scrapping of this bottled beverage. It never made it to most grocery store shelves. Indeed, I got my bottle from someone who ended up having a case of it in his garage! Read about Mazagran in this blog. The story is well-told by this coffee-loving blogger. He didn't say who did the lettering (maybe I should write to him), but the story does jive with what I was told at the time.

Shortly after the failure of Mazagran, Starbucks invented the Frappuccino™, which is still with us today. Again, hand lettering was used for the identity of this product. Incorporating personality into a name is the specialty of lettering artists, so we were frequently sought out by design teams in the 1990's. It's always a fun exploration to try expressive letters and words with pen and brush and submit them in hopes of capturing the spirit of the product.

Contemporary typography has shifted to a cleaner, more neutral style. A case in point: Iced Coffee. There's no story here, as with Mazagran. It's the straight-up beverage, something to chill and open up on a hot summer day. I'll save my bottle of iced coffee, not for the graphic design, but for the day when cold coffee actually sounds good.

My mid-90's lettering of "Mazagran" contrasts the contemporary presentation of "Iced Coffee." Click on the photo to see the lettering up close.

"frappuccino™" was also issued in the mid-90's, but it succeeded.

Another assignment to render animals calligraphically came to me last week. This time: horses. Not just static horses, but spirited ones. As the lettering of an organization's name was also part of this project, I used the same tools for the lettering as I did for the animals. Ultimately, after the designer's presentation to the client of logo options took place, none of the calligraphic solutions were selected for the final mark. Therefore, I can let my horses loose for you to see (the name of the organization needs to be kept confidential). Slight retouching was done after the initial drawings were made.

Top horse: sumi ink and Chinese brush

Reversed horse: Speedball B nib and sumi ink

Horse head: brush marker

Bottom horse: sumi ink and Chinese brush

A logo design assignment I contracted to do involved lettering and images for a new gift shop entitled Buffalo's. I enjoyed exploring the contours and dynamic energy of the buffalo (aka the American Bison). Here are a few of the illustrations I created for the client. Very little retouching has been done to preserve the raw, active character of the lines:

Left: eyedropper and sumi-e ink. Right, felt tip pen.

Left: eyedropper and sumi-e ink on absorbant paper.

Right: eyedropper and sumi-e ink.

What a rare opportunity it is to create a new business as well as its graphic identity. This has been my winter undertaking, and it is now happily launched. Last fall I began to think about sewing embellished fleece hats to sell, after having made them as gifts for friends. This idea developed further: I would give 10% of the purchase price of each item I sold to two shelters, one for people, one for pets. Thus, the name Soft Shelter Hats came into being. The little millinery shop is online using the fantastic ETSY platform for artists, artisans & suppliers. Here are a few images and notes to show you how I went about designing the new company's logo and the little pictorial icons to go with it.

My original sketch of the letterforms came easily. I wanted warm, friendly, highly-legible letters. I experimented with incorporating little images within the letters themselves. I also quickly sketched the beginnings of the separate iconic images I wanted to use in the identity.

To the left you see my original finished lettering, which, although it fit my original concept well, I was not happy with. It looked too juvenile for how I wanted the business to be seen: one that would provide hats for all hat wearers. I had already drawn some of the icons using the same writing tool: a Speedball B nib pen, and was happy with those icons, so how was I to resolve the fact that I didn't like the name done with this same nib? They needed to match. The solution: start over using the same nib:

I liked this much better. I think the new lettering has a more expressive, contemporary feel. I incorporated the original lower case e and a, both of which worked for me. I feel that the new lettering is also friendly and legible, but not juvenile. To make it lively and fun, I bounced the letters, and used a dot instead of a crossbar in three letters. I alternated upper and lower case letters to create variety that I think helps. Below is the collection of Soft Shelter Hats icons and their verbal equivalents. It was lots of fun to draw these and I intend to use them in a variety of creative ways:

Please visit the online Soft Shelter Hats shop at Etsy. To the left of this central column you will see a representative sampling of the current collection. The hand-dyed cotton hats are by Christine, my partner in this start-up collective. Here's the completed banner for the little online hat shop. Please buy a hat and support the shelters!

Exploring words and giving them life through hand lettering is always a fun challenge for a designer. Recently, my assignment was to create a logotype for two artisans whose business is called Two On A Lark. A great name for two creative women! I began with a plain ball point pen, seeing how the words could be stacked, emphasized, and styled:

Two of many sketches were selected and developed. The top one is a more classic script style done with a pointed brush. The one below this was written with a felt marker in a more trendy, playful variation:

Numerous colored elements were added to both variations and the choices were circulated for feedback from discerning individuals representing a variety of age groups. A variation on the more playful version was developed further, with a casual script version of Lark plugged in, and color was added digitally. The logo was designed to be used online, on hang tags, business cards, and shipping labels. Here it is! Please contact me to learn more about my logo design services.