Logo Design

We’re having a wonderful time in the studio at the moment working on some really challenging and creative projects. Excitingly we’re also working with clients from much, much further afield – including all over the UK and recently, Canada (more on that later…). Anyhow, Claire Prior is one of those “further afield” clients – having trekked down from Derby and bouncing into the studio all full of energy and enthusiasm. We could tell we were going to love working with her straight away!

Claire runs Green Tree Cosmetics, a company that creates high quality, natural cosmetics. Claire asked us to create a brand identity for her  with an approachable, distinctive and environmentally friendly look. She loves all of the concepts and would really appreciate your thoughts and input, so without further ado I introduce the colours…

Colour Palette

Green Tree Cosmetics is an Autumnal business with subtle Winter undertones. The colours we’ve selected highlight the professionalism, sophistication, elegance and style that are key to the success of the brand.

Colours are muted and yellow-based. Your Autumnal palette is passionate, visionary and aspirational – all the qualities that will attract both Claire’s retail and corporate markets.

Concept One

Concept one oozes quality and elegance whilst an accessible and friendly feel is maintained in the rounded shape. The logo is distinctive and has a professional and luxurious feel. The bird icon is fresh and visionary and hints at the natural and environmentally friendly products.

Concept Two

The second concept has a unique and unusual font with soft flicks which look like leaves. This stylish and distinctive logo is clean, strong and accessible.

As an extension of the leaf in the logo we have introduced a tree graphic which sits separately to the logo. This graphic enhances the overall look and feel of the brand and relates to the ethos of the business.

Concept Three

Sophisticated and stylish.

The elegant font combined with the muted colours creates a modern, clean and distinctive look.

We have shown the icon in the context of the logo and also as a separate graphic which is very adaptable across the range of products. This icon can change colour depending on the product type or flavour and has a strong, iconic presence.

Over to you

I’m finding it hard to choose (I have two very firm favourites) – and I know Claire loves them! Do share your thoughts and vote for your favourite. We really look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Tagged as in Branding, Case Studies, From The Studio, Graphic Design, Logo Design

I have been bursting to share this with you for longer than I can remember.

We first met Emma de Polnay at our Focus and Flourish workshop in December where we helped Emma shape her vision for her business in 2011. Excitingly we then met with Emma again in June to talk about a rebrand and new website for My Special PA. It’s fair to say that Emma’s business is going great guns this year, and what better a way to celebrate than with an elegant new brand identity and website design?

The Brief

My Special PA specialises in providing personal and virtual assistants to all manner of creative businesses: from artists to interior designers, architects to design agencies and everything in between. They provide the much needed organisation and detail to a sea of creatives much preferring to be in the space their best!

One of the things I have loved the most about working on this project is the collaboration and teamwork we have had. Emma had a strong vision around what would be right, but needed our creativity to pull it all together and take it up several levels. Bella Pieroni, one of Emma’s clients and the artist that created the fabulous illustrations of the butterflies and the comedy sketches, Esme, one of Emma’s Special PA’s who ensured that every i was dotted and t crossed, and of course the Flourish team who delivered both elegantly beautiful designs and a website that is easy to update and easy to optimise. (In fact, as an aside, Emma’s SEO consultant told Stuart that he had built the best Content Management System she had ever come across – praise indeed!)

The Approach

Chloe created an incredibly elegant logo design and followed this elegance across the brand identity. Our original concept was to letterpress the business cards (this brand identity would look amazing letterpressed) and this certainly influenced much of the understated style of the website.

One of the challenges with this site is that it both needs to feel ordered and neat but with a creative twist. Many creatives, with serious levels of attention to detail when it comes to design, are going to be looking at the site and so as ever, thought and care was essential. I love the simplicity of the typography, the colours are punchy but used sparingly so as not to go OTT and the illustrations just bring the whole thing together.

Here are some screenshots from around the site, but do go and take a look yourself and let us know what you think! http://myspecialpa.co.uk/

Tagged as in Branding, Case Studies, From The Studio, Logo Design, Web Design, Websites

Note: I’m going to get a little bit techy here about colour psychology. Regular blog readers will be familiar with me talking about seasonal colour psychology personalities and the effect they have on the business. If you’re new to the concept of colour psychology you may like to read my Colour Psychology Absolute Essentials posts first.

I’m often asked by clients whether their own personality has any bearing on the colour psychology of their business. My stock, and immediate answer is no, it shouldn’t do. Colour psychology is about using colour (and texture, shape, type) to support the key brand messages of your business. We’re very analytical about identifying those core attributes and they are what drive our decisions about colour. But it’s not quite as simple as that.

Your personality will probably influence your business

In my experience, the vast majority of entrepreneurs shape their businesses in line with their own values. You may do this consciously or subconsciously, but experience tells me you’ll do it.

This often means that both business and business owner will share certain characteristics and attributes. And I think this is more prevalent, though not exclusively so, in small businesses.

Small businesses don’t always feel comfortable about showing their true “personalities” through their brand. And I think that’s a shame. By being aware of your core brand values and creating a brand identity that supports that, you’ll gain more profitable, loyal clients and differentiate your business from your competitors. It’s certainly a benefit we see time and again with our branding clients at Flourish.

But I digress. Let’s think big for a moment. Do you suppose Richard Branson eradicated his personality when setting up Virgin? Of course not! It’s his very drive, values and ambition that many of his customers find so utterly compelling. And that message is very aptly supported by the Winter colour palette: exciting, vibrant reds, luxurious and strong black.

So to scale back to small businesses. If small business owners are prepared to embrace the effect their own personality has on their business brand, then the chances are that your business colour psychology personality will be very similar to your own personality.

Your business colour psychology won’t be in line with your personal colour psychology because we want to please you, but most likely because my experience tells me it’s nigh on impossible to completely eradicate the influence of the business owner on their company, and that leaves a lasting, and positive, impression.

What do you think? Do you accentuate or dampen down your personality within your business?

Tagged as in Branding, Colour Psychology, Graphic Design, Logo Design

Paul Digby is an experienced Interim Manager who we met at an exhibition earlier this year. Paul has recently set up his business, Hakser, and commissioned us to create a smart brand identity for him to help him differentiate Hakser from the competition and communicate confidence and professionalism. Hakser is without doubt a Winter business. [...]

Tagged as in Branding, Case Studies, From The Studio, Logo Design

I’m delighted to share these deliciously dinky business cards that we’ve just had printed for Gray’s Dairy. Do you remember a very long time ago I shared with you the logo designs for the new business? Well I’m delighted to say that things are moving forwards with the business (there seems to be a lot [...]

Tagged as , business card design in Branding, Case Studies, From The Studio, Graphic Design, Logo Design

Regular readers of the Full Bloom blog will have been on Suzanne Dibble’s branding journey. I first blogged about Suzanne’s choice of name for her business Stellar, I then shared with you the initial logo design concepts. And I’m now delighted to share the final logo design and business card designs. Suzanne is going to [...]

Tagged as in Branding, Logo Design

I love, love, LOVE this website design and brand identity we created for photographer Chrissie Taylor of World 360 photo. Chrissie is a seasoned pro, a photojournalist and lifestyle photographer in the truest sense and approached us to help her create a brand new website for the relaunch of her photography business. As soon as [...]

Tagged as , Logo Design, website design in Branding, Case Studies, From The Studio, Logo Design, Web Design, Websites

Remember me asking for your help to rename Suzanne Dibble’s business law practice Lawyers4Mumpreneurs? Suzanne came up with the name Stellar which we loved as this name perfectly summed up Suzanne’s focus on excellence and was strong without being ball breaking. Interestingly whilst there was an overwhelming vote for the Stellar name, the comments sparked [...]

Tagged as , autumn logo, law4mumpreneurs, letterpress, Logo Design, logo development, suzanne dibble in Branding, Case Studies, From The Studio, Logo Design

If my post yesterday remotely inspired you about the art of letterpress then I thoroughly recommend you rush out and buy yourselves a copy of Reinventing Letterpress: Prints by Contemporary Practitioners by Charlotte Rivers. Caroline and I discovered the book at our field trip to the Design Museum a couple of months back and I [...]

Tagged as in Graphic Design, Logo Design, Recommended Reading

I’m sure it’s about time I shared some gorgeous designs with you isn’t it? And whilst it’s been a while on the blog, it certainly hasn’t been quiet in the Studio! We’ve been working on a number of really exciting projects – some top secret that I just can’t talk about right now, or I’d have [...]

Tagged as in Branding, Case Studies, From The Studio, Logo Design