FAQ: Designing Your Logo

So I'm in this funny position where I know a good bit about Photoshop, but I can't draw. Seriously. I'm even embarrassed of my stick figures. So what am I supposed to do when I have this great idea in my mind but my hands don't seem to get it? Especially because I am... revamping my website! All By Myself.

Cue Celine Dion.

Fortunately, when you are stubborn like me and really, really want something -- you figure out a way. You guys -- there are so, so, so many resources online! Utilize them! God has blessed me with persistence and fortunately some creativity. I'm going to walk you through some of my rough (and BOY there have been some rouuuugh nights) drafts of designing my website.

We'll start with my logo first:

The original:

Notice that I have a few swirls and that my name is a different color. My brain is EXPLODING with this new idea of branding yourself -- but I'll get to my Jasmine Star experience later. For now, let's just focus on the fact that I need my name to still be associated with my "brand" Imaginale Design. I've taken a lot of risk with that name because I always pronounce it as "Ee-mah-gee-nah-le<--spanish E" Design. Where non-Spanish speakers say "Ee-mah-gee-naLLIE" Design. Have I screwed myself over? Well. So far people seem to remember the spelling when I say it. But PLEASE, I would love you to death if you gave me your opinion on this. Back to swirls. I like my swirls, I like my name distinction -- but I need to make this more feminine and soft. I made the current logo AND my current website in ONE weekend. That's pretty crazy. Clearly, there was no design process and as a result, it doesn't really tell you who I am as an artist. Eventually, my photos started to define my style and a year later... I have a better idea of the photographer I want to be.

So this is where I was: I want to keep the curves because they define that feminine feel, but I want this to look classy. While there is brilliant and breathtakingly beautiful font out there -- they cost money. LOTS. This means I work with what I have or what's free. I played with the font I already have AND font I found online (DaFont). I started to mix fonts, take notes on what I liked, and kept playing. This is what my photoshop screen looked like:

You can see how even my font color started to change. A few hours later (seriously), my head was just going crazy, I pulled out my original logo again to ground myself a little.

I thought -- you know, I really like the 'ale' part. I'm not a huge fan of the "imagin" and that swirl.

Then I looked back at all the mixed fonts and thought: Okay, I am LOVING the Miss LeGatees font.

And together, they make a pretty cute baby:

But, it's still missing that logo feel. It needs something more. I don't have a drawing tablet, and I DEFINITELY can't draw swirls on my laptop touch-pad -- so what can I do? I was imagining swirls coming out of the sides like I just wrote my logo and left my pen lingering...

Enter Deviant Art search. Deviant Art is full of incredible artists who allow you to use their work as resources for YOUR own. Some simply ask for credit, while others ask for small fees. Luckily, I found this beautiful (free) photoshop brush from the user ~aeiryn. I had played with others, but this one had the EXACT curvature that I was looking for.

And I secretly hope some of you are like "Um... what the heck is she talking about? These are just.. swirls." I know. How on earth can one swirl look more "feminine" than another? Trust me -- when you sit down and work on swirls for 2 hours, you WILL know the differences. But I hope when you see what I've done with them, they're not just swirls anymore.

I played.

I erased. I duplicated. I rotated.

Played a little more.

And then it went from this:

to this:

And that is how I was finally able to crawl into my bed and call it a night. Except I couldn't sleep. I was too excited thinking about it and how I could incorporate it into my website's new design.

I know not everyone has Photoshop, but I just wanted to show you how you can utilize some really great online (FREE) resources to create some of your ideas. I can't draw pretty swirls, but I know how to juxtapose them with font. I can imagine the design in my head. What are YOU good at? What are your friends good at? How can you take advantage of what you're good at and find help on the pieces you lack skill in? I LOVE helping, so feel free to ask me any questions or even help on some projects.

Fortunately my husband's sister is now legally bonded to helping me ;) She's an amazing artist and skilled in hand-drawings. I reach out to her when I need help because I know what I can and can't do.

Q's: What do you think of the final logo? Does it look feminine? And be honest: Do you have a hard time pronouncing (or spelling off the top of your head) Imaginale? Thank you :) Noches!