a logo

My dad is newly retired and a recent Grandpa visit allowed me to crank through some serious design work for my dear sister's newest venture.

The name is a tribute to one of her cats and the paw print is that of one of her dogs. I am quite pleased with my choice of typeface. Usually I trend towards the more simple, modern sans serif fonts as being friendlier and cleaner. In this case, however, I think these serifs give an appropriate air of seriousness while still being soft and approachable.

The heart shape within the paw print was there naturally, which I quite love.

A new logo is born!

I don't often take freelance work these days because I have a hard time getting it done. But I was excited at the opportunity to help a local business I love and care about – my daughter's dance studio! The client was fabulous to work with. Not only was there no real deadline (bonus!) but she has a sharp design eye herself and offered valuable critique that brought us together to this fabulous final product.

So, presenting for the first time on this blog: Over the Top Academy of Dance's  new logo!

We just ordered business cards so I am excited to see the logo "in action" for the very first time. I absolutely can't wait for the day when it gets placed on the building! I designed a special horizontal version for this very purpose.

love this logo

This logo for the Greater Grand Rapids Bicycle Coalition was sent to me at work for use on a many-sponsored piece. I love it. I think it is really a great design, a beautiful and simple merging of letterforms and illustration. Very well-done. If anyone happens to know who designed it, please share in the comments. I would love to give credit where it is due.

Happy sigh – good design does make me smile!

teen film festival logo

Another fun project for me! This festival has been running for several years but this is the first year my library is joining in as a partner. The time had come for a new name and a new logo that reflected the new partnership.

The design we ended up going with was actually one of my first ideas.

Here it is in black and white:

And here it is in color:

As you can see, I based the design on a stop light. Red (stop) with the exclamation point in the little speech bubble represents having  an idea and message to share. Yellow (slow down) with the film reel symbolizes taking the time to create your film. And green (go) with the eye references the actual festival where your film will be viewed by an audience.

Write Michigan logos

I recently had the honor of developing some logo options for a short story content. Here are the three designs that were presented to the committee.

 campfire, storytelling, myths, messages, memories, words leaping off page

ripples, water, remembering, land and place as inspiration, clouds, dreams

bold type, waves and water, the printed page, books

My favorite is the middle one so I will end showing it to you in color. I developed several color versions of each of these. The committee ended up choosing the final logo out of the above three choices.

I would love to hear which one resonates with you and why. Please leave a comment!

Traverse City: super-cute SugarKissed!

Mmmm... graphic design and ice cream. What could be yummier? Enjoy a delicious peek at Traverse City's newest sweet shop: SugarKissed (cute name!).

Cute logo:

Cute entry:

Cute signs:

Cute decor:

Cute bathroom:

Cute kids (I may be biased):