DESIGN
The Anatomy of a Creative Storytelling Logo
A step by step guide on how a logo was developed
A few years ago I had the pleasure of getting together with a group of professionals to develop digital products for social enterprise. The group consisted of six people, as follows:
- 2 Designers
- 2 Coders
- 1 Product Manager, and
- 1 Project Manager, Me
During this time we designed a number of Web apps, two of which I wrote about in the articles below:
So as a team, we set out on a journey like any new venture, defining roles and responsibilities. In doing so we also created a brand, including a logo.
This article is about that very brand feature, the logo.
Brainstorming
Ideation was the first port of call. We asked questions like who are we? what do we represent? and how can we convey this in a logo?
How can our logo tell our story?
The output from our initial session highlighted a number of keywords and phrases that the team felt best-described our team, our purpose, as follow:
- Environment — Earth and water
- Sustainability and education focus
- Unchartered water … Sailing into the unknown
- Creativity and design appeal
- Collective ideas
These were just a few of the keywords and phrases that we captured. The designers were then tasked with the challenge to express all of this via a logo.
The name
The group name was something that we also had to consider. Some early features that we agreed upon were:
- 2 to 3 words
- Short words, with 3–5 letters
- At least one positive word
- A keyword that explains our purpose
- Words when abbreviated, would be easy to remember
The result — Good Juju Labs — or GJL for short.
“Juju (Magic), an object that has been deliberately infused with magical power or the magical power itself.”
— Britannica.com
The team was in agreement, so we moved on to the next phase, design.
Mockup Design
Any good design begins life as a black and white mock-up, a wireframe. The logic behind this is that if a design works in black and white it can only be enhanced when color is added.
At this point, our designers took the design brief, the scope described above, and put forth the following proposals a few days later:
The team got together once again to hone in on the best design. Collectively we agreed to focus on one design, enhanced further below.
That was it, we had a name and the foundation of a logo. The next step was high-resolution design to flesh out all possible variations of our preferred logo and add some color.
High-Resolution Design
Color evokes excitement. So the next step was met with much anticipation, would a splash of color make our logo pop?
High-Resolution Design is “used to describe something such as a screen or photograph that shows an image extremely clearly.” — Cambridge.org
Before the step commenced, the bigger picture was taken into account with practicality in mind. The color expectation of an object (a leaf is mostly green, to reduce confusion), expression of our purpose and of course emotion.
The color wheel
Plutchiks' color wheel of emotion is something that we referred to while evaluating what colors would be a good fit for the logo.
We also brought logic into the equation, all the while adhering to the design brief and scope.
Remember the keywords listed above, and the black and white mock-up design? Well, here’s a summary of what colors were deemed congruent:
- Environment — blue and green to convey sustainability
- Unchartered water — A ship/boat, also blue to represent the ocean
- Creativity — Yellow sparks, stars or lightning bolt to represent innovation
With all this considered our designers proposed the following three options:
In the end, it was agreed that the third design (the one to the far right) was the most appealing. It was easy on the eye and portrayed exactly what our group was about, our purpose.
Final thoughts
To recap, let me explain the final output of the design process and how the team came to the conclusion the chosen logo was a perfect fit.
- Name — The words were short and to the point, four letters in length. “Good” is a positive word and “Labs” represents digital development, whereas “Juju” (Magic) is unique, and didn't exist in Ireland.
- Symbol — The boat indicates a new journey, with a touch of confidence by venturing into the unknown.
- Bluish-grey and blue— While grey can be neutral (Emotional wheel), blue triggers emotions like surprise or amazement. Also, blue conveys water, the oceans, a perfect fit for sustainability.
- Bluish-Green — Introducing a green tone also reflects the environment while touching on acceptance and trust.
- Yellow — The stars and the lightning bolt represent nature, the universe, and imagination while evoking joy and ecstasy.
- Education—The playful color offset captures flair, youth, and childhood to appeal to educators and the younger consumer.
Hungry for more? If you enjoyed this article, I invite you to learn more about the Good Juju Labs team through two MVP products that we delivered:
№ 1— WaterWhys: A digital product for water conservation.
№ 2— Tchalk: A communications App for the education sector.
Also, to better understand design thinking here are two pieces worth reading:
№ 3— Design thinking: The personality of a designer.
№ 4— Design thinking: You want to be a designer by Dr Mehmet.
Lastly, you might recall that Chris created a logo for Illumination in this article. With continuous improvement and innovation in mind, I challenge all Illuminators to adopt the principles I learned above, complimenting Chris’s work thus far, to convey our purpose through an image or symbol.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article and keep Illuminating folks!
