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04

Jan
2010

6 Comments

In Blog
Logos

By Laura M

Logo Design Process for Lindsay Stoulil, Chef and Nutritionist

On 04, Jan 2010 | 6 Comments | In Blog, Logos | By Laura M

Lindsay_LogoLindsay Stoulil is a New York City-based personal chef and nutritionist. She is a Registered Dietitian and strives to make food for her clients that is both nutritious and delicious. Her website, fridgeandtunnel.com, showcases her blog of recipe ideas and nutritional information.

In June of this year, Lindsay posted on her Facebook status that she was in need of a logo. I quickly responded to her query and we started work on the logo. Because Lindsay is in New York and I am in the Dallas, TX area, there was no in person interaction on this project. Lindsay and I began brainstorming over email about what she envisioned for her company and what she hoped to achieve with her brand identity.

Step 1
Define the Style with a Vision Board

inspiration

The first step I take in a logo design is to define a style with a “Vision Board”. This is a helpful in establishing a style guide draft and being more efficient in executing the design. In most cases, if the client and I agree on the Vision Board, the rest of the logo process goes much more smoothly then if I begin the design without one.

Because Lindsay and I were corresponding over email, I sent her several links with different inspirational sites online and asked her to tag a few things that she felt identified the direction she would like to take with her branding. She found illustrations from different sources that all had a similar style. It became clear that she wanted to do something with an illustrated, fun feel that was colorful and vibrate, while being modern and classic at the same time. Lindsay also suggested that we do the logo in green and white, as she felt this would best represent her brand.  This established a style starting point, and gave me enough to start designing.

Step 2
Sketching

sketches

The next step in my design process is to sketch out some rough ideas before getting on the computer and illustrating. For me, sketching is essential because it creates a rough idea, rather then a somewhat finished and polished design. This allows me to focus on different concepts that can be utilized for creating a brand.

For Lindsay’s logo, I tried several different concepts during the sketching phase of the design. Some of the first concepts were kitchen utensils and items found in the kitchen like a stove burner. I then tried a few sketches using Lindsay’s initials to create an icon. I sent Lindsay a few of these rough sketches with detailed branding ideaology that would go with each sketch. She liked the idea of the kitchen utensils, but didn’t feel that the utensils in the sketches were the best for her brand. Below is the email with her feedback

“The image of an egg cup (I know a bit random), came to mind while I was on walk a while back. That image keeps coming to mind, so wondering if I should use it? I am enjoying the idea of an egg as a symbol of nourishment (covers the nutrition bit), and the eggcup egg as a symbol of nostalgia (for me it was something special my Mom made for me, so this covers the whole homecooking/chef bit). Plus I think if done right it could look vintage and classy.”

And so the eggcup icon was born. A kitchen item that represents nutrition and simplicity was a great icon for Lindsay’s branding goals.

Step 3
Design Presentation and Selection

logo_opts

In my design process, I give my clients multiple options with multiple variations to ensure that they are getting exactly what they had hoped to receive at the beginning of the project. By the time I begin designing, a clear style, direction, and branding concept have been established to ensure that my time and the clients time is well spent when it comes to choosing the right logo.

Lindsay requested that the logo be green and white and feature the egg cup concept. I sent her 3 initial designs (2 are shown above, one was the final design). Each design showed different font examples and color options. In addition to the egg cup concept in green, I also sent her an option with a whisk icon in a similar illustration style and did color variants in teal and yellow.

After the first round of designs, Lindsay selected one of the logo options and requested a variation of the egg cup concept in a hand drawn sketch style. She also liked her name in a sans serif font option, with her title in a serif font spaced out underneath her name.

Ultimately, the final logo selected featured the original illustration style established by the Vision Board with a teal blue color (as shown at the beginning of the post).

Step 4
Design Execution

ls_businesscards

The final step for this project was to implement the new logo to create new business cards for Lindsay. I sent Lindsay two design options to choose from, and she decided on the design shown above. The design is very simple and classic, to highlight the logo and clearly establish Lindsay’s brand.

Next Steps

Now the the logo is final, and the business cards have been printed, I will be helping Lindsay to bring her new brand identity to all of her business materials and her website/blog. At the beginning of the design process, Lindsay requested that her blog have a seperate identity that corresponses to her business identity. Fridgeandtunnel.com will soon feature a site header and the new logo to bring Lindsay’s business identity full circle.

Shortly after Lindsay and I wrapped this project, she sent me her feedback:

“Laura was able to turn my design vision into a fantastic logo and provided me with precisely what I asked for. I highly recommend her work.”

Thank you, Lindsay! You were a joy to work with!

View more testimonials

Comments

  1. Great article, really appreciate the look into your build style.

    • Laura V

      Thank you!

  2. Laura,

    Can you write up another blog post on the Vision Board process? I find it to be very interesting.

    I think people might want to know all of the details, too.

    Thanks,
    Brian

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