I've always had a soft spot for cute things. When I was a kid, I loved all things adorable and feminine. So you can imagine my inner-child excitement when I was approached to help design a brand and logo for an up and coming quilting business. 

I've known the creator behind the business, Maureen, for a few years now. We met at a networking group back when I was working for a marketing firm and her as a travel agent. The universe works in mysterious ways, and our paths crossed again as we both pursue new and exciting ventures.

Maureen has had a passion for quilting for as long as she can remember. Her mother was a costume seamstress, and she learned proper craftsmanship at an early age. Quilting has always been her passion, but until now, she had been too afraid to actually pursue it - nothing like a global-pandemic to get yourself out of your comfort zone, am I right?

My process always begins the same, a collaborative brain-storm meeting that clarifies all the components of a brand: company culture (core values), ideal clients, tone of voice, feeling, tangible impact, and x-factor. As I've known Maureen for a while now, this process moved more quickly than usual. We identified the characteristics she wants to highlight in her brand: commitment, passion, empathy, and love. Essentially, we want the brand to feel the way snuggling up with a good blanket feels - secure and safe, comforted, and again, loved.

Maureen already knew the color palette she wanted to work in, and it was easy to refine. We want her image to feel soft and peaceful so we stayed pastel and pretty neutral. We also made a note that we wanted the aesthetic to feel more "kids book illustrative" and wanted to lean into watercolor stylization when possible.

Maureen had an idea in her head of what she wanted the logo to include, but didn't necessarily have a vision for a final concept. The main elements she wanted to include were a moon and an animal (either a teddy bear or bunny). I came up with a couple of different variations of each component and then showed her potential possibilities of how they could be combined:

The good news was that I hit the nail on the head for Maureen, the bad (but still good) news was that she liked them all so much she had trouble making a decision. After talking through the components and the options, we decided on moving in the direction of utilizing the sleeping bear (with a little refinement) and the water color moon. In the end, we chose the typefaces Special Elite and Sacramento. Special Elite alludes to a vintage typewriter and feels more gender neutral, while Sacramento contrasts that, acting as a loving signature.