I'm member of the month at Etsy Maine Team!!

Thank you to whomsoever put this lovely collage together of my Etsy items!

I am very chuffed (pleased in Blighty/British English) to have been chosen as August's Member of the Month by my wondrous peers on the Etsy Maine Team - an astonishingly supportive and kind group of Mainahs who own Etsy shops and help one another spread the word about their online shops through the auspices of Etsy Maine Team.

I feel a little odd posting this badge as I designed it for the team - but there again I never was a shy person!

Thanks Teamies!!

Carrington Lane Bakery is open for Business!!

A few short weeks ago my friend Anne got in touch with me and asked me to design a logo for her for her new Etsy online shop "Carrington Lane Bakery" - I was so excited as I have been an ardent admirer of Anne's baked goods since the day I first tasted them about three years ago. Anne wanted a cosy, charming feel for her shop with a bit of European flair as she decided to skew the theme of the shop towards international delights - baked goods from countries near and far made in Maine with wholesome ingredients and as many local ones as possible - sounds just fine to me.

So I got started by creating three different quick sketches to establish a look and colour pallette:

Obviously, as evidenced by the top picture, Anne chose to go with the lower image but decided to go with a red gingham instead of the blue - bless her little cotton socks - she chose one and stuck to it and it was so easy for me to translate her wishes into my happy command, especially so as she plied me with samples of her goods and also baked up some Milanos for me to photograph and illustrate for the 'biscuit' on the saucer. Here is the banner and profile picture for Carrington Lane Bakery on Facebook:

Next I designed a banner for Anne's shop on Etsy:

 ...which co-ordinates and complements her Facebook banner - the Etsy banner is hard to do as it is so shallow and wide - quite the design challenge I'd say!!

 Here are pictures of the first three delicious International Delights Anne is offering from her newly opened store:

Cheerio! Caramelly, oaty Flapjacks from the UK

CIAO!! Delightful Milanos from Italy

Ooh la la - Espresso Hazelnut Macarons from France

As you can see on the cup in the logo I also created a monogram for CLB and I reworked this into a round label for Anne's packages thus:

Best of luck with Carrington Lane Bakery! Friends do visit the shop HERE!

More illustrated logos by Yours Truly.

I love type and I love illustration so what better way to combine the two than in full colour illustrated logos. When I first left school I took a year off and decided to work in a commercial art studio before heading off to art college. I spent almost the whole year laying out Letraset and learning about the spacing, leading and kerning of many different typefaces. Thus my love for type began, although I have to admit the Letrasetting was amazingly time consuming and laborious compared to the ease with which one sets type today...still I enjoyed the challenge!!

Pictured here are three logos I was commissioned to create by different businesses and a sketch of the first draft of one of those logos. As you can see “Ambiance” started off quite differently than it ended but the seed of the idea, the typeface, remained. The concept was embellished with English Ivy and a more formal, decorative flourish.

The "Harmony" logo above was designed for a company in California who wanted to depict a combination of the Monarch butterfly and the California Poppy, both of which are indigenous to that companies geographic area, along with the name of the store "Harmony" in an elegantly flowing script.

“Panache” was designed for a store in the Temecula wine region of California.

“Created by Mother Nature” isn’t a logo per se but has the feel of one. I had so much fun with the type on this one, changing fonts and fading the colour from top to bottom. I added the type about 5 years after I had created the central motif and was pleased with the results. This design is now featured in my Cafe Press store and part of the profits from it are donated to Maine Farmland Trust whose offices are in downtown Belfast.

All of my logos are created with watercolour paints and my beloved Winsor Newton Series 7 brushes or colour pencils on watercolour blocks by Aquarelle. The type is hand drawn with design flourishes added to create a uniquely decorative word. The only time I use a computer is to scan the image, create digital files of the artwork, change any small imperfections and resize the logos to fit their end need.

I am looking forward to designing more logos in the future and hope I am lucky enough to be commissioned to create delicious ones like that in the post two back for The Sugar Shack Cupcakery. I love the look of desserts and enjoy making and EATING them too.

If you are a small business owner interested in having a logo designed for your business please feel free to get in touch (you can click on 'e-mail' under my profile pic when you click on View Profile above in the right hand column) and ask me about my concept for marketing on a small budget!!