My latest design project was to create a logo for MN Senior Care Partners. This is a new business that is just starting. So I had a clean slate to begin with.

The customer gave me some information about her company, some samples of some logos that she liked, and some color ideas. Then she set me free to design. From talking with her, I knew that she liked simple designs that had meaning. So I tried to infuse meaning into everything that I showed her, which was not always easy. My first page of logos included the large logo in the center, the small red and blue logo in the upper left, and the yellowish and blue logo in the upper right. I was trying to convey a hug, holding hands, and a helping hand to try to get the idea across of comforting and helping someone.

She liked the logo in the middle, but wanted to see more ideas. And I panicked a bit! I had already been searching through existing logo ideas online, and it seemed like the competition had some really good ideas, and they were all designed well.  I had no idea what I was going to do. So I played around a bit. And I came up with some really horrible logos. But then, I came up with some ideas that I liked better than my first batch of designs. Yea!

The new batch of designs were the top middle blue and green one, the lower left and lower right logos. I really liked the top middle logo, and I even liked it when it was more abstracted to not include the oval “heads” (the lower right logo). I didn’t love the lower left design, but it was better than my previous hand idea, so I had to include it.

The customer decided that she liked the middle logo best. So after a few tweaks, it became what you see here now.

Remember that post I was telling you about last week that was all ready to go except for the image? Well this is it. Enjoy!

This image is a brochure that I designed for Wellspa MN. You can check them out at www.wellspamn.com. Creative Graphics has been doing business with the owner, Mary Haas, since before I started working there. She used to own a photography business and has recently opened up a wellness spa.

Mary is great to work with. She really values creativity and has a lot of great ideas herself. She also really lets you know how much she appreciates what you do. Ahhhh, if only there were more Marys in the world!

I did a couple of designs for her. One was similar to this one, but without the teal solid. (From working with her previously, I know that she really likes simple designs.) But after I had put the solid color on the screen, I really fell in love with it and had to add it as a sample. Not that the other design was bad, it just needed a little something. Luckily, she liked it too!

The rounded edges in the border match her business cards that I previously designed for her. We rounded two of the opposite corners, so the border is a mirror of that. A fun design to work on, and I’m pleased with how it turned out.

Last week was quite a hectic week. I was the only one in the prepress department at work, and customers decided they needed printing, and they needed it now! It got to be too much work for one person, so I ended up getting a lot of extra hours in (can’t complain about that! Especially when I get my check!).

It was also a little hectic in my personal life as well. We had a midweek game of Battlestar Galactica so that one of our friends could play the game for the first time. And I had an early morning 8 mile jog planned with my best friend. (I didn’t make it the full 8 miles, by the way. But I was able to go 5! Yea!) Not to mention all the hours I’ve been logging on my painting…

What all of this is leading up to, is that I meant to post these logos sooner. So here they are. These are some logos that I designed at work for a Realtor. He wanted a logo for his tagline that he can add on to all of his business ephemera. At first, this project was a little daunting because there are so many logos out there for Realtors that use a house or a key. I was afraid it would be hard to come up with something that wasn’t cheesy. I think I managed to make obvious what it was and still keep it looking sophisticated. The final copy, the art that the customer chose, is the square house with line drawing roof over the top, in the tealish-blue color. This was honestly, my last choice (the taller house with the outlined roof), but after he told me the tweaks he wanted made to it (the shorter house with the words Key and Home emphasized), I think it looks much nicer.