In order to do some serious branding and create a logo, I decided to do some online net working and managed to recruit graphics designer, Liam Higgins of Pirate Fly.
Liam draws initial ideas by hand and specialises in both screen printing and digital work, he is a whizz kid on illustrator, Photoshop and inDesign. He enjoys creating quirky characters and uses a vibrant colour palette to create graphics for posters and branding.
You can have a closer look at Liam's work here http://www.behance.net/Pirate_fly
and say hi here
I really like Liam's illustrative and exciting approach to graphics design and was thrilled that he agreed to produce my logo. Our collaboration is a great way to add diversity to our portfolios and bring our work to new faces. I set Liam a brief to design to a bold, colourful, clean cut but kitschy logo featuring zoo animals (in particular ones that feature in my design) with an 'Alice in wonderland' tea party feel. Liam's promise was that my brand shall become the 'beacon of kookiness and flamingo's and girls!'
As well as linking Liam to my blog which features photographs of my jewellery being worn, I sent him my 'Make Tea, Not War' illustration and the 'What You Waiting For' music video. The video features Stefani winning a glorious victory against creative block, in which she also plays the role of Alice in Wonderland, chases harajuku girls around a maze, gate crashes a tea party, whilst being surrounded by flamingos.
I was really pleased with the animals motifs featured in the first set of designs Liam sent me. I opted for the designs that featured the animals in the frame. The frame reminds me of a vintage tinged tea party, and the animals sit proudly in the frame, like royalty.
Colour is a vital and energetic part of my design so I sent Liam a colour board that is key inspiration to my work, as it is essential that the logo captures the vibrant colours used within my designs.
I am inspired by the colours, prints and advertising used in fashion and beauty during the 1960's.
The newly coloured designs match my colour palette and the animal illustrations featured within the design are strong and humorous.
Next, it was time to incorporate the brand name 'Tea Party at the Zoo'. Liam experimented with a range of fonts. Keeping in my mind, my vintage inspired work and experimented with my brand in fonts that were reminiscent of the 40's, 70's and 80's.
I decided to select the Haywood font, a font that is inspired by workmanship and baseball shirts of the 1930's and 40's. The type looks as though it could be used in advertising for an independent store or vintage boutique.
I have asked Liam to expand the colours to three variants and I am pleased with the results. It adds more colour and pattern to the logo without over crowding the design.
Me and Liam have also agreed that my logo design doesn't need to be one single design but combination of all the different designs. So I will be printing a mixture of different business cards for lucky customers to pick up at the craft fair in Stockport.
I will also be using the logo design for the packaging of my jewellery. To match the Jewellery designs Liam has recently designed a turtle, crab and elephant motif. This allows a customer to buy a specific animal themed piece of jewellery with matching packaging!
We have also been discussing the reverse side of the business card, where my contact details will be. The cog's in Liam's imagination are constantly turning and he has designed my contact details to represent the hierarchy and animal classification system used in biology. I have never seen such detail on a creative business card before and it certainly adds a personal touch by adding one of Liam's interests into the design. It also compliments my design and diversity of my zoo!
Liam's work really compliments my brand. I feel as though this has been a very compatible partnership and I am 100% happy with the design. It's been a very pleasant experience working Liam who is a very friendly, co-operative, and hard working designer. I hope he has enjoyed working with me as much as I have enjoyed working with him and that it benefits his portfolio.
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