Birth of a Logo, Natural Style

I started this blog in January of 2011, we're nearly into the terrible twos.   B&P was born for a couple reasons:

     To help and encourage other single parents.
     To help myself get over the dissolution of my marriage.

Divorce of a spouse is more painful than death of spouse in some ways. I had a whole lot of angered hurt bottled up that needed poured out.

Writing is my medicine.

Like alcohol dabbed into a bloody knee, burning as it burrows, you know the antiseptic sting helps as it heals.  Writing forces me to poke at memories and unpleasantries I wanted to ignore, scabbing over the wound with each keyboard click.


I'm happier these days, I write now because it's fun and an outlet for debating if one should peel or stab OJ seals.  If given a choice between a movie, partaking in a pie eating contest or ripping a post on the keyboard, you know which one I'll pick.  The pie, of course.  Then the post.  Although Spielberg's Lincoln that Curls and I popcorned last night was amazing.

I hope someday to get paid for my chicken scratch.  I've done freelance work for a running magazine that sends me checks by the British pound, but I prefer the flexibility and independence of blogging.  With a magazine, you write the article, go back-and-forth with the editor when he's unhappy with my overuse of immature bodily function references, then wait 4 months for my piece to go to print and show up at Barnes & Noble.  It's too rigid and slow a process, a dull edge.

Bloggers usually start out getting dough through advertisements on their page.  Unsure I want to clutter up B&P with a bunch of pantyhose and tampon ads, but I'd consider it if Playtex offered me the right amount.  To attract advertisers, you need a page worthy of their pennies.  Which means branding, a logo and a clean blog layout.  B&P has none of the above.

I decided it's time to create a logo. 

You know from my Rings of Influence set I try and go local when possible.  No problem, I'll just drive over to a neighborhood graphics designer, fork over 50 bucks and call it good.  We sat down and talked through my goals with him.  Dollar sign warning alarms sounded when I noticed his portfolio wall flashed big accounts, like logos and signage for the Iowa State Fair and Peace Tree Brewing.  The local designer dropped the hammer, "Beard, I can give you the non-profit reduced rate, it starts at fifteen hundred dollars."

I ran out screaming, hugging my wallet.

I'll show him, drove home, fired up Microsoft Paint, it can't be that hard to create a blasted logo. 

Wrong.

After 45 minutes of fumbling and silent swears, I created a sad looking hexagon that appeared to be crafted by a middle school project staffed with kids lacking fine motor skills.  Things got comical when I tried adding cartoonish Beard and Pigtails characters, I'll spare you that and just show the shell:

Discouraged, I banged out random Google searches until it brought me LogoSnap.com.  The concept sounded smart: you put up a bid for work starting at $200, designers submit their ideas and within 7 days you pick a winner.  Increase the payout fee and you'll receive a higher number of submissions.  My research on existing LogoSnap projects showed $250 is the sweet spot between value and a high number of quality submissions from designers.  

I had a basic idea of what I wanted in a logo, but didn't want to be too specific in order to give designers creative freedom.  Here's what I wrote in the brief:

"Logo should show the tight daddy/daughter bond.  I'm a single dad raising his daughter alone, the logo needs to represent this.  Let's try blue, orange and black in the logo, but not set on those colors until I see prototypes.  Leaning towards a circular design that incorporates 'Beard & Pigtails' text, with perhaps an outline or silhouette of beard and pigtails as part of the brand.  Could be difficult to pull off without looking creepy, good luck."

24 hours after opening the project, 20 logo designs were submitted.  Three days later, over 40 filled the plate from around the world.  I queried the bios of designers feeding me B&P prototypes, they hail from Spain and England, the U.S., Indonesia, Cyprus and Romania.  Tapping into the world loop on Rings of Influence, creative diversity would surely hasten a pleasing win.

There were comely emblems that nailed the dad/daughter bent of this blog.

Other were nightmarish. 

 
I posted several on Facebook, there was a general consensus from readers on what you liked and dissed.

This one came in 2nd place:

Here's the first draft of my top pick, created from designer Hatter out of England:

It captures the essence of B&P, right on.  Although Beard's horse teeth gotta go, the colors are cluttered and I'm scrawnier that that brawny cartoon.  I talked with Hatter about a few tweaks (he was excellent to work with, flexible and patient), here's the final design:

Do you like?

-Beard