logo crush: domestica

I first spied Domestica’s fabulous logo via a Tweet. It’s difficult to make a little 50 pixel square stand out, but they’ve done it for sure! After I saw their avatar I HAD to click through to their website. It was love at first sight, and their logo has been sitting in my inspiration folder on my desktop for about a year now. I love the color palette, the use of transparency, the perfect font choice. So fresh and retro at the same time. 

I emailed the shop owner, Chrissy Jensen, for a little more info about the logo and was surprised to hear that she came up with the concept herself. It looks like it was commissioned by a fancypants agency, right?!? Here’s what she said: 

The logo was inspired by the 60’s artwork for a chemical. I didn’t really think about using a bird til I noticed that the symbol looked like a two sides of a heart overlapping. I loved that it was a heart if you put it back together. The colors just happened to be the colors I wanted, too. I turned it on its side  (if you look at my logo sideways, you might see where I was going) and added a bird head and beak.  You Work For Them had just posted a few new fonts, including Lodge - it was perfect, so I bought it.

That was it.  I thought it was pretty good, but wanted to run it by my friend, Joe Williams. His wife, Danelle, and I were originally going to open Domestica together and we spent SO much time coming up with the name + had spent hours looking at logos and I just trusted their judgement. Joe said it was a good start, but thought if I left him with it for a few, he’d if he couldn’t refine it a bit. He designs a ton of stuff, including a lot of the flyers for Craft Saturday, a craft show they run here in Des Moines, so I totally wanted his help.  What he sent back is the logo we have today. 

I owe him so much thanks because I really believe that our logo opened a lot of doors and gave people a lot of confidence in us when we were nothing more than an idea and a signature on a storefront lease. People comment on it all the time and I love how it looks on the store window. Some people call it the Partridge Family bird, but I like to think it would fit in your hand like a Dove. For Christmas, Joe designed a wreath sticker for us using a repeat of the bird.  It was beautiful.

Photos courtesy Domestica

ADORE what Chrissy said about the logo opening doors for her new business. I whole heartedly agree that a good logo inspires confidence and helps get a new venture off the ground. This is something I’m constantly telling my clients.

Needless to say, I have a huge crush on the Domestica logo. Isn’t it lovely? Don’t you wish you lived in Des Moines so you could go visit in person? If that’s not convenient, you can shop online for modern home décor, paper goods, art and gifts. Check out their cool blog, too, for some fun inspiration. 

sneak peek: nautical anchor logo project research

Images via Pinterest

I’m working on a new logo project for a client who is planning a private cruise around the Med this summer. Here’s a time I would seriously not mind working for trade! I was doing some cruising around Pinterest and started noticing fun nautical items, so I started an inspiration/mood board for my client. Normally this is something I do in a sketchbook — which makes it difficult to share with a client who lives thousands of miles away. How I ever lived without Pinterest is a mystery to me now! It’s so convenient for sharing images with clients.

Four logos shown above can be seen on my Project Marina inspiration board. Top left: distressed anchor logo by Jon Contino (via Grain Edit); Top right: Mustard yellow anchor logo also by Jon Contino; Bottom Left: Sea Salt Society logo by Trademark Trademark; Bottom Right: Vintage label found via LovelyPackage.

logo crush: holly lecours

I have a crush on the Holly Lecours Interior Design logo, designed by the extraordinarily talented David Lecours, creative director at LecoursDesign. All of David's work has a restrained, understated elegance that I truly admire. LecoursDesign provides marketing and brand communications guidance, specializing in architecture, engineering, and construction firms.

"Holly also does professional organizing within her interior design projects, so the efficiently stacked chairs/lowercase h's have double meaning," David says about the logo.

I extend extra special props to David for this logo, because designing for family (Holly is David's wife) is most definitely NOT the easiest thing to do.

David is also a wonderful coach and speaker. If you're in the San Diego area, look into his upcoming Brand You seminar, which promises to be a "seminar of awesomeness." From the seminar description: An authentic personal brand is the epicenter from which all your marketing activity should reverberate.

Awesome job, David!

logo crush (ed): gap

I am so not loving the new Gap logo. I'm not the only one (read this Advertising Age article).  I'm not saying the old logo was perfect, but the new one is lame.

 

UPDATE 10/11/10: Gap Inc. announced it will return to the old logo, and also admitted that the crowdsourcing idea (to replace the new logo) was a bad idea. Read the Gap press release.

logo crush: east village

I love this logo for East Village, a fab Asian diner in Encinitas, California. It's wonderful, fresh and quirky, just like the yummy food they serve. The robot's hand dots the "i." Cuuute.

logo crush: blue marble ice cream

I have yet another logo crush. Don't you just love the simplicity of the Blue Marble Ice Cream logo? I think the bright blue color is awesome -- crisp and refreshing and totally different from all the pink and reds that are usually associated with ice cream brands. I spotted one of their ice cream carts at the Brooklyn Flea Market and had to sneak a shot of the scene. 

green tea ginger ale: something i'd buy just for the packaging

Have  you seen this on the shelf yet? I'd buy this simply for the packaging, but Green Tea Ginger Ale does sound yummy. Next time I'm at the market I am picking up a bottle of this Canada Dry drink.

logo crush: ace hotel

Yes, this logo is prety simple. But that's why I love it so. I've already professed my admiration (see here) for the New York Ace Hotel, but forgot to post this photo I took of the door. So voila, another logo crush.

design crush: trussardi

I'm crushin' on the Trussardi logo. The Italian company is counting down the seconds to their 100th anniversary (literally — check it out on the Trussardi.com homepage).

The brand encompasses fashion, art, design and cuisine (they have a few restaurants including one with two Michelin stars). The Trussardi group makes lots of luxury products: chic sunglasses and premium denim; classic, elegant cologne and divine candles; ladies and mens leathergoods; clothing; and more.

For a company nearly a century old, with such a varied product and service line, they have a remarkably cohesive brand identity. Each product and service line has a slightly different logo, but they all work together and tie back to the main brand identity in some way. I particularly like their main logomark (the top one shown above). I think the logo is a perfectly modern, tongue in cheek allusion to traditional shield motifs, which, for a *nearly* 100 year old company, is quite extraordinary, don't you think?

logo crush: LeFiell

Each time I drive to Los Angeles I see this fabulous sign. Finally I was a passenger, not the driver, and was able to snap this shot. Very Steve McQueen, no?