Time again for the T-shirt design for the University School of the Lowcountry!

Another year of graduates for the University School of the Lowcountry! Founded in 2007, University School of the Lowcountry (USL) is an award-winning non-profit, 50 tax-exempt, independent school in Mount Pleasant, SC serving grades 3-12 in a co-educational and non-sectarian environment. I have been designing the t-shirts almost every year and am always amazed as I incorporate the events, field trips, local outings, competitions and community service the school takes part in year after year.

As Jason Kreutner, Head of School said in an interview; “All of our students in our grades 3 to 12 contribute 50-plus hours of service to the community each year. We value empathy and active citizenship, so we integrate these hours of community service into our regular school day program.”

As the years have gone by, the list of activities, along with related graphics has expanded and fitting it all onto a t-shirt is a challenge. The puzzle eventually falls into place and my job is to make it attractive, legible and fun. I work directly with Jason Kreutner and together we decide upon colors and composition. Font size and style is always important for legibility and clip art must be converted into vector images. Tricky, but fun, designing the University School of the Lowcountry graduation tee is always an enjoyable project. And yay! – the kids seem to like the new tees! 

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Logo design for a wine poet comes to life …

Intrigued by wine and want to learn more about bottles you can actually get your hands on? Find some bite size nuggets of fascinating information at the Grape Poetry instagram account, where French Wine Scholar, Carol Morris, tells stories of wine along with sharing gorgeous photos of various bottles. Carol is a WSET Level 3  – “An advanced level qualification for professionals  and enthusiasts wishing to acquire a detailed understanding of the spirits of the world and develop the tasting skills required to accurately describe and evaluate a spirit”. She is a wine consultant and lover of French wines, in particular. Her wine tales reveal her knowledge of the wines of the world and her passion for the history, tastes and differences of spirits. Her posts not only teach about wine, they lead you to where you can find particular bottles locally (if you’re in the Charleston, SC area). So, you’ll not just have to wish to try a wine she describes! And if you’re interested in hosting a wine tasting at your business or home, get in touch with Carol. 

Carol called me with a plan to start her own wine tasting/wine education business.  She needed a logo for Grape Poetry to use for social media, business cards, her website and teaching materials. She googled ‘local graphic designer’, found me and we met to discuss her vision. We worked together well, going back and forth with color shades, elements and layouts. Her enthusiasm was contagious and as I worked on the logo, I got more excited about the possibilities. Combining her writing – the poetry of wine, with the humble grapes made for a great visual.  Soon after finalizing the logo, I began to work on some business cards for her. 

Follow Carol on Instagram! I know you’ll be tempted by each beautiful photo and want to go back through each post to find a wine or two you want to try.

instagram.com/grape.poetry

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HCA expands into fiberglass pool installation …

 As I’ve said in the past, acquiring a customer who returns to you for other jobs is always an assurance that you’re doing something right – and hopefully providing a combination of good service, easy communication and a final product that is just what the customer hoped for.

In October of 2021, Connor of Charleston SC, contacted me about a logo for his landscaping company. This was an uncomplicated job because Connor had already found online an excavator arm image that he wanted to replicate with minor changes.  He also knew exactly what kind of colors and layout he wanted. He just needed me to create the vector logo and provide social media files for him. We experimented mostly with the sizing of the excavator arm and the overlapping of the arm over the business name. We also tried a number of different fonts and font sizes in order to get the bold, strong letters that he imagined in order to project a tough and rugged feel.

Connor was great to work with and was very responsive when I sent layouts over to him. We had easy and straight forward communication that enabled me to work quickly and concisely. You can find his landscape company here:

facebook.com/HCALandscapes

Next, in April of 2022, Connor was back in touch! He said, “I have started another company that does fiberglass pool installation. The company name is HCA Pools.” 

This time, instead of rugged, he wanted a more high-end look, while still keeping it simple and not fussy.  His vision for the image part of the logo, was a simple water swirl. Most of the initial layouts included a variety of water swirls, swooshes and spouts in various blue shades from bright to subtle. It didn’t take Connor long to eliminate and choose his favorites. We fine-tuned from there creating the new logo for HCA Pools of Charleston, SC. What will be next for this enterpenuer? We will have to wait and see! 

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An educator, a choreographer and a performer – meet Dancing Beena!

Dancing Beena is an educator, a choreographer and a beautiful performer. Originally from India, she now lives in SC and performs and teaches all around Charleston and the state.  Beena was influenced by the Egyptian and Lebanese styles of Arabic dance. She started dancing in Chicago in 2003 and studied with Jasmin Jahal and other educators. She has trained in Karate for over 18 years and Keno for 10 years. Yoga, Pilates and Qigong round out her practice. She brings these healing art, marital art and dance art disciplines into her classes. Her core mission is to guide her students in dance and to bring joy, confidence and fun to the classes. She encourages people of all levels to join her and give dance a try.

As a graphic designer, I work with a variety of business types which makes my work so fascinating. Every new job gives me a window into a person and a story I knew nothing about. Meeting Beena is a perfect example. I’ve never worked with a dancer before and meeting her in late 2021 introduced me to the business of dance and the range of opportunities for someone with her talents. She expressed an interest in updating her logo and maybe working on a few other projects together. She had been creating her own designs in Photoshop, so she already had an eye for design, layouts and an excellent starting point for me to work from. 

Wonderfully distinctive, the silhouette of Beena dancing was the basis for her existing logo.  My job was to take the image and refine it, while creating a vector file we could use on any project in the future. Drawing inspiration from her gorgeous costumes, the color palettes we chose for both the business card and the postcards were a vibrant mix of shades. The bright turquoise is a perfect backdrop for both the black and white contrasting type and makes the silhouette pop. While, the energizing, rich magenta brings movement and femininity to the postcards, enhancing the photos. Beena chose several quotes to use on the postcards and after trying them out in layouts, she decided on the one by Martha Graham which pairs perfectly with the joy on Beena’s face.

“It’s what I always wanted to do, to show the laughter, the fun, the joy of dance.”

I look forward to working with Dancing Beena more in 2022 and hope I get the chance to see her perform. 

To learn more about Dancing Beena and her classes, visit her website:

www.DancingBeena.com

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Licensed Hemp Farmers since 2020, 2BD Farm is now offering their first retail product. CBD Pet Treats!! 

In October of 2021, I got an email from a couple staring their new business and looking for a logo designer. They sent me a brief history of how the idea for 2BD Farm was conceived.

As Carmen and Scott described their journey to me, they also explained about the dogs. 

“Started with a brunch in Jan 2020 on King St. in downtown Charleston, SC. We walked past a CBD store (Charleston Hemp Collective). Purchased items, talked with highly educated staff,

became intrigued. We talked more, looked up hemp growing laws in Missouri because of my family farm there. Found it was legal to grow industrial hemp and first annual Missouri Hemp Symposium was scheduled for later that month in Kansas City. Booked tickets and went, which started our journey learning more about the plant, benefits, and and the endocannibinoid system.

Back home … we realized that outdoor growing in Missouri was impossible at the moment because of the lack of support/workers there. 

DIdn’t have land here, like in Missouri, so we started down the path of container growing, thinking we could have it on our home site. We purchased the container, had it moved to our property, bought growing equipment, then realized we couldn’t get permits to do it because we didn’t have enough land, which led us to look for a piece of property… and eventually found [property] in McClellanville, a quaint fishing village we both have always loved.

“The name came from loving our two furry friends, one an English Black Lab, the other a Border Collie/German Shepherd mix; both black dogs. We considered Two Black Dogs Farm, but of

course, it felt too wordy, then tried an acronym, 2BD. We loved that it was also a play on CBD.”

The next week I met with Carmen and Scott in person to hear all about their hemp farm and their vision for the logo. Loved their concept and enjoyed talking with them about their goals and plans for the business.  Later, Carmen sent me numerous images of logos they were drawn to for color and style. We worked on refining the logo during the next month and finished up with a final the first of December. Whenever I would send Carmen a layout, she would often draw right on top of it with changes they were intersted in seeing. These visuals were so helpful in the logo development. Since finalizing the logo, we have worked together on packaging for the 2BD Dog Treats, some stickers and a t-shirt graphic. You can see the packaging on their website – and purchase for your own pets.  

Visit 2BD Farm!

2bdfarm.com/

And, find them on social media:

@2bdfarm

Facebook.com/2BDfarm

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How long have you been using your current logo? Is it not quite what you wish it was? Maybe it’s some clipart put together when you first opened your business? Ready for a little refresh? Looking for something new and current? Let me help!

Don’t be afraid to change things up a bit! Logos get updated often by companies, both large and small. Take a look at these logo updates from 2021 on designbro.com :

Brands Redesigned

Sometimes, even small changes can give a logo a more up-to-date feel.  Simple changes, like a new palate of colors or a font style change that will keep your logo identifiable and still present a revamped look can make a difference. 

Back in the Fall, I acquired a new local client, Bill Williams, of Down South Floors.  I love working with locals and getting to know more about their small businesses and the owners in my area. Although I still haven’t met Bill in person, talking to him by phone and email has been a delight. Warm, easy, appreciative and friendly, I can see why he has had a successful run with his company and continues to thrive.

Williams emailed me about doing some display headers, featuring his logo – with a revamp. He included a lot of detail about his current logo and his clientele. He explained what he likes and what he doesn’t like about his logo. The information he gave me was helpful in understanding that he didn’t want a rebrand, but only some changes to refresh the logo. Centered by an adorable hound dog, Bill’s idea was to make the dog look a bit more friendly and more appealing to women, who he explained, are his primary clients.  His email included these logo bullet points:

• Personality: Warm and sincere 
• Voice: Soft 
• Tone: Soothing
• Style: Casual
• Look: Southern
• Colors I like: Shades of amber / brown (light to dark), Smokey Greys, natural wood colors (red oak, white oak, hickory)”

I liked this list. It gave me a feel as to what he wants to project with his company, as well as his taste in graphics! We removed the dog’s collar and added a bowtie and changed all the logo colors, which included lightening the dog and adding a bit softer touch to him. After completing his new logo and the display headers, Bill asked me to work on some notebook covers, notebook binders and business cards We continue to work together and I recently worked on some price cards for his individual floor samples. You can’t find Bill online, but you can take a look at his new and refreshed logo!

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The Lawn Lab, providing lawn care services in Charleston, SC.

Ian Paget of LogoGeek says on his blog,  “I frequently see logos that have a great idea, and so much potential, but the way they’ve been put together is not quite there.”

When my new client, TJ of The Lawn Lab, contacted me about his lawn care business, he had a logo that was created by a friend. It was designed with an adorable cartoon dog, but it wasn’t exactly what he wanted. It wasn’t quite “there”. The dog represented his own dog – a black labrador retriever named Moultire and the “Lab” name also went along with his wife’s career in pharmacy. Clever name and close to coming together, but he needed something else to make it more of a lawn maintenance visual.   

I’ve talked before about clients coming to me for a logo update. Logo updates are usually requested for a number of reasons. The logo may have been in use for years and the client decides it’s time for a refresh. Or the logo may have been created by the client themselves when the company was launched and now they are ready for something more professional and unique. The logo may also need an update because of a name change, a need for something more easily scalable or maybe just a change of the heart on the look.  In the case of The Lawn Lab, the client had an element that he liked a lot, but he needed it fine-tuned to include type and the lawn maintenance connection to turn it into his final logo for the business. It was a fun project and we were able to complete the process within two weeks.

Along with clearly identifying what the business is and the services it provides, a critical characteristic of a successful logo is scalability. For The Lawn Lab, TJ would need a variety of sizes for the logo – including everything from uniform shirt prints, invoices and social media to eventually adding it to the side of a truck. It was important to him that the logo could work at 2 inches as well as 4 feet. Also, clients that come to me now know how important it is to have a logo and files that can be used for any kind of social media that they might choose to use in the beginning and in the future … and social media sizing includes a wide variety of sizes. I let all of my clients know that I can provide a variety of sizes when the logo is completed and they can always come back to me for additional sizes and/or configurations.

For The Lawn Lab, I created some polo shirt mock-ups on his layouts to show how the logo would look for his uniforms. It was easy for him to see how legible it would be and whether it would be recognizable in a smaller format size.  I provided files of the full logo and some files with only the type. I know a website is in the works, but for now, you can see (and follow) Charleston, SC based, The Lawn Lab on Instagram! Click below:

The Lawn Lab

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High Performance Homes gets a brand new logo!

Famed logo designer, Paul Rand said “A logo does not sell (directly), it identifies.” My new client, High Performance Homes, had a goal to be identified as a company which works to solve home problems of all types and provides the work to inspect, test, analyze and repair – servicing the whole home to make sure everything is performing properly and efficiently, while using skills that are fine-tuned to the climate in the Southeast. This Charleston, SC family business includes husband, wife, son and others. I recieved an email from wife, Sondra, inquiring about my Logo/Identity Package – and with wit and wisdom, she explained her needs for an updated logo that could be used on uniforms, business cards and a website.

When Sondra and I first exchanged emails, she not only gave me important specifics about the company, she also emailed me a photo of her family so that I would “know who I was working with.” That was the goal on my own website. Along with my work images, finished projects and information, I provide a few photos showing you that I’m a true Charlestonian, with my face to the sun and my feet in pluff mud. In case we don’t meet up in person, you can still get to know who I am through my website, by phone and by email. But if you’re in the Charleston area, I’m always happy to meet with you. 

“We like colors that reflect the nature around us here on the coast, especially blues and greens. My husband’s favorite color is a light or royal blue so that will more than likely be the color of our shirts so the logo should stand out against that background.” These two sentences in her email helped direct my color choices and enabled me to create a color palette for the logo and add layouts showing the different logo designs on a blue shirt, giving them a visual for the logo in use. After a few sets of layouts, we were able to fine tune the final choice and create a color group that Sondra loved. 

The other thing I appreciated about Sondra’s business description was that they have an eye on the future and what the company hopes to include in their services in the coming years. They plan to expand and include both construction and training at some point. 

Sara Blakely, the highly successful entrepreneur and creator of Spanx said “You’ve got to visualize where you’re headed and be very clear about it. Take a polaroid picture of where you’re going to be in a few years.” I’m confident that High Performance Homes has a clear picture of their future and I wish them fabulous success!

I look forward to sharing the website for High Performance Homes very soon, but for now, here is their brand new logo.

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A YouTube banner for the Charleston Cat Groomer is now posted!

One of my favorite clients returned to me two weeks ago for something new! The Charleston Cat Groomer team needed a YouTube banner to update and professionalize their channel. YouTube banners are a bit tricky because the file you will upload looks very different from the actual banner on the channel. Banners for social media all have specific sizes and you can’t stretch or compress a jpg or png image to try and make it fit. It will only distort the image (awkwardly!) and not give you good results. Have you ever noticed how people post a photo for their Facebook cover and when you go to take a look, you only see parts of the image? Maybe only a few noses and chins? The image was not sized to fit – and it may look too large, pixelated, blurry – and with branding, it may even have part of your logo cut off. It’s not a professional message you’re sending when you don’t use the resources you have to get it right. And if you get it right, it’s wow!

To make things even more complicated, social media image sizes seem to change all the time! You’ll need to make sure you get the latest and most updated dimensions (so don’t pull up that article from 6 years ago to find correct sizing.) As your business grows and expands its marketing, you may need sized images for Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Snapchat and more – and every single image within the apps will have specific size requirements – from profile photos to posts. Editing photos may be a piece of cake for you, but editing a vector graphic is more complicated. When you need visual content for your brand, it’s imperative to get it right.  

You can find banner and profile image sizes easily by googling what type of image you are trying to create, but you might not have the program to size, crop or create the correct size. If I design a logo for you, I’m always happy to help create any type of banner you need later on for a particular use. Or even if I didn’t create your logo, I may be able to help you with what you need – depending on what type of files were provided to you by your designer. If elements of the design need to be altered and/or moved around to fit a long horizontal banner, it will require an ai/eps to make to make those changes. 

You can see the file here that I created for The Charleston Cat Groomer and then you can see the resulting banner here on the channel …

https://www.youtube.com/channel/TheCharlestonCatGroomer

– along with some educational, entertaining and funny videos! Whether you have a cat of your own or not, take a few minutes to check out a few of these fun videos. The Charleston Cat Groomer can be found at her beautiful salon in Mt. Pleasant, SC and online. 

https://TheCharlestonCatGroomer.com

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Snee Farm Swim Team T-shirt for Seniors

After a year of delays for the Snee Farm Team, due to COVID, we completed the 2019-2020 Tee Graphic! I’m pretty sure I started designing the Snee Farm Swim Team tees in 2014, but it may have been earlier than that. It’s been a fun journey and boy, have we done a lot of different designs over the years. With the direction of Jason Kreutner, the team’s coach, it’s been a yearly event to create a new tee design for the graduating seniors. You can see a number of the designs on my website here:

lefthandgraphicdesign.com/portfolio-tee-shirts

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