Many people I talk with seem mystified by the logo design process. Business owners who want to hire a design firm are scared that they will not end up with a logo they are happy with. People look at new logos and wonder why some seem to have turned out great and others do not. Many of these issues can be prevented by taking the time to follow a process that guides the logo design from the beginning.

This video blog post shows the process of developing the logo for the Retail Association of Maine.

We’re excited to announce the launch of a new web site for the Muddy Rudder restaurant in Yarmouth, Maine.

Logo design

Our work with the restaurant began with the redesign of their logo.

Our rebranding efforts focused on making the restaurant appear more contemporary, with a greater appeal to younger people and families. Unfortunately, the clientele was getting older and the restaurant needed some fresh energy.

New web site design

When new owners took over the restaurant, it included the web site as well.

For Relax America, we took concepts from internally developed graphics and translated them into a consumer brand by adjusting colors, and tweaking the design.

Recently we completed the front cover design for the book: Cuba in Revolution. Normally, in the book publishing world this is how a book cover is designed. Design the front cover. This art can then be added to catalogs, web sites and other marketing materials Complete the book interior. This can actually mean complete the writing, or sometimes just moving the completed manuscript into designed format (ready for press). Complete the back cover and spine. The back cover is often done as late as possible so that reviews can be received. The final spine cannot be designed until we have a final page count and have chosen what type of paper stock will be used (this determines the spine width). Unfortunately, sometimes in this process a publisher decides not go finish the project. It gets killed. That is what happened with Cuba in Revolution. After I had already completed the front cover design, but before the interior was finalized the  Continue Reading »

We’re really excited about our logo design for a new yoga studio here in Portland, Maine. Joseph and Candace Satlak, the owners of Still Water Yoga Portland (yeah, we designed their web site too, more about that in a later post) were great clients to work with, and I thought you might enjoy seeing the process behind the brand identity and logo design.   Branding research Before we start working on a logo design, we want to learn more about how an organization is trying to position themselves relative to their competition. In this case, our client had already spent a great deal of time looking at the other yoga studios in Portland, Maine as part of their business planning. They knew what made them different and what type of client they wanted to attract. We helped them refine that vision and turn it into something visual. They wanted to emphasize: waterfront location their individualized, friendly and comfortable approach that  Continue Reading »