My Brand: An Introduction

Hey y'all.

I have been wanting to start this blog for a while. Now, I finally have time to dedicate to it.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, I find myself with an excess of time after being laid off from my full-time job as an Associate Creative Director. Haley Catherine Designs is actually my side hustle.

This is week one of "unemployment". I don't deal well with boredom and having idle hands. I have been feeling like I've lost my purpose. I keep trying to remind myself that this is a time to rest and create a new purpose while waiting....

So my advice to me and you during this time is LIVE IN THE PRESENT. We truly do not know how long this will last. That is the scariest part for me because I am notoriously always looking towards the next big thing, the future.

ANYWAYS, I wanted to start this blog to talk about my passion: Art & Design. So, let's get to it.

MY BRAND / part 1 / logo creation

I have been freelancing for years. One of the greatest rewards is helping others develop their brands.

As 2019 neared its end, I realized that I had been so blessed to have many new clients the past year. In that moment, I made my New Years resolution to push my freelance work and finally brand myself and create my own identity as an artist.

Step one: the logo or the icon that people would first see on my social, website, business card, etc.
How can I create a simple image that still makes an impact by effectively representing all the qualities of me and my brand?

Well, I have a very illustrative background. I always start on paper.

I love going to local coffee shops to brainstorm! I'm at Bloom Cafe & Listening Room in Bristol, TN here. 

Sketching began. After two pages of rough thumbnails, I did it!

I'm already searching for the perfect typeface in this sketch. I made notes of ones I really liked.

I came up with an image that represented a fusion of my illustrative roots and my graphic design training. Does it look rough to you? Yeah well these were the drafts lol...

Next, was translating my rough sketch into a digital masterpiece. Mavis was there for positive reinforcement, of course. At the time of this, I was using a PC but I am DEF a Mac person. 

I used both Illustrator and Photoshop to achieve my desired results. 

Using the Illustrator's pen tool, I traced over a scan of my original drawing of the hand and pen.

For the floral element, which I wanted to include to represent my feminism and love of nature, I took a different route. 

Pencil plus fine point Sharpie 

Above is hand drawn baby's breath flowers that mimic one of my tattoos. I scanned this in the computer and manipulated the image in Photoshop. I fused the two elements together in Photoshop and distressed the entire image to create a hand-drawn feel. 

Here is my final icon design! How does this represent me and my business?

- It combines my illustrative and digital design skills and displays them cohesively

- It's simple, yet elegant

- It combines strength and femininity

- It's versatile: I can use this for social, business cards, watermarks, etc. 

- It's personal

This was the first step of creating my brand identity. And this was my first post in the blog, so please be gentle and patient (if you even read it haha).

I want to cover the entire process of building my own brand. In my next post, I will discuss my color pallet and font choices.