As part of taking Lemon Productions full-time, I knew I wanted to create a better logo to brand my business with. The logo I had used was something I just threw together quickly along with a horrible chalkboard font. Something about how the shoemaker’s kids have terrible shoes seems appropriate.
Yikes!
I also knew that I needed to get some outside help in designing the logo. I was too close to my business and I wanted to get someone to help put something together that was outside my thinking of what Lemon Productions should look like – while still retaining strong elements of my thoughts, feelings and opinions.
But Aren’t You a Designer Computer Person?
It’s true that I could’ve spent some time in Photoshop or Illustrator putting something together. But I try to recognize my strengths and my weaknesses, and logo/branding isn’t one of them. I can take a brand and run with it on an online campaign or video – but that first creation of a brand isn’t my strong suite.
So, yes, I am a “designer computer person” but not the person that was best suited for the job at hand.
Outsourcing to Calgary
I got in touch with a friend of mine, Larissa, who’d moved to Calgary, following her husband’s dream of becoming a country and western gee-tar player (not entirely true). My request for logo work came at a great time as she’s slowly working her way back into doing design work after being off for maternity leave.
Working with Larissa on the logo has been a great exercise in being on the client side of the equation for a change. Larissa did a great job of pulling information from me about Lemon Productions, my hope for the business and thoughts about where it should go. Things that at first blush don’t seem to be related to just designing a logo – but the answers I gave her help to define what the logo should say and communicate.
After working out the ideas and thoughts behind Lemon Productions, we went through a few iterations on the logo – different fonts, shapes/drawing of a lemon (“Can the lemon look a little less, uh, nippily?“, colours and shades.
I knew we were on the right track when she sent me this picture from her iPhone of the shade of yellow she was thinking:
It didn’t take long for us to arrive at what you should see at the top of this website and the logo below:
Next Steps
Getting the logo done was the big one. Now we’re finalizing business cards and I’m putting the logo out there on Twitter & Facebook as well invoices and other client facing details. I’ll also be making subtle tweaks to this website over the next while, incorporating the lemon in appropriate places.
I’d love to hear your opinion in the comments below – what do you think of the Lemon we ended up with?
