My logo has gone through many drafts, many critiques, and many changes. When looking back at my original sketch, this logo kept none of the original idea that I had had. My intentions were to only use my initials and include symbolic references to my series, but upon trying to design my sketch in Illustrator I realized how cartoon it turned out to be. I wanted a logo for my blog was kept the same black and white, elegant, simplistic aesthetic, and my first attempt did not embody that. So, after brainstorming new ways to visualize the image that I want my site to have, I came up with another design that was more simple than the first, but was a much better reflection of my writing.
One critique that I knew I had to fix prior to beginning to analyze my first draft was the sizing of the artwork. In the first draft my logo was disproportionally small compared to the remainder of the whitespace on the page, so I used Photoshop to crop the frame down to size in order to make my logo larger and more easy to see. Without the additional white space, as well, the logo is made the focus of the image and is not hidden by the distraction of blank space.
Additionally, it was suggested that I add more texture to the quill in order to make it closer resemble the object it is representing. So, I increased the thickness of the outer lines to a 2-point thickness while keeping the center line as 1, and added smaller .25 ledgers to add detail and feel to the feathered portion of the pen. Also, I slimmed the black-and-white gradient underneath of my name to take up less space and, likewise, less attention in order to have it achieve a more subtle position. By doing this, the curves lines that transition the color from white to black became more smoother and, therefore, made the logo in its entirety appear more clean-cut and crisp.
I like my logo because it reflects myself as an author. It is simplistic, yet includes the most subtle details that provide underlying details. It also reflects the theme that I’ve set for my books and, likewise, my blog: elegance and serenity, accomplished by using soft greys that darken into black. It blends in well with the theme of the blog, both aesthetically and ideologically, and has come a long way since the first original sketch. This process resembled the process of writing a book: the idea, the draft, the change, all until a final point is reached. After working on draft after draft for my logo, I am happy with the final product.
