Little Branding Moments
Other than branding oneself, the second most challenging branding project a person could do is for a friend; especially a close friend. When you are close to a client, personal bias can have an effect on your creative judgement. Thus, when a good friend of mine asked for a logo, I knew I was in for a challenge.
The Background
Hillary, is an enthusiastic, passionate, and creative teacher—one of those teachers you know would have a lasting positive impact on so many lives. Unfortunately, teachers in rural America will often have to work multiple jobs to pay the bills.
Without full-time employment, she spends her free time with her large, wonderful family. This is a growing family with lots of little ones to photograph. Being the creative and crafty person that she is, Hillary launched her own photography gig which she hopes to expand. In order to promote her talents outside her family, she needed to solidify her professional brand. That’s where I came in.
The Creative Brief
I started this project almost like any other: with a creative brief. We walked through several questions together including: What is it? Who is it for? and Why should they care? Our meeting was also an opportunity to find out what she was envisioning for colors, shapes, or imagery. She let me know that she wants to focus on family and toddler portraits. My notes on the subject are scribbles, but I understand them. The biggest challenge for this project in particular was settling on her brand name. She was a new bride with a new name. Different letters in a logo can create very different looks. After weighing some of the pros and cons of using her maiden name versus her married name, I agreed to generate options using different initials.
First Comps
When a client is unsure of a direction, there are a lot of possibilities. I created some with the initials HD, some with HL, and a couple alternative names. After I submitted the first round of drafts, Hillary settled on “HL Moments” and wanted to use a tagline of “happy little moments” to tie in her initials.
The Final Tweaks
For the next round, I tried the full name “Happy Little Moments” and introduced a cloud shape to capture the lightness of her young subjects and some of the textures she uses on a daily basis (plush blankets, pillows, faux fur, and fairy lights). There was also a need for watermark logo or icon options.
The lockups below were received with joy.
