Creative Director almost done with logo design ;)

Before I get into talking about my logo I have a small announcement.

After years of procrastinating I just got my tax ID # and my DBA (Doing Business As) License. Now that I have the paperwork in order and just got my new email address (thepaintedhand@gmail) I feel strangely legitimate. So what do I call myself?

Sole Proprietor sounds so boring. Maybe C.E.O.? President is a worthy title. I can also be the Treasurer, Secretary and the Head Janitor if I want. I should start making the contact sheet now, and the email lists so that I can keep in touch with my growing organization of one :)

Creative Director..... Hmmmm, I like that.

Meanwhile, as the bureaucratic mess of ID#s and contracts is being dealt with I am still working on the final logo that I will use as my website and Etsy Storefront. The Logo looks great but I do not want to be represented by a computer generated image so I have decided to print the logo on some really nice paper and put it onto a scroll. I want it to look ancient. I have looked around at all the usual suspects: Michaels and the local art supply store but in the end I had to make the long drive to Pearl over on Pico and La Cienega in order to find what I was looking for.

I found some great paper. There was some with leaves pressed into it, some that was thick and gold with a pressed on fibrous textured overlay. There were two types of paper that looked like the one I had been visualizing. One was pressed and kind of fibrous with the fibers being like a long thin confetti and the other being more muted and natural looking with the fibers having a more fabric type feel, almost eggshell in color. The Mulberry that had the best texture and the closest resemblance to the antique parchment that I was looking for. I got bundles of paper, okay, maybe I got more than I needed for a simple logo.... but, surely I will find a use for all this beautiful paper. Not to mention that I have noticed I never know where the project will take me once I get my hands dirty.

So off I went, thinking I could print on this paper and would be done tonight. Unfortunately it is never as easy as it seems like it will be. This has definitely been a learning process. I just discovered that it is impossible to print on Mulberry Paper (laser printing gets up to 300 degrees and would just burn the Mulberry right onto the printing wheel thinger) and I can't get it done on the spot for anything over 11"x 17." If I want to print it on my paper I basically need to make a block print. Learn something new every day.

Damn, that's annoying. I get it printed on their paper, just to see how it looks an then I get it printed on some recycled paper I had. The recycled paper has a little texture to it and is also that muted eggshell color that I like... it looks a little more interesting than the plain Kinkos Paper but it still needs something. Its not what I was looking for.

After a lot of consideration I decide to put the printed logo under the Mulberry and trace it. The delicate Mulberry might tear if I am too rough and is so porous that it will definitely bleed with marker so I do a few practice times before I commit to doing it on top of the logo. Even with practice it takes three tries doing the logo full size before I like it enough to put the brown henna art on the hand.

So its drawn on now but now I have to make it into a scroll. I thought this was going to be one blog, but I also thought this was going to be done by now! I will have to finish off the blog and the scroll when I am done posting few more items on my Etsy store. No use having a logo when you have nothing for sale...

Designing a logo, Part one: The Name

Designing my logo has been one of the most difficult things I have ever done. It has been a challenge both artistically and emotionally to find a name and symbol that was right for me. I wanted the logo to represent who I was and what I wanted my company to become. My vision was of something simple and uncluttered that was connected to the symbology that connects all people and cultures and transcends language. I have pretty high ideals for what I want my company to become. I want to help support creativity and independence. (Goal: make a work at home business for women so they can stay home with their children.) I want to support the environment by using natural and recycled products and making decisions that reflect a care for nature. (That’s just what we all need to do as citizens of the planet) I want to have money enough to spend some of my time volunteering. You can’t help others until you can help yourself. I want, I want, I want...

In the midst of all this wanting it has been a long and anguished process even getting started! Such a difficult decision to choose a name since it was wrapped in the despair of feeling like all the really good ones were already taken. This plagued me for weeks and kept me in complete inaction. But… I already have desire to be an artist and a case full of beautiful jewelry to sell... It has to happen; it’s just a matter of when.

It would be nice to say the name came to me in a flash of inspiration but unfortunately I have to admit it was a long tedious process, like naming your fifth child. There were lists and lists of names that were already registered to someone else, and an even longer list of names that were just awful. When I was brain storming with my best friend and we thought up "The Painted Hand" I almost didn’t search it since I was sure it would be taken. It was available. I was shocked.

The Painted Hand had the mystique of tribal traditions and the stark visual contrast of paint and hands. It was symbolic, universal. It filled the mind with images that evoke deep feelings. I could see the hands of Hindi women with their henna tattoos, the tiny hands of children drenched in paint and the red and yellow that followed these thoughts. I could feel the texture of the paste as it slipped through my fingers and the joy that brought. The smile on my face said it all. It felt like a good fit. It felt like a name I could grow with.

After I decided on and purchased the name (Blog, Etsy and .com) I knew it was important to brand my store. I wanted people to remember that they had visited "the painted hand" and have a really strong visual imprint. At first I was reluctant to use the hand as a logo. It’s a little big and awkward. It was hard to imagine in a banner in the dimensions they require for the Etsy storefront... (100 pixels high by 780 wide). Since I am designing the Etsy page first (so that I can monetize my art as soon as possible), it is very important that it fit into the pixel format of the Etsy store....

After talking to everyone I know (I mean that, I talked to everyone I know and picked their brains about what they thought a good logo would include) I decided that I would come up with an original logo that was similar to a yin yang sign but that had three swirls instead of three.***

***Credit where credit is due: Wanona, my sister, had this idea. Since we were both raised with our primary principle as yin/yang and had a Triscle tattoo on matching parts of our bodies it is no surprise that her idea resonated so deeply with me, but I transgress. I am off point and the tattoo story is for another place.

I love the way that the three sided yin yang sign ends up having a Triscle in the center. This is a great balance between my love of Eastern Religion and the Irish blood that is coursing through my veins. The symbol felt so right... but when I tried to put the logo on the banner it looked wrong.

For one it was way too heavy on the left and although papyrus is my favorite font it looked so trite next to the heavy metal looking logo. It also did not connect to the name: The Painted Hand. There had to be a hand, or paint. Something.... A hand seemed like the way to go.... Back to the drawing board.

Since I knew that I was not going to get the logo done that night, I thought I might post a few photos on Etsy. I was looking in my computer for my jewelry photos that I had cropped and maximized for the web (In this context "looking" describes a state of frantic spasticness that verges on me throwing my computer) and I came across a photo of a painting I had done ten years ago.

All of the sudden I could visualize the swirls, crests and dips I would fill the hand with. Once I had the firm idea in mind it was a matter of sitting down with a cup of good coffee and getting it done...

I have printed it on 8x11 paper but want to print it larger, on some really special paper... Now that I have a solid vision it is really coming together! I think the photo of the printed image will be the final logo...

Now that I have the hand and the text designed for the logo I have been looking at all the other amazing artists on Etsy. I am now inspired to draw the logo on parchment and turn it into an ancient looking scroll. I am in the process of doing that now and better get back to it. :)