Well, there it is. My new logo. My first, actually. I’ve had branded blog headers and other graphically oriented signifiers, but I’ve never had a logo before. And now that the process is done — the terrible, gut-wrenching, headache-inspiring trip from idea to emblem — I can’t recommend more that you get a logo for your writing career.
I’ve always had really strong feelings about logos. They are made to be judged, really. Having such a strong opinion about logo design actually prevented me from doing it myself, from just jumping in and seeing what someone who is more visually oriented could come up with. So one of the first things I did was a little research on what makes a great logo. As with every other creative pursuit on this planet, it is easy to judge the fruits of labors, much harder to do the labor.
But I have been having a branding problem. I realized about a year ago that I could no longer answer the question: What do you write? I had a kids’ book, I was editing magazines for private clients, I was doing travel writing, I had an agent for a memoir — what was the thing the connected it all?
Why established writers need a logo
I get it. You write. You’re so versatile! You can do it all, everything in the world, and it’s all with words! But then there are the other 547,206,819 other writers in the world doing the same thing. How is anyone going to find you, hire you, even give you a chance if they can’t decide very quickly what you do?
Some genres lend themselves quite easily to branding. Romance, mystery and other writing genres are very easy to identify through a logo. But what if you’ve trained as a journalist, or you’re a generalist who wears 17 different hats? What if you serve multiple clients on many platforms reaching a range of audiences?
How do you please everyone all of the time?
Well, the answer, of course, is that you don’t. Chances are good that there is something specific that you bring to the table in your writing work, something that truly does separate you from every other writer out there.
But what is it? What is that thing? And how do you convey it in a logo?
I’m going to share my process with you here to show you how I solved this very common writing business problem for myself.
Step 1: Identify who you serve.
My first step was identifying who I actually serve with my work. I boiled it down to three groups:
1. Magazine editors
2. Readers
3. Writing students.
So what I learned is that I write for media gatekeepers and curators, I write directly to readers, and I write for students struggling with writing and creativity. So I needed a logo that identified the VALUE I bring to each of those groups. To all of them, not just one.
What do I do best for the groups I serve?
Editors: I identify great story angles that only I can come up with. I can locate the story.
Readers: I take seemingly mundane things and help readers see them in a new way. My perspective is fresh. Reading my work, I hope, feels like travel.
Students: My empathy muscles are strong. I’ve been on the path, I’ve slogged through the dark forest, and I get a real thrill helping students find the way. I help them write the stories that make them feel at home in the world.
Step 2: Educate yourself about great logo design
The 5 rules of great logo design:
I started with this post on what makes a great logo.
- Simple. They say that a four-year-old should be able to draw your logo. Luckily I have a four-year-old so I can test that!
- Memorable. If you take the logo away can someone remember it enough to draw it?
- Timeless. This one is hard for me. I tend to like nostalgic-looking logos, and hand-drawn logos, trendy logos (like ones with origami), but in the end, I needed something that would last a long time so I didn’t have to go through this terrible, awful, and ultimately meaningful process.
- Versatile. It had to work on business cards, websites, handbags. Well, probably not handbags.
- Appropriate. It had to work for my sectors: Travel, Home, Lifestyle, Memoir.
Step 3: Figure out where you will find your graphic designer
I know graphic designers. I also follow designers on Instagram. But here’s the thing. I honestly am not a visual person. I live to smell, to taste, to hear. I had an idea of what I wanted for my logo (as to what it would achieve), but I needed someone who could bring something to the table in terms of vision. Many designers can do that, but how to pick one?
I ended up going on 99 Designs to have a logo contest for my logo. Now before all of the graphic designers tell me that I’m a terrible person and asking people to work for no money for the chance of working with me is inhumane, I will explain myself. I’ve worked with several designers. Some through referrals, some through direct contact because I like their work, and yes, once before through 99 Designs. I have been happy with the work in each instance. I firmly believe that each project deserves its own approach. Writers aren’t exactly known for having a giant marketing budget (that’s one of the great things about the writing career: Low start-up costs). In this case, 99 Designs was the perfect choice for me because it allowed me to visualize the idea in different ways before settling on a design. In other words, I knew what I do, but I didn’t know what I wanted.
Step 4: Work with the designer to hone the design
Ok, so knowing that I chose 99 Designs, here is how it went. I wrote a brief for the designers about what I do and what I wanted my logo to convey. Here are the three adjectives I identify with:
Fun. Seriously. I have a ton of fun. I race to my desk. My husband’s always talking about “Emily’s Fabulous Life.”
Creative. Not just in my drive to create, but in the solutions I provide.
Adventurous. I help others find the way.
Step 5: Think about imagery.
Even if you are a writer, there might be a visual THING out there that describes what you do. When you are branding yourself, you are identifying what kind of writing you are doing and who your work serves. Genre matters here. No inkwells, please. In fact, a simple Google image search of “Writer Logo” comes up with many choices related to pens and other writing implements. Pens are fine, but how does a pen identify you as different from the 65,930,275 other Americans (not to mention global writers) who write?
You may be attached to certain imagery. I, for one, may have included “Airstream” in my original design brief. That was a mistake. While the Airstream is the perfect image connecting what I do — home and travel — the Airstream itself has its own iconography. There are a ton of people out there with Airstream lifestyle blogs. Also, I know from my work as a freelance writer who has written about Airstream travel, Airstream hotels and other Airstream-related stories, that editors are tired of seeing Airstream pitches. So do I want to hitch my name to an Airstream when Airstreams, as a subject, have already peaked in travel media? This is a bad idea.
Step 6: Explain to the designer what you want the logo to convey.
Guess what? If you put “Airstream” in your design brief the designers are going to use Airstream typography and Airstreams. So the first designs that started coming in to my contest were all Airstream-related.
I knew I was sunk.
I basically had a personal crisis for an entire weekend in May because I had signed up to pay $899 for a logo and nothing coming through was really that great.
The lesson here: You may have an idea of what you want, but what you want is to hire someone who brings their own talent to the table.
I feel the same way about hair stylists. Don’t ask me what I want, make me something that will make my face look awesome.
So I started reaching out to other designers through the site. I invited them directly to participate in my contest. With 99 Designs you can invite about 50 designers every day. I invited about 10 people the first three days, and one of them ended up being my designer.
Step 7: Communicate with your designer.
How did I know I had found the right one? Well, Mike (the designer I chose) brought his own vision to the table. The very first design he made for me was fantastic, but not quite right.
So here we had someone who was willing to make something fresh, and presented it in a really compelling way. Showing the design on a book really helped me visualize the hard-working nature of the logo.
A lot of other designs came in, 205 of them in all (!). If you want to see the other options I had you can GO HERE. There are a lot of Airstreams and tents and hot air balloons, a personal favorite of mine because hot air balloons help you see the big picture and I am definitely a big picture gal.
But this one struck me for several reasons, all of which had to do with the goals of a successful logo. This version had a lot going on in it, perhaps too much. Also, I was concerned that the lower half might look like a steer head.
That’s kind of cool, right? This lady really takes the bull by the horns!
But then there was the bird, too, so what, it’s a bird on a bull’s head? And what, by George, does it all mean?
So I asked Mike to simplify this one. Take out the bull’s head, make it feel more like travel writing and less boho.
And he came up with this.
Step 7: Actually pick something.
Whoomp, there it is! That was fast. We went back and forth a little bit about colors, but in the end, what was important to me was that when I squint my eyes, this looks like a place marker. Like a Google maps marker. Like someone was looking for something, and they found it.
That’s what I do! I’m a wayfinder!
And that was the deal-maker, the thing that made me believe that you need a designer with his/her own ideas. I want people to feel like they have found what they are looking for when they find me. And I think this does that.
It’s recognizable enough that you know what it means — look you found your person!, the one who will solve your problem! — but also fun and whimsical and creative so you know that what you are finding is an individual.
Step 8: Love your logo.
And I do! I love the colors, I love the imagery, I love that it looks a little big like a hot air balloon. I love that it has a feminine energy without being too all-out girly. I love that the typography of my name feels nostalgic and fun, paired with a modern logo. I love the hexagon in the middle — I’ve written a book about tessellations, after all. And I love that it connects the things I do visually. More than anything I love that I didn’t come up with it. Someone else did. An artist I can tout and be a giant fan of!
I am really happy. It was worth the near-migraines and the missteps (I did a lot of interacting with other designers on their designs to tweak them towards a place where I had a real choice among them). It was worth the personal meltdowns I have had trying to figure out what I actually do and the value I bring to the table.
This is just the first step I am taking as I develop this platform into something truly worth engaging with. I hope this will inspire you to make the leap to logo when you’re ready!
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