Designing A Logo...

[Camilla and Darwin]

When I read about the DK logo competition I thought about trying my hand at it, then quickly dismissed it. I had never taken any kind of graphic design class, or even used Adobe Illustrator that often. The only thing I had going for me was that I enjoy using Photoshop CS5. Then, as the day wore on I started to think that maybe I did want to enter after all. Knowing that many of the entrants were professional designers kind of scared me, and I was worried that my entries would be totally juvenile in comparison. I put that aside and started on my entry, knowing that while I likely wouldn't win, it would still be a fun experience.

 

Now, I'm not sure how the real designers do it, but I just hand drew my first set of entries. I assume they do some fancy pants thing in illustrator to draw images digitally... but that was beyond me. I sketched my design, scanned it in then traced it in illustrator to make it smooth, and a vector image. 

 

 

 

I knew this was somewhat lackluster, so I started playing around with color and I couldn't choose! Doodles are so many colors and I had no idea which was the most common. I did one of each color I was considering, and changed the text to something more bold. ultimately I narrowed it down to two or three.

 

 

Then i saw Adina's statement that she was hoping for a dog image that could stand alone, and I created this.

After doing this, the polls started and people really didn't like my designs! I was embarrassed, and was suddenly glad for anonymity. LOL. I wasn't offended though, as I had the same concerns as everyone else. :-) Too cartoonish, my doodle looked slightly angry, etc. Adina asked that I do a version that seemed more cheerful so I edited and came up with these two...

 

Then the polls started, and I noticed that people were REALLY not liking the cartoon look. Honestly I thought I had no options because it's REALLY hard to make a detailed realistic drawing of a doodle. I'm sure many people can do it well, but absolutely not me! Everytime I tried to revise and make it more realistic, my dog ended up looking demented and scary. So I decided to go in a totally different direction. I started thinking of doing a doodle silhouette, which wouldn't be a photograph but would be realistic. This was all at midnight so I couldn't go take new pictures, I had to work with what I had. I started with this photo of Darwin, and slowly turned it into a doodle silhouette. By the way, if you notice the grass obscuring his paws in the photo... I had to Photoshop paws from a different image onto him, then blend them in. LOL

 

Out of which these two designs were born

I felt these were really crisp clean, modern, etc. Although they still didn't seem very successful in the polls and I do wonder if it's because the doodle silhouette really just wasn't fun or doodley enough. Obviously darwin is a doodle, but it doesn't come across super well in the outline.

 

After this, I ended up creating each design (modern and drawing) with and without the .com, and with and without the "Where Labradoodle and Goldendoodle owners connect" text. LOTS of versions. :-) 

 

I knew all along that I probably wouldn't win, there were just so many great designs from REALLY talented people. So I wasn't too shocked or disappointed when the final choice was selected. I did end up getting better ratings than I expected, which made me proud of my efforts. I applaud everyone who entered the contest, as I know first hand how challenging it was to come up with a design, revise, revise, receive negative feedback etc. And I'm so glad I did this because it really taught me that there are so many different opinions and styles when it comes to logos. I'm also glad that I learned how to use vector software and illustrator better, because I'm definitely going to try this again! 

 

Hopefully this wasn't extremely long and boring, I just thought you guys would like seeing my design experience, the revisions, etc. :-) 

 

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

I loved your revised doodle (I mentioned I like the doodle except he seemed angry) so when you came up with the new version I thought oh good, now I like this much better.

I had no idea it was you Camilla, you did a great job.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Camilla, You are very talented. Everything you did for this blog is great!!!

[Dori & Rua]

All I can say is you are extremely talented.  I really admire that put this blog out there...exposing yourself, so to speak. It takes alot of guts to do so!  Way to go!

[Donna K & Quincy]

Camilla, you are a woman of many talents.

[Anna and Achilles]

All I can say is WOW! All I did was vote.

[Debbie]

Camilla, I thought you showed a lot of talent in your designs.  I definitely understand the abyss between what you can almost see in your head and what you can get down on the screen using the tools you have.  I also entered the contest as a DoodleKisses member who received an email about the contest.  I don't spend much time on DoodleKisses, just because there aren't enough hours in the day, lol.  My designs also underwent a huge evolution as the contest progressed.  I began by placing a photo in AI and then using a pen to trace it,modifying it after the trace.  My first iteration was a figure of my DoodleKisses profile picture but was not well received.  I then used a different picture and a different simpler style.  I never saw any comments on the polls, so I don't know what people thought of my designs, even though I finally figured out I should check out the DoodleKisses forum itself and see what people were saying, which was very very helpful.  That's where I found that people would like a happier doodle.  So I obliged.  I also noticed that people wanted multiple doodles to represent the diversity of DoodleKisses.  So I obliged.  I had more trouble with the lettering part of the logo.  I finally have a version that I am happy with.  My final version was submitted with 12 minutes left in the contest.  I know that the winner was already picked, but I had to satisfy myself and put my best work out there.  I'm finally happy with my design.  I'm not a professional designer either, so I had to evolve quite a bit in the process.  I admire that you were able to do so well within just a few iterations of your designs.  You had some great ideas and implemented them well.  It was very interesting reading about the process as you went through it.  It's not as easy as it looks, lol.

[Jennifer and Jack]

Wow, that really is great work... I love it..

[Bonnie and Kona]

Camila, I loved your post! I used to do graphic design at my job and your work is excellent! You are very talented and creative. I hope you will continue to do something with your gifts. It is impossible to figure out what others will like. You did an amazing job capturing the fun of doodles in your first attempts and the beauty in your second. Congratulations! Hope you are very proud of the work that you did!

[Yvonne N]

I'm very impressed Camilla.  You did great and Darwin was a great model.  I wish I was brave enough to try something like you did.  The story is that goes along with your attempts is great.  Kuddos to you!  You should be very proud.  And we should all be very proud of Doodle Kisses.

[Pat and Traveler]

Wow--a LOT of work!  For what it's worth, your original design with the little dog holding the sign was my very favorite of all the designs--and still is.  I'm fine with the chosen one, but your first scruffy little doggy (any color) with the sign just made me grin and stole my heart.