Creating a Logo, Part 2

I'm so thrilled that we've officially launched the Facebook fan page. This means that it is officially official; that I can share the many of the details of our production with confidence. Back in July, I wrote a post about what it was like to create a logo. I thought that this time around, I could share some visuals with you all to back up my claims!

The process began as a conversation between my college friend Rachel Yonda and me. She offered to help us with some Big Top work, and I jumped at the opportunity! We communicated completely via email, but this manner of communication actually supported our dialogue rather than hinder it.

First, Rachel asked me for some ideas, what I was thinking I'd like. I offered to sketch some ideas for her to work with.

The sketch was incredibly basic and done on whatever kind of paper I could grab at the time. I knew I wanted a tent to be involved in some manner, and I wanted to title of the show to POP! I wrote down a few colors I was thinking about.

Rachel moved forward with the ideas. A few days later, I received a FANTASTIC set of options with a color guide. I had so many options and was not sure which direction I should go in. I asked for many people's opinions. Ultimately, though, the choice was mine to make.

I REALLY loved that elephant, but I immediately leaned towards a traditional looking circus tent with red and white stripes. I was so certain of my decision! I began stamping the logo everywhere: on the story bible, on the scripts, on the contracts. Everywhere! I was so, so proud of it!

Unfortunately, when I finally got around to buying the matching fabric at IKEA, they had sold out (read the original "Creating a Logo" post for the full story of emotional despair here). My second choice was a smaller, yellow striped fabric. I was thrilled with my scenic design choice, but this meant a new logo and adjusting all production materials that had already been marked with the red and white tent. I went back to Rachel begging for some changes, and she gladly helped me out (thank you, Rachel!). We discussed the thinner, yellow stripes, and talked a lot about font colors that would compliment the new tent.

This yellow tent is our final and official logo. As I compare this logo to our original red and white logo, I see how much better it is!

The long tale of the logo is really the story of my first experience in production: you have all these ideas, you hire someone to help you with those ideas, they give you a lot of options, you're forced to make many choices, you inevitably have a huge hiccup, you sit and think, you make a choice, and you thank God for the support of your friends and peers who are willing to help you out until everything is perfect.

PS We were also able to include the elephant in our animated opening! Stay tuned...