Denise Allen has been a regular visitor to the flourishing blog ever since I met her at Grow Your Business in April of 2009 and we were delighted when a couple of weeks ago she asked us to create a new identity for her baking business. Denise currently trades her business as Cupcake and Cookie Central and has been working through the night to bake enough cakes to sell at Surrey and Hampshire Farmers Markets.

Having recently moved to Hampshire Denise is getting serious about taking her baking business to higher levels and is keen to stop the exhausting cycle of weekend farmers markets and build up the commissions.

Denise recognised that in order to stand out from the competition and attract the right sorts of clients she needed a professional and engaging logo. Her brief was to create something that was fun, professional and most of all, communicated the love and attention she puts into each and every one of her cakes.And so without further ado, I present to you Concept One.

Concept One

Personally I love the font, the colours, the spots (yes, probably too much detail when small, but it would work well without the dots too…) and the cute piping bag.

And here it is in context.

Concept Two

This one feels a bit more corporate and we’ve played on the idea of a doily framing the cupcake. It’s a much more slick take on what Denise has at the moment and the cupcake image and doily could be used elsewhere on their own.

Concept Three

This one takes a bit of a different turn. Denise was unsure about whether the company name should be Cupcake and Bake or Cup, Cake and Bake. Both have very different connotations and we promised her we’d try out one option with the comma. In our initial brainstorming we’d sketched out a few ideas with tea cups, but they didn’t make the grade. Instead a delicious font which just exudes the emotion that Denise puts into her cakes and a heart icon to reinforce the idea of love.

This logo would work just as well across two words: Cupcake and Bake as it does across the three, so don’t let that skew your judgement! And finally option 3 in context.

So now over to you. Denise has a clear favourite but we’d love to know what you think. Which one “speaks” to you the most? We’re aiming to move more upmarket than where Denise’s business currently is so it’s all about looking fun, professional and like the cakes have been made with care.

You’ve heard of Butlers in the Buff? Well get ready for Sera of MIB’s new concept for a band: Band in the Buff. I kid you not, this band will perform naked. It seems that the finer details are just being sorted but I understand that they will be naked save for a few strategically placed instruments covering their modesty…

I have to be honest, it’s not something that we’ve been asked to design before, but never ones to shirk a challenge, we rolled our sleeves up and got stuck straight in. The brief was to create something fun, NOT sleazy and high impact. We’ve created logos and websites for pretty much all of Sera’s bands to date so we made sure that this logo would fit in with the others whilst hopefully living up to it’s name. Do let us know what you think…

Concept One

Here’s what Caroline (our Studio Manager) had to say about the first concept: “It seemed obvious to us that we needed to design one logo that played with the Adam and Eve theme. As with all your logos, we’ve stuck to fonts that are bold, fuss-free and confident.”

Concept Two

Over to Caroline… “We thought a little stitched label would be a nice ironic play on the fact that all the band members are naked. This logo is simple but effective and has some little icons to carry across onto things such as buttons on your website, etc.”

Concept Three

Caroline says… “OK. We couldn’t help ourselves. We had to create an option that worked around a censorship theme! The graphic is subtle but the message is clear and comical. We’ve deliberately tried out a great, zesty green to give the message even more punch but this still works in the overall MIB colour palette.”

Concept Four

A bonus concept (we usually only present three), that Caroline was keen to show the client. “This last logo design is based around the same idea as concept two but we’ve labeled the logo in the form of a swing tag. We thought this design looked great on the T-shirts and felt we had to show you! We’ve tried a vivid red for this design which again, works so well with the rest of the MIB colour palette.”

Sera was delighted with the options and immediately came back with the response “Wowwwww we love them!!! …Looking fab!Thanks guys, soooo excited! Looks amazing! xx”.

We’re currently tweaking and refining a couple of the concepts before starting the website design so I will make sure that I upload that as soon as we have the first mockup.

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of being taken on my first clay pigeon shoot, at one of the best grounds in the country, with one of the UK’s top instructors. Needless to say, I was hooked! Bisley Shooting Ground is a fantastic shooting ground and they had asked me to visit them to talk to them about improving their corporate identity.

You can see the original logos above. On the left is what they’re currently using, and on the right you’ll see one of their very first logos. I love the “feel” of that original logo – it really captures the charm and grace of the old colonial lodge which houses the clubhouse (for want of a better word?), but I think it needs tightening up if it’s to be used in the 21st century.

Bisley Shooting Lodge comes with plenty of heritage and status. It’s a fantastic ground, very famous in the shooting world and home to the Queen’s cup. It’s also very much an outdoors pursuit, so the combination of the history and heritage with the sport made Autumn the natural colour personality – warm, muted colours, natural textures and approachable fonts.

We started by researching the company and their competitors and then working on some sketches each to help us visualise how the finished logos might look. You’ll have to excuse our scrappy handwriting – certainly not meant to be indicative of the fonts we’ll be using!

As you can see, they’re very much “concepts” and I’m a little nervous about showing them to you without the “after”, but Shirley has assured me that she’d like to see some sneak peeks! So here we go…

Obviously we won’t be mocking up all of these, but we loved Ian’s stylish B, so he’ll be working that one up properly by hand before Chloe digitalises it and takes it further on the mac. Ian is turning out to be a real asset when it comes to designing logos – he’s a fantastic artist and that means that his initial concept sketches are certainly much stronger than mine! And something that add real value to our clients.

Here are the colours – I’ve photographed them on my iPhone so they’re not overly accurate, but what we’re going for are colours inspired by the grounds: some lovely heathery colours (which also happen to suggest quality, vision and purpose), some earthy browns instead of black and some greens to add lightness and balance. I promise they won’t look all girly! They will look fabulous… Can’t wait to present the polished articles to the team on 7th July… I will of course upload the worked-up concepts and their reactions after that date…

So earlier this evening I finally hit “publish” on my post on our initial brainstorming of the Bisley Shooting Ground rebrand. I’ve always wanted to give you sneak peeks of a logo before we start the polished Mac work, but it always feels a little unfair on the client, so as soon as I knew that Shirley and the team from Bisley were delighted with the concepts I knew I could safely show you the beginning of the process.

Today Caroline and Chloe had the nailbiting task of presenting our four logo designs to the team from Bisley Shooting Ground before running a mood board session to help them take the online and printed collateral further.

Now I have a very clear favourite, but I will do my very best to remain unbiased. The Bisley team have two favourites currently, so your feedback would be very much appreciated.

Concept One

This simple, stylish and evocative logo was inspired by the Ground’s mascot, Oscar, the terrier. It exudes class, confidence and country but at the same time it’s beautifully understated. Chloe had a lot of fun researching the dog’s breed and illustrating him.

And here’s option one in context.

Concept Two

This upmarket and elegant logo takes inspiration from the shape of the cartridges and the intricate patterns on the guns. The stylish illustration is a nod to the heritage of the Ground’s lodge – a Victorian hunting lodge from the 1850’s.

Concept Three

The decorative B marks the idea of a well established ground that is a leader in it’s field. The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed the development of this one from Ian’s initial sketch in our brainstorming. He went away following the session and re-drew in much more detail and then Chloe re-rendered the letter on the mac.

Concept Four

Less of a concept and more of an evolution. I loved the “feel” of the original logo from Bisley Shooting Ground. It fitted perfectly with the colonial building and the characterful and warm environment. I was keen that we recreate that original logo in some form, if nothing else, as a bit of a control experiment. I’m not sure that it holds it’s own next to the others, but it’s good to see it. This is a bit of a bonus design as we’ll usually only design three concepts…

And in context…

So I have a clear favourite, but how do you feel about them? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Phil Johns runs Ergonomic Office Imports – a company that pretty much does what it says on the tin. Phil mostly sells to the trade, but is just about to take on premises in Wood Street Village which will enable him to sell direct to the public. I worked with Phil a few weeks back on his marketing strategy, and we identified a few key areas for him to start investing in.

First of all, he needed a logo and identity for the business. Getting this right at the outset will mean he attracts the right type of clients from the get-go, and will also save him money in the long run. Every business needs a logo, so why not start as you mean to carry on? He was still going to need signage so rather than throw out a poorly designed sign in a few years/ months time, Phil is starting out with a gorgeous logo and identity from the off.

Phil didn’t have an enormous budget, so we’ll be working on as many low cost and no cost marketing activities as possible to get him started: workshops and seminars, building up strategic links with other local businesses, leaflet drops in the areas that he’s had success in before, and blogging. Phil has such an enormous knowledge of all things ergonomic – he is a true expert in his field, so the sooner we can get him on social media, the better!

Here’s Rob’s design for the blog. I love the clean, fresh approach he’s taken.

What do you think?

I have been sooooo excited about sharing this one. Venue stylist, trained florist, passionate cook and all round stylish-lady Colleen approached us a few weeks ago to help her create a new identity for her business Distinctive Elegance. I am especially excited about this identity because Colleen is offering Afternoon Tea Weddings (amongst other things), which is what Mr H and I had for our own wedding. And I’ve always loved that design style.

Anyway, back to Distinctive Elegance. Following the initial brief, Caroline and Colleen kicked off the process with a creative mood board session which gave them both a clear focus. We then brainstormed the concepts as a team (and frustratingly I photographed our sketches and mood board but have since lost both cable and charger for the camera) and Chloe has spent the last week or so creating these beauties…

We’ve only just sent across to Colleen so we’re awaiting her feedback, but we’d love to hear what you think.

Colleen’s brief was all about elegance, stylishness and creating a wonderful atmosphere. Romance, grace and distinction are also key.

Option One: distinctively elegant

I love this delicious and beautifully crafted badge. It’s pretty much exactly what I had in my head the first time I met Colleen, so it’s wonderful to see Chloe interpreting the brief so closely. And here it is in context

Concept Two: The stylish hand

This was inspired by Colleen’s stylish touch. And I am all over this font! Isn’t it just lovely? Loving the d, the t’s and the c’s. Just beautiful!

And the logo in context…

Concept Three: Strong and Distinctive

We’ve got to hand this to Ian. During the brainstorming the chandelier and strong colour was Ian’s vision, and we all had such a positively strong reaction to something that wasn’t another girly butterfly or tea cup, that we just had to show this one to Colleen. Her business is definitely of the Summer colour personality: graceful, elegant, organised and romantic. Although we suspect that Colleen herself is a much stronger personality (possibly winter/ autumn) so we suspect that she might well respond quite positively to this one as it probably has the most “substance” of the four.

And here is said chandelier in action…

And the bonus one…

Rob illustrated some beautiful butterflies for this concept, and after much discussion we’re pleased with the fonts we’ve combined them with. It’s fair to say that there was a little behind-the-scenes debate over this one, not in terms of what you see below, but the finished article has had some pretty exacting standards applied to it! That said, each of these are just mockups, so we’ll usually expect to adapt colours or perhaps revisit some of the fonts before the finished article.

And finally, the business card mockups.

So now it’s over to you (and of course the client ) what do you think? Which resonates with you the most and why? We love to hear your feedback!

Idyllic Moments sell cakes. Cupcakes, traybakes and other cakes. And you know how much we love cakes at Flourish! Jody and business partner Wendy won our “Win a logo makeover” at this year’s Grow Your Business event and I’m delighted to be able to show you the initial concepts of their identity.

The brief was all about romance and inspiration. They actively didn’t want images of cakes on their logo, so we’ve kept things simple, engaging and inviting.

You can see the logo concepts for version one above, and below you’ll see Caroline’s favourite in context.

I love the dots, the stripes and the stitching – it adds a nice tactile and approachable feel to the identity.

Here’s option two, again, muted, summery colours with a quirky twist.

Personally I love the cute lolly, and the fact that it doesn’t pigeonhole the company into just selling cupcakes.

And here’s option three.

Again, I love the stitching and also the relaxed and approachable font.

And here it is in context.

Personally I am just adoring that floral pattern on the back of the letterhead. How about you? What do you think? We’re awaiting feedback from the client so we’d love to hear your thoughts in the meantime…

I’ll be honest, things have been a little quiet on the blog front for me over the last couple of weeks. A phenomenal Grow Your Business exhibition, and all the associated follow up that comes with that; combined with recruiting for two new positions, driving the business forward and doing a lot of marketing strategy work has left me a little short on time for my blog.

But that doesn’t mean that Chloe, Caroline and Rob have been sat at their macs twiddling their thumbs! Oh no, quite the contrary. And I have a whole host of goodies to share with you over the next week or so. Starting with The White Orchid florist in Weybridge.

This project has been a bit of a Twitterfest. Bronywn Durand has been masterminding the whole process as she is working with Nicole on her brand and marketing strategy. The gorgeous Sam Jones Photography took the shots, Flourish have created the brand identity and Bwebsites will be creating the website.

I visited the shop a couple of weeks ago to take the brief and was totally overawed by the shop. It’s a rare moment that I’m lost for words, but it is utterly beautiful. It’s stuffed full of fresh flowers (of course), French candles, linen and stunning vases. I managed to snap a few frames on my iPhone and I apologise in advance to Sam for the quality – but you’ll get the idea…

Nicole has literally just refitted her stunning Weybridge shop, so the brief was to stay pretty closely to the uppercase font used on the exterior and interior signage.

I realise that photographers the world over will be cringing at the photo below (could I capture any more reflection???) but I was so taken with the window display that I just had to show you.

And a few more inspiring shots from inside

And so on to the logo and brand identity. Bronwyn had created a wonderfully comprehensive brief for us, and both her and Nicole were primarily looking for an icon that they could use throughout all their communications. Nicole had sketched a beautiful freehand orchid, and Chloe brought this to life and used throughout the literature.

The brief was to capture the romance, creativity and story behind the White Orchid. And I think the gorgeous illustrations, stylish fonts and stunning photography capture this in spades.

Here’s the business card design

And the back…

And here’s the trifold brochure – 3 panels of A5. It’s hard to show you flat so bear with me a bit here…

And here are a couple of the panels at full size. Starting, of course, at the beginning.

And the inside

Love those photos Sam!

And the back…

So what do you think? Like it?

Thank you to all of you who joined the debate over the Sara Jane Chocolates logo. An overwhelming 71% of voters picked Option One, which also happened to be my favourite – hurray! I love this logo because I think it has a lot of heart and soul about it, and also a slight organic/ artisan feel without being overwhelming.

Chloe has finished the stationery, which includes the roses that many of you liked from Option Two. Just thought you might like to see the finished product…

You might remember that a couple of weeks ago I shared with you some of the pieces of artwork and mood boards from the creative force that is Katie Levett. Well I’m delighted to be able to show off our initial logo designs for her business.

At Flourish, when we create a logo for a client we’ll always start with a detailed brief, followed usually by a brainstorming session and the mocking up of three initial concepts. The designer will then take those three concepts, mull them over, give us feedback and we’ll sculpt and create their dream logo design. Here’s what we’ve done for Katie.

Logo design option one: quirky, bouncy and fun! I love the font and it’s unstructured yet neat feel. I’d like to work some more on the colours if this were the chosen one, but turquoise is a great creative colour so I can see why Caroline has taken it down this route.

And here’s Option One in action. We always show our clients their logos in context, and this time Caroline has taken one of my favourite blogs, decor8, and inserted an “advert” onto one of their pages. As this is the kind of audience Katie will be appealing to it’s a good test of whether the logo design fits.

Option Two: I really love the quirkiness of this font. I think it captures the utter creativity of what Katie does really well. I do understand Katie’s reservations about this not looking commercial or high end enough though…

And in another slightly different layout…

And finally logo design no. 2 in context…

And Option Three: which although my gut reaction was I was concerned it was a little too pretty-pretty for Katie’s amazing designs, I can see that with a few tweaks to the colour this could work fabulously well. And when you look up close the font has some quirky edges to it. It’s a great design that can grow with Katie as she expands her business.

If we’re going for option three then this one is my personal favourite…

And here’s another colourway in context…

But how about you? What do you think? Katie’s probably going to be thinking this through for several more days to come, so any thoughts would be gratefully received!