I’ve been so excited to chat to you all about my new logos and pattern covers etc !
When I first started thinking about branding for my patterns, and taking them into a new area, I begun trying to figure out what I wanted them to look like. I knew that the branding could make or break them, so I wanted everything to be perfect. Then I spent a lot of time bashing my head against the wall trying to design the graphics I’d need, and come up with branding which matched what was in my head… umm by myself. It was frustrating, and rather fruitless. Finally I realised something I should have known from the beginning – I am not a graphic designer. Nope. Not even close. Everyone has their strengths, and clearly, graphic design wasn’t mine. It was time to hire a professional.
My mind immediately went to Melissa Esplin. I have been reading Melissa’s blog for a while, and I adore all of her design work. She is not only an amazing graphic designer, but she is an artist, and a fantastic seamstress. Even better, I feel like we have very similar tastes. And I like her. I know that sounds silly, but I find projects go a lot smoother when you work with someone you get along with on a personal level. It was my hope that by asking help from someone with a similar aesthetic and similar likes to my own that somehow, we could come up with something great (and hopefully no more head bashing against the wall hehe)
And you know what? That was completely the right strategy. Right from the beginning Melissa was amazing to work with. From our phone consult to our emails, I always felt like she knew exactly what I wanted – and even though sometimes I gave her very vague impressions of what I wanted, she managed to understand what I meant, almost intuitively and gave me something incredible every time.
For my new logo, she took my name in my handwriting, and then recreated it in calligraphy. All by hand. This girl is beyond talented. I swear. The second I saw it I was in love.
She designed the pattern covers, down to the fantastic illustrations, and all the titles are hand written by her.
But the work she did went beyond that – she even created all the elements needed in the patterns themselves – which I think gives them a wonderful continuity. I honestly think the new branding is the cherry on top. I feel like it all suits me and my style perfectly, and I couldn’t have done it without Melissa :)
