A New Scentsation is a site that specializes in homemade candles, bath & body products, and gifts. The idea behind this logo was to take the concept of the various scented candles—many of which are fruit-scented—and translate it into a logo. The owner suggested a fruit basket, so I created a simple basket and a few fruits, to see how they would best fit together. However, I knew it needed a little something extra; a simple fruit basket is neither unique nor memorable, two qualities that are very important in a logo. I decided to add a lit candle to the mix and see how it fit in.

Due to time constraints, the scaleable version doesn’t include the strong lighting effect. (To save time, I just applied that in Photoshop.) However, the effect is certainly saved, and can be duplicated for any desired size.

Weddings and Wee Things is one of those businesses that, unfortunately, just never got off the ground. The idea behind the site was sort of a “one-stop shop” for bridal and baby showers. I was asked to design a new logo and a web site that would tie together the various product lines into a cohesive, easy-to-navigate unit.

The logo is based on the festive napkins often featured at bridal and baby showers. The one on the left (“Weddings”) features interlocking gold bands on the inner corners and a standard wedding font, while the one on the right (“Wee Things”) features pacifiers and childlike writing. I was also planning to create a black-and-white (not grayscale) version for the company’s mailing labels, but the project was postponed indefinitely when the proprietor decided to pursue a different business model instead.

In January 2001, while I was still a senior at Purdue, Professor Mark W. McK. Bannatyne (who now serves as interem department head) asked for several students to volunteer for a special project. The International Visualisation Society (of which he is a prominent member) needed a new logo, plus a small section added to their web site to advertise their upcoming conference in London, England. Hungry for portfolio pieces, I volunteered for the project.

After a few planning sessions, my logo design (both versions shown here) was selected from among the volunteers. In keeping with the simple feel of the existing site, we settled on the flat-color version (right) and based the navigation bar on the letter “I” in the logo.

I wish I could say that Yo! Inc. is a real company, but alas, it’s not. When I was a freshman at Purdue, we were given a semester-long assignment to create a toy for the children of 2010. Part of that project was coming up with a company to market that toy, and my group created Yo!, Inc.

Coming soon: an outline of pretty much the entire design process (save the original concept sketches, which I can no longer locate.)

 

The “Fresh Bread Daily” logo is another one that I designed in my first year at college. We were given a very basic logo—a simple, black-and-white image of a single loaf of bread on a blanket and the text seen here. I decided that the single loaf was a little too empty; as such, I created the several other breads based on the style of the original loaf, three of which are included in the final logo. I also altered the text portion of the original graphic so that the word “Fresh” became steam rising off of the hot, fresh-baked loaves. I then composited the remaining two words to give them a more united feeling, with the “R” in “Bread” passing through the “D” in “Daily.”