My friend Bekah has been creating super cool bags and accessories from reclaimed materials for years… back when to the average person “green” was still just a color.

Her most popular items are the messenger bags, backpacks and other handbags made from recycled plastic grocery bags….

Since she started doing these I’ve seen them copied by big name brands like REI and Keen… even monster retailers like Target have duped us into thinking their similar products have the environment in mind.

Of course none of these come close to the artistry and soul that goes into Bekah’s handmade creations. In fact this past year you could have picked up one of her pieces in the San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art store (or just visited her own Etsy shop of course).

Besides all that, she and her husband are some of my favorite people and I was super-happy to help her design a logo that fits her personal style and represents her products well.

Her first round of business cards features a cool clean design with (what else?) a plastic bag textured look…

She’s hoping to create her own biz cards at some point in the future… in the same vein as her other work… recycling trash into something totally useful and beautiful.

Contrary to what most would consider common-sense marketing, We decided to use no “green” whatsoever in her identity. I love a client who wants to break the rules!

This past week I had a chance to help re-brand and design a logo for the children’s ministries at my church.

After my client got really excited about my initial design concept which used the compass rose and typeface from the church’s main logo (which I did not create), we tried a few variations.

I really wanted to desaturate some of the colors she had provided to keep things clean and simple like the sample above and below, and we both wondered if the “KIDS” could be in a more kid-friendly font…

After a few revisions and some time to think, she preferred her original colors and decided to stick with the first concept I had supplied.

As someone new to freelancing I’m learning how to be less attached to my own personal feelings about colors, etc. in logo design.

It is really difficult, because sometimes I not only have a good feeling about what will really work, but also my own personal attraction to one concept (or color or type) over another.

When it comes down to it though, it is the clients logo, not mine…

and if my client is happy and excited about their new logo, then so am I!

Read below to follow along the process David and I took to develop this logo.

The first step was to submit a few varied concepts.

My favorite came to be known between us as the “camera” logo. It had a really clean and fun style… really seemed to capture the essence of David’s photography business, which is fresh and fun but also totally professional from top to bottom.

David had a very positive reaction to this “camera” image, but had a few concerns.  He was afraid the wide dimensions wouldn’t be very flexible; he wasn’t sure about the typeface, and he was afraid the camera itself might look too much like a point-and-shoot.

I thought he was referring to the “flash” and tried to come up with a few other options that might resemble a mounted flash. I  included some other font options as well as a more flexible placement for his business name in the original design. I also submitted a few other colors that I thought would represent his personality well… since it is really the foundation to his photo session experience.

Of course, it wasn’t the “flash” that David wanted to see changed, but more the shape of the camera “body” and “lens.” I tried making some slight adjustments, as well as some alternative double lens reflex designs that ended up looking like pineapples…

David wanted to see just a few more options with a slightly more square shape of the camera body…

Finally… the very original logo really grew on David over the course of working on this project, but he still was unhappy with the font I was usin.

I was hoping the font would grow on him too (you can’t really go wrong with Helvetica), but I submitted a few other options, including his recommended font “Danube,” which I wasn’t sure was the right choice…

In the end, David was really anxious to start using his logo and he picked out this Danube font that he really liked. I was excited for him too and passed on the “finished” product.

Once David had his new logo in hand, he did some experimenting of his own (it is his logo, after all) and ended up using the Bellarose font, which is pretty classy.

The clean, fun look really represents David’s business well and I think this logo will set him apart from the competition.

He’s pretty dang good too… I insist you call him the next time you need a photographer.