Careful Cents Brand Identity + Logo Design
Amber Leigh Turner Lassan
Brand Designer
Graphic Designer
Logo Designer
Adobe Illustrator
Carrie, owner of Careful Cents, was looking toward a path that could include selling her popular money-saving blog, and knew that she needed to make sure it had its own branding that could stand on its own. Creating the branding would help her in any future endeavors she would take with the blog, including the possibility of selling the blog.
Simplified, approachable, relatable.
After our initial discussions about her business goals and what she wanted in her new brand identity and logo design, Carrie and I were able to narrow down some specific brand drivers that would be guiding the design process. Out of several of them that we discussed, we mainly focused on simplified, approachable, and relatable. She wanted to keep her brand identity professional and gender neutral, while still personable.
From there, I worked on designing two logos that fit with her brand drivers. Each logo had brand drivers that were more evident than others. For example, the top logo stuck to her brand drivers of being approachable and relatable, while the bottom one was more driven by being simplified and professional.
Finalizing the Logo
In the end, we worked with her top logo choice (the top one from the image above) and made some minor adjustments to the logo based on what she felt was best for what she wanted, which included dropping the cent sign imagery, slightly adjusting the colors, and using all lowercase letters.
After working with Carrie to make the final logo changes, it was time to create the brand identity style guide. In the image to the right, you can see her new logo in a couple of different color options, including the full color and single color options. You can also see we worked on a stacked version of her logo that she can use in areas where a near-square logo is preferred, such as on social media.
Working with Amber was a dream, truly! I've been blogging for over 8 years and I've had a lot of bad experiences with web designers. Finding Amber was a huge relief and her process was simple but professional. And her work is outstanding! In fact, I couldn't have sold my first blog without her amazing logo design (for nearly six figures no less!). Seriously, it's what pushed it over the edge from a "personal blog" to a brand. And that's what the new owner was impressed with when purchasing. I would work with Amber again anytime!
Carrie Smith Nicholson - formally of Careful Cents (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
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