Paul Carbo Web Design & Development

To my surprise, I made David Pache’s list of 100 Brands of Interest II.

(It’s an alphabetical list, I’m down with the P’s)

The list is made up of the brands of designers themselves. To quote David,

It can be the easiest thing to create a logo for a client but when it comes to assessing what style of identity can best represent yourself or your business, this is a different matter altogether. It is tempting to use your own brand as a showcase of all your best techniques and ideas but this must be balanced with modesty and professionalism to gain the correct tone for your business image.

He brings attention to something people rarely think about. Designers create brands for clients all the time, but we only come up with our own brand once, so obviously a lot of thought is put into it. As David says, it’s tempting to try and use your own logo to display all that you’re capable of. However, this is a big mistake. Less is always more in design and trying to come up with a logo that has personal meaning and also exudes exactly what you want it to while keeping things as simple as possible, isn’t an easy feat.

While coming up with my logo, I tried my best to remove all attention from it by trying not to even have a logo.  I’d rather keep all the attention on the logos I design for others.  So I figured using my actual signature like a painter would on a canvas was the simplest way to say “I did this” and nothing more.

Bringing my signature from Sharpie to screen wasn’t all that difficult.  First, I signed my name a bunch of times in various marker thickness on a piece of paper, then scanned it.

After choosing the best one I brought it into Corel, traced it with the pen tool, and altered it to my liking.

Not much else to it.  A little tricky getting the curves precise, but it’s fun seeing something go from paper to your computer screen.

Whichever direction a designer takes in coming up with their own logo, just know a lot of thought was put into it and it probably wasn’t an easy process.

And lastly, it’s my sister’s bday today, so Happy Birthday Tara.