Cat’s Cradle
Cat’s Cradle is a pet hotel located in Austin, Tx, with welcoming and friendly of atmosphere. Along with a connection to pets and modern look. If you need a place for you and your pet to stay for your next vacation, than Cat’s Cradle is just for you.
Idea Moodboards
Here are three moodboards that I created, each displaying different business ideas that I researched that could be used as a base for the logo design. The first moodboard on the top is research of a bakery store. The second moodboard on the bottom left is research of a pet hotel. The last moodboard on the bottom right is research of a Mexican restaurant. Through some thinking and feedback, I went with the bottom left moodboard as I wanted to make the logo unique to a business that wasn’t a restaurant or shop.
Business Objectives
I want to create an hotal that is unique, friendly, and welcoming atmosphere along with a modern style for both cats and cat owners would enjoy.
Target Audience
The target audience for Cat’s Cradle are pet owners from the ages of 20 to 80, towards both genders with any occupation being taken into account. Middle to high economy/social conditions. They are individuals who cares for the well being of their cats and looks for services that are affordable and taken care by trained professionals. They are motivated by the desire of their pets being well taken care of and high end services for when they are away, along with not having to spend too much money on the services.
Moodboard & Logo research
Using the creative brief, I began to create a moodboard to give some inspirations into what kind of feeling I want the logo to display. Along with possible color palette, patterns and fonts to go with the logo. It also helps with the design process as it helps keep focus on what the logo is and connect back to.
I also did some logo research to help give some ideas in both fonts and designs for the logo. These logos are from pet related businesses like hotels and pet stores since they connect with the business I’m trying to make a logo for. As well as the types of fonts they used and format that they went with. Also displaying the design of the logo such as simple or complex.
Font & Name Research
Before beginning the sketching process, I began to do work on some font research for possible fonts options for the name that will be included with the logo design. I wanted to find a font that was not only professional but also had a welcoming and friendly feeling and look to it. Through the search, I found 15 possible font options that I could use for the hotel name’s type that had the feeling and look I was aiming for. Speaking of hotel name, I also did some possible name research to use for with the logo design and font. I used the logos of existing pet related services like pet shops and other pet hotels to help come up with some names for the brand. Through this process, I managed to create 15 possible names that could be used for the hotel name.
Word List & Mind Map
Before beginning the sketching process, I first did a word list and a mind map to give some ideas for sketches. With the word list, I listed feelings, imagery, designs, and things that would be seen in a pet hotel from the top of my head. I was able to list 54 words that are connected to a pet hotel. While for the mind map, I first started with the word cat hotel before using some words from the list to branch off from one another while also adding more words that weren’t on the list.
Symbol Sketches
Using the word list and the mind map, I sketched out 30 symbols that could be used for the logo sketches. I picked 30 words that could be sketched out that would be the most seen in a pet hotel. As well as pair with three of the names I have chosen. Since some of the sketches wouldn’t work with the names like others.
Logo Sketches
After getting some feedback, I took some of the symbols and combined them them together to make some logo designs and paired them with the hotel names. Since given the possible names, I made sure they were paired with the designs that matched with them. I also used the fonts that I felt worked best and incorporate into into the designs. As this would show how the designs and name looks like on paper. With that, I sketched ten logo sketches to have looked at and receive feedback on.
Option #1
Using the feedback from the sketches, I began the digital design process, I did this by taking three of the logo designs that was working and created a fourth design. For this logo design I made the moon shaped like a ‘C’ with a cat laying on it with two small stars on top. This design is meant to act like the ‘C’ in Cat’s Cradle and still work on it’s own.
Option #2
In this logo design, I made the cat shaped like a heart by having the tail curl backwards towards the back of the cat’s head. I added lines at the bottom of the design to resemble legs and made the head resemble a cat head while still keeping it simple and within the heart shape. While at the bottom of the design, I made the text arch to be around the design.
Option #3
In this logo design, I made the cat face by using a ‘W’ as the mouth. I added elements such as ears, closed eyes, and whiskers to the design. The design incorporates more sharp edges than rounded edges. While at the bottom and top of the design, I made the text arch to be around the design like a circle.
Option #4
In this logo design, I made the cat face by using a ‘W’ as the mouth just like in option #3. I added elements such as ears, dot eyes, and whiskers to the design. The design uses more rounded elements instead of using sharp edges. This design is mean to not only replace the ‘W’ in the name but also work alone too.
Logo Drafts
Using the feedback given about the digital drafts, I took options #1 and #2 to revise and improve on to make them better, however I was missing a third logo draft. So, I went back to my logo sketches to look for a possible third option to make into a draft, after a bit, I decided to use the sketch of a sitting cat with a white space resembling a building as a third option. For these drafts I used the same font for the type along with adding additional type with the name and color to the design. For the first draft on the left, I connected the line on the ear to match with the other ear along with getting rid of the sharp tips on the moon. The second draft in the middle, I added some whiskers to the design to make it look more like a cat and moved the hotel name to the top and the additional type to the bottom. As for the third draft, I used white space to act as the whiskers and the heart, which was originally a building.
Final
With feedback, the top right logo design was chosen, I went back and refined it with the feedback that I was given. I simplified the design, I first got rid of the black outline and changed the head to look more cat-like. I then used white space to resemble eyes, whiskers, the tail overlap, and legs, while making sure their the same width with the exception of the eyes. As for the type, I used an ellipse tool to make a circle and cut it in half to place the type on it to make a arch. As well as changing the font and added another font with the name being a serif and the bottom type being a san serif. I changed the color from grayish-blue to orange to pop out more and work with the font options better. As well as getting rid of the red color and replace it with black and white for the type.