Natural Gardener
Natural Gardener is a world-class gardening destination known for its pioneering work in organic gardening and sustainable living. It is located in Austin, TX since 1992. However, the logo doesn't it show that they sell things for gardening. So, I made a new logo to communicate is to give customers experience and love for gardening along with being reliable to help them grow as a gardener.
Business Research & Fonts
Before I begin to do anything, I first did some business research into The Natural Gardener. This is to help me better understand what the business is about, what products and services do they sell, and if they’re high, mid, or low end. This report makes it easier for the design process as the new logo must reflect the business and their services/products. Along with the report, I also looked into some fonts that I could use for the new logo. I wanted to find some fonts that felt like nature but still has a professional and welcoming look. Through my search, I was able to find 20 possible options to pick from that could work.
Business Goals
Our goals are to revitalize identity as to keep with the modern times, popularize, to become more well known and have more customers, and Increase sales, to have more people buy our products.
Target Audience
All age groups ranging from children to the elderly, both genders but mainly female. Education can be ranged to elementary to college, as locations are that of suburban to rural. Marital status does not affect but with children, mostly two. Hobbies are floral arrangement, gardening, activities outside, and passions of arts.
Word Matrix
Before beginning the sketching process, I first did a word matrix to help come up with little quick sketches for possible logo design. I did this by using six words on the top and 5 words on side, the words on the sides are feelings while the words on top are physical items. Then, following the words I drew a quick sketch in each box based on the combined words. Using this method, I created 30 quick sketches, which I then used for my sketches.
Sketches #1
Using the word matrix, I sketched out 30 sketches that could be used for the logos. Most of the sketches are plant-based with flowers, plants, and seeds, with a few gardening tools and pots being present. I also added the business name and establishment year for type placements. Since I wanted the type to be incorporated with the design but still work by themselves.
Moodboards
Once the first rounds of sketches were done, I made three moodboards that displays different ideas for the logos. The first moodboard on the top is more gardening tools with an earthly vibe and colors. The second moodboard on the bottom left is gardening based with a plant-like colors and designs. The last moodboard on the bottom right is a flower based, with a muted colors and bright colors with a flower design.
Sketches #2 & 3
Using the first round of sketches and the moodboards giving me a clearer direction, I refined sketches #6, 12, and 20. With the three sketches, I made five variations of each which made a total of 15 sketches. I played around with the design aspect by changing the placement of the elements or adding an extra element. As for type, I moved them around to work with the design or have them on two or three lines. At first these were my final sketches, but then I went back and made six more sketches, taking some of my previous sketches from the first round.
Logo Drafts
Using the feedback on the sketches, I turned them into digital drafts to see how they look in black and white and refined them a bit more. The ones refined were sketches #3, 12, and 13. I added black to some of the sketches to show how the color would be used along with a serif and sans serif fonts as temporary fonts for the type. I also played around with the name including ‘The’ part and not including it. Sometime after the project, below the first drafts, I went with sketch #1 from the third round of sketches, and added type in an arch to be around it with a new serif font.
Logo Drafts
Using the feedback given about the digital drafts, I took drafts #1, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 12 to revise and improve on. For logo #2, I made it look like a circle instead of squiched and made the type have and arch to look like it’s on the petals. In logo #3 I had got rid of the extra flowers and center aligned the type. For logo #4 and 5, I added some white lines to show where the petals are to look more like a plant. And for logo #6, I added an arch around the type and some vines near ‘est’ and ‘1993’. While logo #1 was left unchanged. Sometime later, I used the feedback to make logo #7 at the bottom two variations of it, one with no leaves and one with smaller leaves. And had natural and gardener be put on two separate arches to look like they are circling around the logo.
Touchpoint & Color Study
Before a go on to make the business cards, I first need to do a color study for a good color palette to use. For this, I went with Logo #6 as it was the strongest design at the time. First, for the three at the top I played around with the arch and vine stroke thickness. Then I copy/pasted six of the three options before adding color to them. The colors are mostly plant-like colors with some pinks and purples being present as I wanted to limit the colors to just three. Then sometime later, I added color to logo #7 after going with the short leaves variation. The top design is a more muted color palette of browns and yellow and the bottom is a more brighter color palette of greens and yellows
Along with the Color Study, I did a touchpoint to see how the logos would look at a smaller size and on items. I chose to use all six designs that I created, so I found six items to use, two boxes, two different colored shirts, a pot, and signage. I applied one to each item to see which works better at a smaller size.
Option #1
Using the feedback, I made went with the green, magenta, and pink color palette. For the front design, I placed the colored logo in the middle of the card with a lighter shade of green as the background. I also placed transparent one lotus flower at the top left and bottom right. For the back design, I used the same light green with green vines separating it from the white. I placed some lotus flowers on the vines to look like they’re a part of them. On the back I put the address, website, and phone number of the business with some icons to show what they are.
Option #2
In this card design, I used the newest logo design I made for it’s design. I have the card set a vertical card and used a lighter shade of yellow for the background. On the backside I put the logo on some of the corners of the card and used a clipping mask to hide the rest of the design. I added a name and the person’s role and center aligned them. Then, I placed the website, phone number, and address that was on the first option on the back as well, however, I also added an email and more icons besides the web and phone icon for the email and address in a dark green color. I made the type a sans serif with the expectation for the name and left aligned with some space between.
Final
For the final design, I went with the bright color palette of yellows and greens for the logo. I used the lighter green for the shovel head, and the darker green for the leaves. As for the yellow, I used the bright yellow for the flower petals and the dark yellow for the handles and bud. I also proceeded to make three different variations of the logo such as: white, black, and white text. To show the white variations, I places a black for the background so the text would be visible. For the business cards, I went with the second option as it felt like an actual business card and had the right information present.