Sarah Celebrates Logo & Branding (What’s With The Fish?)

Hello and happy Wednesday =)

First and foremost, I’d like to wish my friends in the US a Happy Thanksgiving! Eat up!

Have you noticed my new logo? Don’t you just love it?!  I know it needs to be bigger up top… I’m working on it.  I am beyond excited about my new look! It makes me feel inspired & carefree, what I hope you feel when you visit Sarah Celebrates.

The creative genius behind my new look is Shaina Longstreet of Your Ampersand Studio.  Shaina uses her expertise & passion for photography and design to help photographers create a stunning online presence and WOW dream clients.  It was amazing to see her creativity in action.

Not a photographer?  Don’t let that deter you from checking her out!  Clearly, I am not a photographer…  If you’re thinking about hiring someone to help you with a logo or branding, I cannot recommend Shaina enough!

Here was the process in a nutshell:

• A video call to chat about what I felt my brand was and how I wanted it to feel.
• Secret board on Pinterest to collect mood board inspiration.
• Mood board creation and tweaks to get it just right.
• Logo variations complete with fonts, images and colors and WHY Shaina chose them.
• Edits to my final choice.
• Final logo reveal and style board to keep my brand elements close by.

If you have been to Sarah Celebates often, you can imagine that there was A LOT of turquoise pinned to my secret Pinterest board.  Shaina took those items and created a mood board that represented Sarah Celebrates and myself.

She found some things I would NEVER have come across that screamed my name.  Like the ‘YAY’ balloon letters… All my excited responses via email, text and social media are exactly that!

The mood board changed a couple times along with the logos that followed.  I won’t take up your time with that.  If you do choose to work with Shaina (or any other designer), you will enjoy the process of seeing your brand come together before your eyes.

Now for this little guy.

When I began working with Shaina, I asked her if we could incorporate a fish into the logo somehow. She loved the idea and couldn’t wait to hear the story behind it.

Story? I’m supposed to have a story?

Crap.

With my love of tropical aquariums, I have been dying to work a fish into my site for ages. One of the original tag lines I came up with was “swimming through life”.  But I don’t swim, not regularly, leisurely or competitively… so it seemed weird to me.

Even after I scratched that tag line, I could not get incorporating fish out of my mind.

I suppose I do have a story… But it’s really more of a tale of slowly growing obsession.

In 2007, work was slow at the day job so I spent a lot of time on the internet and became obsessed with goldfish and Siamese fighting fish (bettas).  To my fellow aquarium enthusiasts out there, don’t worry. I never wanted to put the two in the same tank together. Completely separate obsessions.

Long story short, I asked my boss if I could have a betta on my desk, didn’t wait for his reply, bought one and then he told me no. So Debbie the Betta lived on my moms kitchen counter until I moved in with my boyfriend and a bookcase became her new residence.

Five bettas and 2 large freshwater tanks later… my obsession turned to body art and I got tattoo of a fish on my foot.

Full. Blown. Obsession.  Right?

Don’t worry, I did take some time to think about this obsession; to put a story to why I have it.

Watching fish is so serene and peaceful; calm and carefree.  It’s how I want to feel and how I want this corner of the internet to feel.

My fish bring me peace.  They give me a purpose. Sarah Celebrates does both as well.  My little fish will be a visual reminder of that.

Now to give him a name… Any suggestions?

Have you ever hired someone to design something for you?  I’d love to see it =)