I didn’t realise how important logos were or really think about them much; until I had a go at designing my own a few years ago. And when a couple of friends were looking for logos for their small businesses I offered to help them out – it’s lovely to have a bit of a project to work on and as I still struggle with deciding what to draw this takes away that decision.

So, first there was my logo – at the top of this page of course.

I wanted it to be clean and simple but a bit quirky and fun too. And to reflect that I draw as well as make lampshades. It was my second attempt and I still really like it. It just goes to show that you need to make sure you are really happy with a logo before you go ahead with it; even if you’re just a small business.

Below is a logo I designed for Louise from Simply Sewing. It was a while ago too but I don’t think I ever shared it on here:

Louise already used the flower shape on her website and Facebook page and just wanted to play with the font and colours as well as add one of my drawings somewhere.

I had a play with some ideas and really liked the one below but we decided as she makes amazing curtains and handmade soft furnishings it didn’t really reflect her skills!

I drew some curtains for Louise too, which are on her website front page:

It’s great to look back at this work and see how I came up with the designs, I really like them and luckily Louise did too…

Next, I worked on some drawings for the menu of the Italian cafe on Furze Platt Road in Maidenhead, Palmieri’s. They make amazing pasta dishes and bread as well as selling scrummy Italian ice-cream. Plus they do a roaring trade from the local mums meeting for coffee.

Here are a few snapshots of the menu with my drawings; the curly pasta is my favourite (and to eat!) I can’t take any credit for the design including colours and font though – that was the very talented Chris Isted at Three Sixty Design.

Last but not least, the most recent project I have worked on, maybe I should’ve shared this first really – designing a logo for a friend who has just qualified in reflexology and set up her own practice in Maidenhead. Hanne wanted the logo to incorporate one of my drawings and had some of her own ideas on how it should look. It took a bit of playing around to fit my foot drawing into the logo but I think it worked out really well in the end and the customer was very happy so that’s what counts! I painted the toes yellow towards the end of the design process and I’m really glad as it really lifts the design.

Hanne is in the process of setting up her website but you can like her Facebook page and book a reflexology treatment here.

That’s it for now… I have managed to complete another machine embroidery picture today, this time of a bird which is a first for me (no teapots in sight!) I’ll share that with you another time, enjoy the sunshine! 🙂