I am not the Utz Potato Chip Girl (or how to make your own logo)

Bonjour, Friends!

My friend, Marianne is a kind of guardian angel.
She's really smart and wise and patient, but she has strong opinions and she's not afraid to voice them.

She's also a great gardener and the creator of Farmacie Isolde, a company that curates quality and unusual seeds.  You can find her at
Farmacie Isolde.

Oh, and Marianne edits and sends out my newsletter.  I always listen to her advice!  However, when she told me that I needed a logo, I must admit I balked. 

I don't need a logo, I thought!  I'm a creative gal, not Pepsi Cola!

But, she pointed out that my hero, Austin Kleon has a very cool logo.  He's the author of Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work, and Keep Going.  If you subscribe to his newsletter (and you should!) you'll see that he has a great logo.  Of course, he drew it himself--because he "a writers who draws."

(Now you see why he's my hero!)

Anyways, Marianne said I should do the same.  Well, not the same, of course, because Austin is such an original guy, but you get the idea.  Marianne said I should draw something that represents me.

This might sound easy, but it's not!  It's downright existential.

It means looking deep into your soul and asking yourself  who am I anyway?

 

So, being the serious gal that I am--I began making doodles.

As you can see, this is very stream of consciousness.  I'm a gal who likes cats.  I like birthday cake.  I like silk ribbons.  I wish I had big hair (I don't).  Oh, and I like French champagne!

Okay, so this was kind of silly.  But, it was also freeing.

It's my attempt to get at the answer to who am I anyway?

Honestly, I felt like rebelling against the idea of squeezing myself into one little image.

But, I trust Marianne and her opinion, so I gave it a go.  Here's my first try:

For my second try, I took inspiration of the Baltimore Utz Potato Chip Girl. 

Okay, so maybe I am more like Pepsi Cola than I'm willing to admit!

I decided I needed to streamline things, so I took out the nose, that line between her lips and I tried to make the lettering more modern and less like a little girl who is still drawing pictures of cats and birthday cakes in spare time.  

 

(Okay, maybe I still am that little girl!)

Anyway, here's what I finally came up with for my logo:

I kind of like it, but truthfully I may change it.  Because, after all, I am not Pepsi Cola, or Coca Cola or even the Utz Potato Chip Girl!

 

This exercise was very interesting and challenging too and this brings me to your writing and creativity prompt for the week.  I want you to make your own logo.  Trust me, it will be an eye-opener!

First, write ten words that describe who you are.  And next, draw a few pictures that represent you.  These can be child-like drawings.  In fact, they should be!  Next, notice what colors, shapes and images you're attracted to.  After this, pare it down to about three words and three colors.  Next, see what lines you can do without.  Keep eliminating anything that feels unnecessary. 

Now, look at your picture--what does it say about who you are?

It's a little like a self-portrait.  You can read it like a kind of Rorschach test.  What do you see?  What do you chose to emphasize?  What makes you smile.  What makes you sad.  

This image is not going to represent who you truly are beyond this moment in time, because you're constantly changing.

You're human and you're creative and you're evolving. 
And that's a good thing.

You'll find that there's lots of information to be gleaned from this little exercise.  And you don't have to be an artist or a writer.  You just have to be curious!

I will be very interested to hear how your logo-making experience goes and what you learn from it!

Au revoir for now,

Jamie