I used to run a handmade business under the name Marshmueller. I designed and sewed accessories for babies, kids, and grown-ups, too. It was a mashup of my married and maiden names, and I had lived under this identity for over a decade.
But when I realized that I was burned out from that facet of running a business, and wanted to pivot to draw silly illustrations and put them on products, the business name and brand no longer fit.
So what do you do when you're a brand designer and an illustrator?
You DIY it!
Moodboardin'
I wanted to keep the business name close to Marshmueller, but something that was MUCH easier to say/spell/type (hindsight lesson, big time).
Since there's always been a cute/cartoony element to my illustration, the business name change was far easier than I thought it would be.
I drew inspiration from Malibu Barbie (this was over a year before the Barbie movie came out!), kawaii style, pastel aesthetic, and...Lucky Charms.
Sometimes the Brand Actually is You
Most of the time when I work with clients to design a new brand identity, we dive deep into their target customer.
Only I didn't truly know who my target customer was, especially when pivoting to a product line that wasn't a natural step from what I made before.
But then I remembered something that I tell clients or students when I'm teaching:
People can buy what you sell at a big box store. But they don't. They buy from YOU.
The key difference is you.
So I used that as a driving factor when creating my brand identity.
I wanted a fun, squishy, inner-child vibe with a dash of sweetness and nostalgia.
Word Mark
When creating my brand mark, I looked at my handwriting.
Granted, my handwriting CAN be this nice and neat, but it takes me longer than if I just wrote using my mix of cursive and printing.
Once I crafted the vibe of the word mark, everything just fell into place beautifully.
