Endless love

As a follow on from the last post here's the rest of the tale of my new identity. 

After I drew the heart I then looked at fonts and colours for my business name and how I could incorporate the name & the heart.

Being a girl by the seaside I wanted the colour blue in there. Well, actually I wanted purple because that's my favourite colour but sometimes your favourite colour isn't the right one. I chose a bright mid-blue that toned well with the hot-pink and a font that looked clear and professional because that's how I want to be with my clients. When I looked at it however I realised that all blue was a little too much. Therefore, leaving the blue for the word 'bay' I used a mid-grey for 'web designs' as I was thinking of the pebbles on Morecambe's beach. This looked a lot better and I decided to position the heart above the 'i' in 'designs' because I <3 my life, family and clients. 

This is what I ended up with.

I also created a separate image with my tag line included (using the blue).

Finally I wanted to create something that I could use as a shorter/smaller logo so I took the initials of my business name, used the same colours but this time interlocked the heart with the 'D' to denote my love of designing websites.

So there you have it. The story of how I created my new business identity. You can wake up now :-)

 

A good heart

People may have noticed recently that I finally overhauled my website. Part of the work was to create an identity for myself and my business. Here is one part of the story how that happened.

******

When I first started out in business I won a free half hour with Zoe Dawes to discuss business-y stuff. Zoe advised me to have something in my office to look at as a goal - I have images of the Pyramids & Pompeii because I will go to visit them one day. Another thing she asked me to do was find something that symbolised me, my business and my ethos. I went home and thought a little and then realised I had this. 

It's a rose quartz heart that my daughter had bought me.

This symbolises many things for me (in no particular order). 

• love for my family
• love for myself
• love for my work
• love for my clients

It has sat on my desk for the last two and a half years to remind me of everything I love and to give me the impetus to be a better person in both my business and personal life. 

When I came to properly create an identity for myself I knew I wanted something simple that encapsulated everything I was. Using my new graphics tablet (hello @colinshelbourn) I drew this. 

A hot-pink heart that even has a little kiss (x) in it. Yes it's simple, but it means everything that I am - and no jokes about me being simple! It's taken me a while (I know, I know) but I am finally there. 

 

What You Waiting For?

I have just got back from meeting my business mentor. It was our final meeting, she has been helping me for the last year, although we will keep in touch. I have found it beneficial to have someone to bounce ideas off and today I came away with another one. 

As a fairly new business I know how hard it is to get funding in place to start running and promoting your business. As a web designer I also know how important it is to have a web presence. Often though a website is beyond the budget of a fledgling business. However have you thought about this...

Buy your domain name (123-Reg are great). A yourdomain.co.uk only costs around £11 for two years. 

Once you have your domain name you can set up email addresses for your business which always look more professional than, say, using gmail or hotmail. 

BUT!

If you buy a domain name & start using your email address potential clients will probably visit yourdomain.co.uk to see what your website's like and all they will get is a generic holding page - not professional at all.

So what can you do?

You contact me and I will set up your hosting, create up to two emails and make you a personalised page for your business so at least there is something for your visitors to see. This page would have your business name/logo, contact information, a little bit about your business and possibly a relevant picture or two depending upon your requirements. So much more professional and helpful for your potential clients and a reasonably priced option to keep you going until you have funding for a full website.

Drop me an email or tweet me to discuss a budget option to get your business on the web.

 

 

 

Twitter makes everything better