When I started brainstorming ideas for the logo (or trademark) of my new company, Everett Digital Solutions, I knew I wanted it focused on the benefits and services that EDS will provide for its customers, but didn’t have clue what image would symbolize that concept. To help with the project, I enlisted my nephew, Kurt Peters, for his exceptional graphic design skills. We’re like a dream team together!
To create the new logo, it required 6 steps: Brainstorming, Sketching, Concepting, Enhancing, Vectorizing, and Branding. Below is an image with the evolution of the logo and the details about the 6 steps to create the final artwork. The steps will explain why I selected a funnel as the foundation of the logo as well as the reason for the colors.
1. BRAINSTORMING
Since acquiring my Marketing degree from Illinois State University years ago, I’ve seen thousands of business model diagrams, process workflows, and data charts. The image that has influenced me the most is the conversion funnel.
In it’s simplest form, the a conversion funnel represents a mass audience at the wide end, your conversion goal at the narrow end, and various marketing stages that narrow as you approach your goal. I created my new business to help my clients learn how to maximize the number of people that achieve their conversion goals — whether it be sales, qualified leads, email subscribers, social media followers, downloads of a document, or even video views. The funnel was the perfect symbol for me to illustrate exactly what my services entail.
2. SKETCHING
Once I identified the shape of the symbol for my logo, Kurt and I each started sketching ideas. Why develop a sketch? Because designing is a process of trial and error and pen-to-paper is the quickest way that I can visualize many concepts, make changes, and evaluate the best concepts. The top two ideas we developed were either to incorporate the downward-sloping funnel shape into the E or V in my last name “EVERETT.” I decided that I wanted to combine the E with the funnel so I could use the trademark as a stand-alone marketing tool to represent the first letter of the name of my business. In the evolution timeline image above, you’ll see on the far left my crude drawing that I shared with my designer Kurt, which matched some of the ideas he was working on too.
3. CONCEPTING
With a sketch that passed the first approval process, it was time to develop a digital concept of the symbol. In this stage, there are still frequent modifications being made, so developing a two-dimensional digital model is preferred to minimize the lost time invested in concepts that get tossed aside. In the case of my logo, we played with variables such as the height and width ratios, spacing between the “stages” in the middle of the funnel represented by the middle line in the letter E, closing the right side of the funnel or keeping it open, incorporating an arrow to signify the direction of the workflow, and many other options. The end result of the Concepting stage was the second image from the left in the evolution timeline.
4. ENHANCING
Now that a 2D model was produced, it was time to start adding 3D enhancements. To truly be a funnel, my logo needed an opening at the top and chop the point off the bottom because that’s wear the successful conversions will come out. I also decided to connect the middle line of the E to the left side of the funnel since the white space in the middle looked like a C to me. When you’re at this stage, it’s important start adding small details that will make a big difference. In my case, the two major small changes that improved the trademark were the oval at the top and the slight curving of the interior lines to make the object more like a cylinder.
5. VECTORIZING
The prototype was complete in a drawing program and ready for the next stage in the process to make it ready for use on the web. The importance of creating a vector image in a program like Adobe Illustrator is that it scales well on the web because each small object within the image is created using mathematical equations rather than pixels. When you zoom in on a vector image, it won’t become “pixelated” because it redraws the viewable portion of the image using the equations and fills in all the space on your screen accordingly. In the fourth version of the logo in the evolution timeline, you’ll notice that we’ve added more 3D effects to the top and interior of the funnel, but it’s still just basic black & white when we completed this stage.
6. BRANDING
We’re in the home stretch of the logo creation process! With a vector image created it was now time to apply some colors. This is a critical part of the process because the colors used are part of the corporate identity and branding. In the early stage of creating my new company, I spent hours looking at different color palettes and other logos, including the Color Emotion Guide (see image). My goal was to find a color scheme that was eye-catching, provoked a positive emotional response, and appeared professional instead of wild.
After modifying the core of the logo from black to dark blue to red and other colors, I decided to keep it black to symbolize strength, power, and balance. For the top of the funnel, I selected blue because in a typical conversion funnel, there are “cold leads” at the top of the funnel that become “warm leads” until they convert into sales. Therefore, the blue represents that my clients are starting with cold leads and my services will help them achieve their conversion goal.
So why choose green for the interior of the funnel? I felt that green was necessary to represent money, opportunity, and growth. By investing in the services of Everett Digital Solutions, I will help my clients discover and maximize the revenue opportunities within all of their digital marketing funnels to help grow their business.
With the development process complete, a logo was born in the final image of the evolution timeline.
What are your thoughts about the logo? How can Everett Digital Solutions help you with your digital business needs? I’d love to hear about your needs. Simply use our Contact Us form and let’s discuss conversion goals today.