Okay guys, the day is finally here! I’ve been brainstorming and designing and working like crazy to create the perfect brand that fits me and Ruby and Sass. I’ll be honest. I went from, “I’ll never create something I’m going to love…even a little” to “ooh, that’s kind of pretty” to “how in the WORLD am I supposed to pick just a few fonts to use??” to “okay, maybe this will work after all” and it finally rested on “WOAH. I’m done and this is awesome!” Smiles all around. The re-brand design process is a crazy one, especially when you’re doing your own brand. BUT, I’m happy to reveal this gorgeous new brand. I’ll be updating various places with new branding in the coming days if I haven’t already. This site will remain as is until I’m done with the completely new site I’m creating. Bear with me in that (also crazy) process. But it’s coming together really great so far!! Read on below for info on my branding process.
When I created my first brand and logo almost 2 years ago, I didn’t follow all the steps I suggest that others I work with do. Terrible I know, but I was still figuring everything out. I wasn’t quite sure exactly what Ruby and Sass would be. I had a general idea of course, but it wasn’t as engrained in me as it is now. And for those reasons, my brand wasn’t as strong as it could be. This was brought to my attention by my awesome business coach, who said that my brand looks too safe, that it wasn’t sassy enough. She actually went as far as to say that it looked a little wedding pallette-esque. And I’ll be honest, that hot pink and navy were two of my wedding colors (Though orange, yellow, bright blue and pale pink were also a part of the palette. Very bright. But so pretty). I was so close to it, that I didn’t see it, but she was so right. It needed to be sassier. And, Sassy? Sassy, I can do! :)
I started by creating a Pinterest board full of my favorite things and elements that I wanted to incorporate into my branding. Patterns, ampersands and bright colors schemes galore! I took some time to sort through those and decide how I wanted it to look. What sort of fonts would embody my brand? Which colors just POPPED out to me when I put them together? I won’t lie, it took a loooong time to sort all that out. But slowly and surely it started coming together.
As a designer, I find it really hard to just stick to 2 or 3 colors that I’ll use forever. So in order to keep consistency (I’ve talked about how important that is) I decided I would create 3 or 4 colors I would always use and then some secondary color palette I can add in from time to time when the project or graphic warrants it. That way, I’m making sure that I’m always on brand, but have flexibility and variety with in that. I love love love these colors. They were by far the easiest thing to decide on within my new branding.
The logo itself was challenging. I knew I wanted a custom ampersand and fun unique typeface, but actually finding and deciding on that proved difficult. The ampersand of course, is custom created by me after many, many, MANY attempts to get it perfect. And the font, well I searched and searched for hours looking for the right one. I had originally wanted a brush font, but would you believe the R in ruby and S in sass just never looked as amazing as all the other letters? #designerproblems, I know. Then I found Boho Script and it was just Sassy enough to work. Yay!
I knew even before I started I wanted to use a lot of fun patterns. Annnnd I may have went a little overboard, but I don’t even care. They were so incredibly awesome and have made designing my new website so fun (not to mention REALLY pretty). I actually have a few more ideas for some more patterns I may add in over time (one of the perks of being your own designer), but I’m so so happy with these for now!
Oooh, I’m just so excited to get the website finished so I can show you all. If you think this is fun, you just wait!
Also, I’d love to hear what you think! Especially about all the patterns. Do you or would you like to use pattern work in your own brand or website? Patterns are one of the services I offer with my branding package, but I can do them a la carte too! They’re really one of my favorite sorts of projects!
