Discover the story behind the design by clicking the logo.
The idea for Nine Publications began with something personal. My name, Navya, means “nine” in Sanskrit, and I wanted that connection to shape the identity of the brand. From the start, my goal was to create a mark that feels human, modern, and warm, reflecting both creativity and clarity.
The number nine was custom illustrated by me to look sleek and bold, with a subtle pen shape inside it to represent writing, storytelling, and the spirit of publishing. I explored several versions inspired by geometric and minimalist design and refined it into a form that balances strength and simplicity.
I chose Futura Regular and Futura Bold to keep the look clean and modern and paired them with a calm, balanced color palette that feels professional yet approachable. Every element, from the typography to the illustrated nine, is meant to express creativity, connection, and inclusivity, the core values behind Nine Publications.
When I started designing my logo I knew I wanted to incorporate a symbol that was representative of reading or writing. I spent a longtime brainstorming, and I was eventually inspired by the imagery of ink droplets on paper. One reference photo I found reminded me of a pufferfish and the idea for Pufferfish Publishing was born. I knew that I wanted my design to be fun and unexpected, but still meaningful. Choosing black and white felt right because it keeps the focus on contrast and clarity, and reflects the classic combination of ink on paper. For the main font I chose Marvin Round because it reflected the rounded shape of the pufferfish/ink-droplet logo. This project taught me how much personality a logo can carry and how small design choices can change an entire brand’s voice.
For the first project in J465 this Fall, students made logos and created a brand guide for a fictional publishing company of our choosing. I decided to name my company Ballerina Publishing because I used to be a dancer. I also wanted a company that was female focused and empowering.
For the overall logo, I originally had a silhouetted ballerina somewhat dancing across the word ballerina. However, after furthering my sketches, I decided it wouldn’t work because it was not very scalable. In my next sketch I tried to incorporate a tutu, that just did not look appropriate. Last I decided to try incorporating point shoes which seemed like the most obvious option from the beginning. Once I did the pointe shoes, the rest of my designs kind of just flowed. I decided on making the pointe shoes the “LL”s in Ballerina after that.
When I came to my brand colors, I wanted them to communicate a song feminine message. Usually, ballerinas wear a more pale, skin tone pink. I decided on hot pink because of the history behind that pink color being very exclusionary for people of color who danced ballet. The blue sends off a strong and grounded vibe whilst still being a cool compliment to the hot pink. I also decided to use the same font throughout all my designs. The fine I picked is traditional and sophisticated but still vey legible and kind of fun.
The different variations of the logo came about from my original sketches as well as some improvisation in adobe illustrator and the rules for the assignment. We had to make different variations like text only, graphic only, vertical and horizontal arrangements.
Overall, I really liked this project. As a small business owner this was actually pretty helpful learning how to create a brand guide. I loved that we were able to pull our own company name from our imagination because it gave us students so much creative freedom. This was a great assignment!
I liked this name because it conveys the idea that everyone is connected which feels welcoming and inclusive. I chose this typeface because it mimics the sweeping motions of a flowing thread. I thought the needle as the top of the T was a simple touch that connected the image aspect of the logo with the word mark. The swirling thread is the same stroke in each of the logo variations which helps it be cohesive even if it is turned different ways. This thread was one of my biggest challenges. I drew around 100 different strokes to find one I thought would work in each variation and didn’t look overdone or awkward. Like I explain in the Logo Design section of the Brand Guide, the deep red ties into the Red String theory to symbolize the connections that unite people with the company. My intention with the logo was to design something traditional and dependable. I feel the colors, typeface, and simple design reflect those qualities.
I found the sketch phase of the project arguably the most challenging, mostly because I wanted to find a concept that actually meant something to me. I went through tons and tons of ideas before realizing that the name and idea would come together more naturally if I made it personal. That’s how Blue Hound Publishing was created. I have a 16 year old hound dog at home named Mickey, and I’ve always admired how loyal, loving, and patient he is. Hounds are also known for their strong sense of smell and instinct for tracking; that idea of “sniffing out the next great story” became the core of my concept and helped guide the brand’s voice and visuals.
When it came to designing the logo, I wanted to combine the image of a blue hound with something that clearly represented publishing. After a few different sketches, I landed on the idea of using negative space to form an open book in the dog’s collar. I loved how subtle it is, but also how much meaning it carried once you noticed it. I showed it to some friends just to make sure it was noticeable enough, and got some feedback from them. It took a lot of trial and error to get the shapes to feel smooth and balanced, but once it clicked, the design started to feel cohesive and intentional.
For my typeface, I ended up going with Lato, mostly because it’s versatile, modern, and has a ton of different weights that make it easy to establish hierarchy. It also has a clean, trustworthy look that I felt fit well with my company.
The brand guide itself took a while to refine, especially when it came to layout and color. I wanted a repeatable format so it felt like a professional brand guide. Rather than sticking too many things on one page, I gave each idea its own page. Putting everything together helped me understand how much design relies on consistency and negative space. I also found that once I had the logo and voice figured out, the rest of the pieces started falling into place easily. Overall, I’m proud of how this project came together. Blue Hound Publishing feels personal, professional, and represents my creativity well. The process definitely pushed me to think deeper about how design choices connect to meaning, and I feel like this brand reflects my style and my story.
The sketch phase of my project was very odd because I was coming up with a bunch of ideas for a bunch of companies with completely different names and brand voice. I liked a few of them but felt most confident in my ability to execute the ghost publishing one. I am very familiar with drawing skulls and had an interesting idea for an animation for the future project. Skulls are complex shapes so I tried my best to reduce it to the absolute simplest form while keeping it recognizable. I am still unsure if it’s simple enough but I am hopeful.
Picking fonts has always been my greatest enemy. I never feel especially confident in my choice and don’t really know how to go about doing it. I thought the display font was spooky and elegant which is why I picked it. I was even less sure about the body text but I figured simple and reliable was better.
The logo itself took hours to get right but then the brand guide just about killed me. I did have fun making my dumb puns like “skeletons in our closet” instead of about us or “our unfinished business” instead of mission statement. I felt my word choice reflected the brand voice. I tried to decorate the brand guide to make it match the tone.
The actual different logo layouts did momentarily stump me because I had forgotten to make a vertical version and wasn’t sure what I’d do. However when I made the letters into the neck I suddenly loved it. I hope its as good as I think it is. The other one I wasn’t sure about was the alternative. Now my logo can appear in all forms in any of the colors with one of the other colors for the background but I wasn’t totally sure if that was what the alternative part wanted. I probably should have asked but I can now only hope the color variations are enough of alternatives.
For this project, I really wanted to create a grungey logo that matches the vibe of a small town bookstore located somewhere in the East Coast. So basically a design for a newer Millenial/Gen z targeted company. I got inspired by an actual deer while driving to class on a hot day and I thought it was very offputting. I was hoping to match that energy with my logo. With my sketches, I based the design on an actual image of a panting deer and simplified it. I really wanted to add bits of the name within the antlers so I took some time to incorporate a “P” and a “D” but it unfortunately isn’t that noticeable until you see the other variations which I do love. Despite this, I still chose the logo without the name incorporated in the antlers as my cover logo because it is a lot simpler and easier to understand.
For my logo I chose to opt for a play on words rather than make up an animal, object etc. I settled on Inkspire because I found it to be simple but an effective play on words while it being obvious at first sight it has something to do with writing. It took me a few different sketches to come up with the logo, but I knew I was going to incorporate a pen somehow with a lightbulb. I wasn’t sure where the lightbulb would be but after playing around I felt comfortable putting it on the typeface while leaving an outline of a lightbulb on the actual logo. When it came to the logo it took a while how I wanted it, did I want a cartoon feel, a real feel, or a mix of both. I settled for a mix of both while having a colorful cartoonish design while also giving it a real feel with the texture I added to the color. I chose the top typeface for Inkspire to have more of a handwritten and bubble letter feel to it. The bottom typeface I chose was a basic text so it wouldn’t overcrowd or take away from anything else. I had a really fun time with this project, being able to have free will with a design is an experience that I’ve never really had before. It was a good process but a little difficult. Items, like the light bulb, I wasn’t really sure where to put so I had to play around a little bit in illustrator to see where I thought fit best. I had a very good time making different designs, as having essentially the same logo but putting the logo and company name in different places was a good exercise to see what was the best. My logo is supposed to be a pen nib with a light bulb in the middle of it, almost representing that once you start writing that’s when the ideas start. The brand guide was a little hard to fit everything and what layout I would do. Looking back on it I wish I added more pages but I feel like everything fits and flows on two pages. I decided to put all the logos on the first page just to show them off before I labeled them on the next page. Overall I do like how everything came out, I just wish the brandguide was structured a little better if I had to change anything.
Click the image to view to view the full brand guide
This is my first project for J465, and it was a challenging first project. This was my first experience in logo design and it was a learning curve that I had to navigate.
I knew that I wanted to do a cat-themed logo because I felt like there was a lot of opportunity for color variation, brand story, and an engaging logo design. I went through many variations before my final product. The initial direction was “Cat Paws” but I saw an opportunity to create imagery out of the typography. I converted the typography into outlines and adjusted the L in cat tail to fit the illustration I had in mind for the cat tail.
I chose the font Flecrei because I really enjoyed the abstract look to the font, as well as the letter A reminded me of cat ears which I felt fit the visual. I chose Abril Display for the secondary typography for the sake of readability and an aesthetic match to the abstract primary font.
The color choice was difficult, but I ended up with a green/blue and ivory color scheme because I felt like it communicated the “home” feel that I wanted to evoke with soft colors that are easy on the eye.
