Tracking the complex path of the elusive logo, part 2

Last week our designer, Merrill Miller, summarized the first two rounds of logo development for the new children’s curriculum, Shine. This week, he finishes his report and unveils the final. When last we read, Merrill was imperiled on the cliffs of Conflicting Expectations searching for the Path of Resolution to get to the bottom of the problem—but the path has a few twists of its own…

Round three

How to resolve the color issue? Hmm.

One of the reports directed me to a website that showed how a certain school of thought on education was applying color to correspond to different ages. This website inspired me so much that I quickly worked up another logo. It was new. It was fresh. I was excited about it. Yes, it might be a bit busy, but it opened up a boatload of graphic possibilities just asking for implementation in the curriculum.

I presented this new, exciting logo along with the one the group had selected in a revised palette that shifted the gold to orange:

Needless to say, I was disappointed when some did not share my enthusiasm for this exciting new logo. And by some, I mean everyone. It was too busy, confusing, and did they mention too busy?

I had violated the first law of Design 101: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Blinded by my own excitement for the possibilities, I failed to recognize that it failed to communicate clearly.

Round four

Though I was disappointed I understood the problem and I resolved that this will, hopefully, make the logo a better one. So, I took a few steps back and began to rework. What was more frustrating, though, was that the issue of color was not getting resolved and I was asked to work up multiple palettes and present them side by side.

Being an accommodating-type personality I chose a couple of the earlier logos, tweaked them a bit, and applied three different palettes to them: one brighter, one earthy, and one in-between. I also included a new design (in a nuanced color palette) that I hoped would blow the others away.

It did.

Below is the final logo for the new Sunday school curriculum, Shine.

As I stated in part one: the path to a final graphic solution is often fraught with twists, turns, and double-backs but the final graphic is most often rewarding. Definitely rewarding.

—Merrill Miller, senior graphic designer