Logo Progression – Bozeman, Montana Non-Profit Gets A “Brand” New Look

A couple months ago my business partner Philip and I had the pleasure of sitting down with Leif Hallberg of the Esperanza Center to discuss the possible revisions of the organization’s identity. Leif is a former horse trainer turned mental health professional, and she is also the Esperanza Center’s founder and director. The Esperanza Center itself is a 501 (C) (3) non-profit organization that provides alternative education and therapeutic experiences inspired by the natural world and horse-human interactions.

During the conversation Phil and I agreed to take on the Esperanza Center as a non-profit client and began formulating a plan for a much needed updating of the marketing materials and identity. The plan would include a new logo, business cards, informational brochure and other related items including a simple website.

Retiring the original logo

As any good designer knows, one of the first things you must iron out when working on any business’s  identity is the logo. As the Esperanza Center’s logo will be the key element in designing all the rest of the organization’s promotional materials, we decided to take a peek at the old logo. Here is what the original logo looked like:

My main concern with the original logo was that I felt it was very plain. I was also not a big fan of the fonts that were used or that the entire text of the logo was in all caps. It wasn’t a terrible logo either though, and I did like that the original logo had a few shapes going on that stuck out to me. Can you see the horse, the mountain and the tree?

After our review of the original logo, we collectively decided that the Esperanza Center would need a new logo to help better brand the organization. Even as we simply spoke about the concept of a new logo, my mind started to chew away on some ideas. As the meeting drew to a close Leif, Phil and I loosely organized a plan of attack and there was a buzz of excitement in the air

An epiphany of inspiration

Once the meeting was over and we had parted ways for the afternoon, it was time to head for the office and get to work. That is when it happened… on the way out to the car an idea for the new logo hit me, and I scrambled for a piece of paper to jot it down. I obsessed about it during the entire ride home, and by the time we made it back to the studio I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted.

That evening I eagerly dove right into Illustrator CS2 and rather quickly came up with a rough illustration. Being as the Esperanza Center specializes in the interactions between horses and humans for therapeutic healing, I wanted to make that aspect very apparent in the design of the logo. My intent was for a Yin and Yang feel between a horse and a human, and in doing so I opted for a circular design.

Once I had the general concept designed I ran the idea by my business partner. Philip really liked the concept, but he felt that the overall design was a little too abstract. He also mentioned that although the shape of the horse jumped right out at him, the human form was not very easy to discern.

Some quick edits

Still very encouraged, I decided to make another attempt at it before calling it quits for the evening. I should note that at this point I did not feel that the text of the logo was nearly as important of a factor as the illustration itself, so I opted to leave it out. With some quick editing I was satisfied with a “muppet-like” revised version before shutting the G5 off for the night.

The next day I decided to show the logo to some friends to get their valuable input. Again I was informed that they too found the human form a bit abstract in comparison to the horse, so I finally gave in that it was time to go back to the drawing board.

First series of major revisions

This time I wanted to make the logo dramatically more life like, so I worked on the hands, the head and the shoulder of the human form. By doing so, the logo really started being more than a simple illustration and more of a piece of artwork. Suddenly the illustration took on a sense of emotion all it’s own, and it began to really evoke feelings in the people that I was showing it to.

The hard part about doing pro bono work is finding the time to fit work on it between paying gigs. Since it had already been about a week and a half since our initial meeting, I decided that the time was right to show Lief the progress of the logo. So I arranged a meeting, and a few days later I was headed to the Bozeman Public Library with my laptop in tow for a mini-review.

While I waited at the library for Leif to arrive I was somewhat nervous, even though I was very curious to get her response about the proposed idea. This nervousness was due largely because Philip had recently spoke with her and through his description of the logo, she had not seemed very interested. So I did what I generally in do in those situations… I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best!

Once Leif arrived I was able to breathe a sigh of relief because the first review of the logo ended up being relative success. I showed Leif all three of the designs I had come up with so far, and she loved the concept. I opted to leave her with some prints of the designs, and told her to show the logo to some of her friends and also share it with the volunteers at the Esperanza Center. As we parted ways that afternoon I felt confident that we were on the right track, and I was very relieved to have passed the initial review.

Some constructive criticism

The holidays were sneaking up on us fast, and as Thanksgiving weekend came and went, I was out of touch with the Esperanza Center for a little over a week. Not too long after the holiday I got an email from Leif detailing her thoughts on version three of the logo. She gave me some great news by explaining that people were really connecting with the illustration at an emotional level, and that most people agreed that it was very “powerful”.

With the good news came a little bad too, because at the same time the illustration was receiving praise, it was also creating some general concerns. For one, people found it too hard to tell which way the human was facing – most people thought the human was facing towards the viewer, not towards the horse. This made the human form’s neck and shoulder look a bit funny, and in turn made the logo seem “distorted”, “uncomfortable” or just plain “weird”.

It wasn’t just the human form in the illustration taking criticism though, Leif was also told that the horse looked “scary” or “aggressive”, and some people actually suggested that the horse “resembled a dragon”! By taking these comments into consideration, it was now clearly obvious that further revisions were in order.

Getting better all the time

With the redesign in version four I changed the horse’s mane to look more like hair, and I gave the animal a more friendly eye too. I also changed the shoulder of the human form and added an elbow.

At this point I was feeling quite inspired, so I opted to play with some coloring as well. I really felt that we were getting the logo dialed in, so I also mocked up the logo text to go along with everything else.

I then sent the logo over to Leif for review with a good sense of optimism… I was confident that we were close to getting the logo finalized.

The next day brought a fresh email from Leif with additional suggestions and further praise. She wrote that people were remarking the logo as both “powerful and inviting”, and they agreed that we had “really came across something” with it’s elegant design.

That being said, they also commented that in proportion the human form was too big, and the horse seemed entirely too small. It was also stated that the human form still looked distorted, and people felt that the left arm of the figure was in a physically impossible position. The general suggestion was to make the human look more comfortable, smaller, and with more definition regarding what it’s body was doing.

Encouraged by the critiques

At this stage I engaged into further revisions with with renewed fervor. I made the human smaller, and revised the arms, shoulder, and hands considerably. I also tilted the head upwards. These changes again made dramatic improvements and it started taking on some very realistic qualities. Needless to say, I was very pleased as to what direction the logo was taking.

Feeling fairly satisfied with the entire logo, I sent an email of the revised illustration to Leif. To me it was really beginning to feel like a piece of art, and that brings a sense of pride that rarely comes from designing something as simple as a logo.

Leif called me back that very day, and gave me perhaps the best compliment on the logo that I had received thus far. She said that someone had told her the “the logo perfectly embodied the therapeutic bond between humans and horses.” This was exactly what we were trying for, and I was very flattered at the least.

Putting flattery aside, the conversation wasn’t all good news… it turned out that people who really knew horses still felt the left arm of the human form was at an uncomfortable/nearly impossible angle. This was a real sticking point, and I think both the Esperanza Center and myself were starting to feel some frustration. We weren’t about to give up on the concept though, because as Leif put it, “It’s just such a great design, we have to be able to make it work!”

Going to the source

The good news was that both the client and I were committed to getting the logo finished, but the bad news was that time was starting to run short. At this point Phil and I decided to head for one of our favorite coffee shops to meet with Leif and go over where things were at. As we sipped our hot drinks, we devised a plan to actually go out to the horse pasture with Lief for a photo shoot… thus ensuring I could get the dimensions spot on. Why I had not done this simple step to begin with is beyond me, and looking back I probably could have saved myself some valuable time.

A few days later Phil and I found ourselves out at the Esperanza Center, and snapped some photos of Leif hugging her horse. This made all the difference, and as soon as we got back to the studio it didn’t take long for me to knock out three more versions of the illustration.

I then showed the revised versions of logos to Philip and a few of my other friends and colleagues. After a short debate we all decided on the last version to produce for Leif and the Esperanza Center. I added the logo text to it and sent it off for another review.

Success!

“YES YES YES WE LOVE IT – GREAT GREAT WORK!!!!!!!” was the excited response from the Esperanza Center just a short while later. They said they couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out, and honestly neither could I. We are amazed by the response to the new logo, as it seems to really strike a chord in people who view it. I would dare to say that is one of the strongest logos I have produced in a quite some time.

Although we still have to decide what color the logo will be, the grey scale version is completely finished. The logo’s first use will be on this season’s holiday card which should be printed any day now. I can’t wait to see how it looks in print and I look forward to using it as we design the rest of the Esperanza Center’s materials.

An animation of logo progression

As a special treat, I offer a simple logo progression animation for the readers of this post. I think it is a great example of the tweaks that go into producing a great logo.

Well that is all for now, but keep checking in on us regularly as we will be keeping the blog updated with all kinds of informational and useful posts in the near future. In closing I hope that you all enjoyed this post and I beg you to please leave a comment on what this logo speaks to you personally.

Additional Info

For more information on the Esperanza Center and the services they can provide, please call Leif Hallberg at 406-600-4022. Some exciting news is that Leif has recently published a new book. If you are interested,  I invite you to check it out at http://www.walkingthewayofthehorse.com for more information.