Final Logo Design

The logo I decided upon was the first design out of the hand-drawn listings shown in a previous post. In a survey, this proved to be the most popular design and represents the exotic, hawai'iany vibe I was shooting for. I began by drawing the outline with the pen tool.

I then added color using the pen tool. I didn't want to the logo to appear flat, so I used a range of colors and opacities to build up layers, textures, and depths within the different hues. I wanted to keep the bright, airy feel so stayed with a more pastel color scheme. To allow the word "Smoothies" to be seen clearly, I kept the center of the leaf a light green, making it darker and layering it up closer to the edge. With the flowers, I wanted bright colors that would stand out and be clearly seen and recognized from a distance. I, therefore, created texture and a range of merging colors by using short strokes, from light in the center, to dark on the outer edges of the petals. To cause them to appear more involved within the logo and not just backing decoration, I placed the "A" and "L" infront of the hibiscus flower with the center parts of the flower overlapping the "A", so the word was still clear, but the second "O" I placed behind the petal. I feel this causes the appearance of all aspects of the logo being intertwined and appearing as one. The blue of the writing I had originally planned to be white. I was not, however, thinking of a background and, therefore, it would not show up or be clear, possibly looking unfinished. I chose a blue color to make the word "Aloha" stand out. I didn't want this word to appear segregated to the rest of the design, so I tried to merge from dark blue to light blue throughout the word, then into green to the leaf. The black outline kept the shapes looking separate and clear. This outline was not needed on the bottom of the leaf as there are no other shapes or colors in it's proximity. I, therefore, removed the black outline to create a less harsh look, whilst- I believe- still keeping the finished appearance of the overall logo. The typography within both "Aloha" and "Smoothies" was custom made. The "Aloha" I drew with the pen tool, masking and adjusting a hand drawn type, creating all the letters to be mechanical shapes, except for the last "A", which I tried to create using more fluid lines to appear organic and merge into the leaf more easily. This is apposed to the "Smoothies" for which I used a pre-made font, then created an outline and adjusted the anchor points, angles and curves.