Glitter & Grit is a St. Catharines-based events company specializing in themed birthday parties for kids ages 2-13. This was the first business venture the two founders had embarked upon and neither had any prior experience working with designers before. To save on startup costs, they had initially gone through a crowdsourcing design website for a company logo. Disappointed with the results, they eventually sought professional design services.

Background

After the client had posted on Facebook about their crowdsourced logo experience, a mutual connection referred them to me. It was evident from our discovery meeting that the logo they had received didn't seek to understand their business and its purpose, or even consider how the brand was going to communicate with their audience or stand out from competitors; it was simply a poorly executed visual translation of the company's original name "As You Wish". 

Design Process 

I only want to take on work that "works" for my clients, and in this instance, I didn't believe that simply re-designing their logo would be enough to give their business a good chance of success. I expressed this concern by explaining that a logo is simply a container that holds all the elements that make up a brand and that it wouldn't be very helpful to change the look of that container if it was still going to be empty.

The original company name, "As You Wish", and the aesthetic of the crowdsourced logo gave the impression of a charity organization rather than a kid's party company, so I recommended that we first explore some other naming options that would speak to the unique service offerings of the company. We began by discussing the various party themes on offer, who the target audience was and what kind of personality fit the brand. With this framework in place, we collaborated extensively until we arrived at "Glitter & Grit", with “Glitter” representing the fancier events like Princess Parties and Tea Parties, and “Grit” for the more action-adventure style parties like Superheroes and Mad Science.

I then developed the visual and verbal identity around the new name. The logo was designed to emulate the two different sides of the parties, with the word “Glitter” in a softer rounded italic form and a pink circular dotted “i”, and “Grit” set in a more angular style with a blue square dotting the “i”.

These two coloured shapes above the "i" were then used to create characters that could embody the various party themes and serve as instantly recognizable brand elements.

Next, a whimsical tone was developed for the verbal identity to reflect the “young at heart” spirit of the two founders and set an expectation for a fun and memorable experience with both children and parents. Stationery, advertising, a responsive website, promotional swag and a social media launch campaign were then created to tell the world about Glitter & Grit.

The project took approximately one month to complete. During the process, the client began to view design as a business investment rather than a cost and saw the value in creating a professional brand identity that could communicate and connect with people, which outweighs any money saved through cheap crowdsourcing websites.

To view the full project, please visit Furia.ca.