It’s hard to believe that it’s already ice cream season again. Especially hard to believe since, while I write this, there is currently snow on the ground outside. Don’t get me wrong, I like snow in general, but it doesn’t typically inspire me to eat ice cream. So in preparation for this project, I had to get creative. Thankfully, my home office is quite small, and therefore quite easy to quickly raise its temperature to something approximating a mid-summer day. And so dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, sweating slightly, trying to ignore the snow just beyond my window, I sat down now ready to doodle out logos for an ice cream shop. Logos that would hopefully make me want ice cream.

Here is one of my paper drafts of possible ideas. This particular piece of paper had already been through several revisions, and at this point the five logos that would go on to get made digitally are visible, along with a couple that didn’t make it.

It didn’t start with the logos though. It started with the first ice cream cone I’d eaten at Durham Dari Serv, a local creamery within walking distance of my house. Of course, it was summer then, and I had no need of space heaters to make me crave that particular cooling and refreshing treat. So when the time came for me to choose a local spot to do a project on, this one was at the top of my list, even though it had barely turned spring. It’s a popular spot in the small town I live in, and everyone I talked to had only good things to say about it. I’m not sure branding is really on the owner’s mind here, judging by the sign that hasn’t been changed since the place was opened in the 50s. Of course, it’s well known locally and always has plenty of traffic, both by car and on foot. That didn’t stop me from using it to practice my non-existent branding and logo skills. It almost made it better, the stakes were as non-existent as my experience in the matter.

After talking to customers, researching other local creameries (“the competition”), I finally set to work on the logos. I wanted to make the options as different as possible, something I initially found tough, after all, there’s only so many ways you can represent ice cream, but after doodling for a while I decided I was satisfied enough. After producing the paper you can see above, I turned to Canva to make the doodles a digital reality. I knew in my head what I wanted, but Canva, or really my own lack of skill, fought me. Thankfully, after much struggling, I managed to get what I could at least call “decent approximations” of what was in my head, guided somewhat by my paper doodles.

Here’s the results:

I outlined them first, then added color after, spending some time trying different colors and shades till I was satisfied. I settled on three colors representing three common flavors of ice cream: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. These flavors also just so happen to be the three flavors present in the banana split, a classic ice cream dessert. Even with the colors picked, I spent a while deciding which of the colors would grace which parts of the logos. On the top right logo, for instance, I initially tried them in a different order, but found that the chocolate brown color just felt, “heavy” to me compared to the other colors. If I put the chocolate color on the sides instead of the top, the whole logo felt like it was leaning to one side. And then the font was something I had no idea on. I finally went for a lighter, more fun font for most of the logos, although the top left felt more “historical” to me so I chose a more traditional style font.

I know I can tend to be a bit of a perfectionist though, and when I’ve been staring at an image for too long I eventually get to a point where I start fabricating things wrong with it, and change things just cause I’ve gotten bored of staring at it too long. After recruiting my wife to break me out of my cycle of despair, I finally decided to consider it all “finished” and let it go. So there it is, after much weeping and gnashing of teeth (as well as some ice cream) I present my first logos. And since making logos and writing blogs is hungry and tiring work, I decided to take a walk and grab a milkshake.