In my magical life, I often get these heads up about things about to happen or energetic taps to “pay attention”. This morning, working on blogs and plotting out the next steps to increasing traffic, the suggestion popped up in my mind: create logos.
I immediately thought of my niece Ashley, who is a gifted graphic artist. Thus I answered that spark of inspiration with the intention to contact my niece and toss around logo ideas.
Why a Logo?
Logos are graphic representations or symbols of a company name or trademark, that are often uniquely designed for immediate recognition. Think of Coca Cola or Starbucks or Apple…all have logos that are highly recognizable.
I’ve been blogging for five years with Cindy Goes Beyond and two with Journey with Healthy Me, and I’ve yet to create logos for either blog. Honestly I had not yet seen the need to have them.
However, I’ve been steadily and consistently growing the audiences for both blogs, writing content, and promoting my writing via social media. I have big dreams that include the freedom to travel and work remotely, and those dreams are connected, in part, to the blogs.
The behind the scenes work from the last few months is reaping benefits that I’m excited about. This evening, seemingly out of the blue, an invitation arrived from Amazon. I’m already an affiliate with this giant retail company but this is something new, something more. I’ll share very soon about this opportunity, however, tonight, completing the online application, I encountered a minor hiccup.
I needed a logo.
Creating Logos with Canva
Not to be deterred, or stopped, by my lack of a logo, and knowing I couldn’t put this invitation off until I could connect with my niece, I turned to an app. Canva is a free app for designing graphics, including logos. I downloaded Canva recently, however I have not used it much. With any new piece of technology, there is always a learning curve for me, and I have only played around with creating on it.
Tonight, driven by need, I got to know Canva. It feels awkward to me still. But I kept discarding attempts and trying again…and again…and again. I’m grateful that the app has a logo template that made creating easier than starting from scratch would have been. My first logos are simple but that’s okay. I will continue to learn my way around Canva and hopefully create better and better designs.
Two New Logos
I made the Journey logo recently during one of my “play times”, and it actually came together quickly, once I figured out a few design basics. It was easy to use the food template and simply add the text. I’m very pleased with this logo.
I struggled more tonight with Cindy Goes Beyond. I tried graphics with winding roads, flowing rivers, gorgeous landscapes. None looked right. Ultimately, I backed off of using a visual and opted for text and a single design element. With Journey I’ve begun to use the tag line of Healthy at Every Age, as that is what I desire to offer to others…a way to live well in optimal health, no matter the age.
But how could I capture, in a few words, all that is implied in Beyond?
My life the last five years has been focused on going beyond, in every way…beyond my fears, my limitations, my boundaries, my comfort zone, my old beliefs. I came up with this tag line: Living Life Beyond the Edges. That may change or evolve later, however, for this moment, for this opportunity, I have a logo.
Stay tuned for some upcoming news! Check out the Canva app via the online App Store to create your own designs. And let me know what you think of my new logos!
