Cabaret Copy Co. is a copywriting service that creates great promotional content and act descriptions for burlesque performers, producers and promoters. They approached me to help pull together a professional, clean look and feel for their launch. The brief required a design that would give a nod to theatre, burlesque, and cabaret without looking trite. What was interesting about the brief was that there was also one very specific, unique requirement – the branding had to utilise a turquoise blue, not a colour commonly connected to the world of theatre with the iconic gold spotlights and red velvet curtains. No, the blue was an integral part of the enterprise's branding, because Cabaret Copy Co. is in itself a one woman show – Jenny. Jenny is known and recognised for her own iconic, mermaid-blue hair, so an element of this blue was integral to the branding of Cabaret Copy Co.
I explored several logo options, sketching out concepts around the themes of writing, stages and 1920's cabaret. I was keen to use a typeface that had an art deco feel to it, but out of frustration of not being able to find a typeface that wasn't over-the-top or gimmicky, I created one myself, manipulating and crafting each letter to have an art deco flair to it. I sent three initial designs to Jenny, confident that any of the three would fulfill the company's needs, she selected a logo that utilised the typeface I had created, punctuated by a bowler hat shaped full stop – an icon of the cabaret scene. After some minor tweaks, the final logo was born.
Several versions of the final logo were created for use online and in print, with reversed out colour options and black and white logos included so that Jenny was armed with a full suite of logos that she could use in any and all eventualities.
Some of the many logo versions delivered to Cabaret Copy Co.
I created a pattern utilising the bowler hat punctuation, that could be used for pops of colour, as a background texture or as a watermark, just to give Jenny some more branding assets in her arsenal.
Subtle bowler hat pattern.
Brand guidelines were created, with links to all of the logos and assets created, for download. The brand guidelines also included; logo dos and don'ts, a brand colour palette, styling options and some brand inspiration visuals – showing how these brand assets could be used in real life examples. Knowing that Jenny would initially be responsible for producing much of her own branded and marketing materials, it was important to equip her with guidelines and examples, giving her both the inspiration to use the brand assets in interesting ways, and the confidence to apply her logo in a professional and consistent way. Further information on brand guidelines can be found here.
Here's what Jenny had to say about working together:
'Katharine took my very vague ideas and existing brand colour scheme and came up with something far better than I could have imagined! With just a little information she was able to create mockups for a few very different designs, and after choosing the one I liked most, Katharine created an entire brand pack with all the assets and ideas for how they could be used. This saved me so much time and allowed me to get straight to business!'
If you have a branding project which is personal to you, get in touch to discuss how we can create something together that showcases your vision confidently and puts your business or project in the spotlight!
For help with writing a brief for your logo project please check out my 'guide to writing a brief' which includes a briefing template, available for download here.