logo design Archives - Maura McMahon

I’m super excited to be working with a brilliant group of professional business women (and a few select men) on a new business development project in Tacoma, WA. Currently under development in a local business incubator called RAIN, we’re pulling in the expertise of all who are interested. We’re collaborating with everyone from city & county people to politicians to independent business owners to retired professionals. The vast knowledge base is humbling.

Our goal is to provide women who have entrepreneurial inclinations – the resources, education and business support they need in developing their own businesses. It’s time to start to even out the scales a little bit…

Studies show that women lag behind men in creating entrepreneurial ventures and receiving funding. Only 11% of US firms with venture-capital backing have been founded or led by women, and women-led ventures have received only 7% of all venture funds.”

From Forbes, What’s Gender Bias Got To Do With It? Almost Everything For Women Seeking Venture Funding (Read the full article here)

After establishing the mission statement, the next step was developing a new logo design (one of my favorite things to do!).

The graphical concept is breaking down growth to a base level – everything is created from cells/dna/genes.

The graphic is the shape of a cell, with another shape breaking through that, and could be a stylized strand of dna or a “W” (for Women). The linear structure of the cell is the base level structure from which we create. The breakthrough shape is the organic flow of creation, women, growth – we all know there’s nothing linear about that.

To join our newly formed public group on FaceBook, click here.

New logo design for a local startup microbrew business!

Working with groups of people and trying to get everyone on the same page with design can be really tricky. I approach design from a creative & artistic perspective – which means everything is open to interpretation. Everyone will have a different viewpoint, and the same design can illicit completely different reactions – which it did in this case.

The initial design was exactly what the client wanted. We discussed it at length and he provided sample photos of badge images we used as inspiration. The first round of logo designs turned out pretty great:

Except the client was the point person for the GROUP. And the group had other ideas. They insisted on a different design direction. So we switched design directions, I integrated feedback from the group and presented 3 different design variations:

Many times people just need to ‘see it’. The clients really wanted the flaming sun image with the horizontal text in the middle, so I provided it (Even though I didn’t think it was the best design direction). But I also provided a sleeker, more contemporary & hand crafted variation that I thought would work well for their vision. Once they were able to see the possibilities, they were on board with the design.

I’m really excited for them to launch their new business in hand crafted microbrews, sounds like they have a fabulous IPA, which is my favorite!

If you or someone you know & like is interested in collaborating on a logo design for your business, I hope you’ll reach out!

The Women’s Business Initiative

Fire Brew Co. Logo Design

New logo design for a local startup microbrew business!