mlone

As I build my graphic and web design brand, I felt that it would be a good idea to track the design process behind all the business decisions I make and highlight them in this blog series. 

The reason behind this is to track my story and journey into the freelance world and to highlight my trials along the way. I also wanted to help other designers, and anybody else, who intends to start their own brand or business.

The first aspect I created was a logo for myself, and from the start I always knew the colours and typeface that I wanted within the design. However, before I get onto that, I’ll let you know why I decided on the name of mlone.

The Name

The reason for the name mlone is simply because it is the postal code of the town I grew up in (ML1), and I wanted to have an identity within my brand that would reflect upon this area. It really is just a little tribute to the town I have lived in for the past 31 years, which is Motherwell.

‍

The Logo Process

I always knew the colours and typeface I wanted for the logo. The typeface I selected is named, ‘Poppins’ and I used this due to the clean, modern and timeless design. The typeface also has a variety of weight options, which gives me a lot of versatility within the font. For the colour I wanted a combination of red, white and black. Once I started exploring, however, I decided I wanted to have something a little different and a colour that would pop.

‍

Motherwell

Motherwell was once known for its vibrant steelworks Industry, so I wanted to incorporate an element that represented this. At the time the steelworks had two huge blue cylinders that dominated the skyline and I felt these were the perfect elements to incorporate into my design by using that blue colour.

However, when comparing these logos side by side, I decided the red worked better for me and looked cleaner in the last design.

I then wanted to enclose the logo in either a circle or a square, so I could apply this to any type of material and the letters would standout within the shape. I realised the square was more practical to use when designing mock ups.

I incorporated several mockups to showcase the logo on a variety of mediums, from small to large. It’s important to do these mockups, as they will give you a good idea of how your logo will appear when applied to a number or materials. Next up is to design my website using the base of this logo which will give me a guide on typography to use and colour.