Logo design for StressWell
I was recently approached to design a brand-identity logo for StressWell™, for use in web and print-based promotional materials.
StressWell™ is a holistic stress management and wellness program, and my client wished to include a seahorse visual in the final logo design. The rationale for the seahorse inclusion is as follows:
The Latin name for seahorse is “hippocampus erectus.” The hippocampus is a portion of the human brain that is strongly linked with emotion and memory and is very sensitive to stress.
My client wished the logo to portray these traits:
- simple elegance
- nurturing welcome
- compassionate kindness
- healing growth and renewal
- inside-out healing
- transparency
My logo design sketches were based around the seahorse theme, which helped me narrow the focus from the beginning. It helped a great deal with my client providing a detailed design brief. If you’re curious about what should be included in a brief, read my article how do you write a graphic design brief?
I provided my client with a couple of variations. The second one (below) uses a serif typeface and adds a circular button effect rather than the more unified mark (above) that was ultimately chosen.
What are your thoughts?
As always, any thoughts or constructive criticism is very welcomed.
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32 spot-on reader comments to “Logo design for StressWell”
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The first set is lovely - peaceful, elegant colours, and a nice balance with the type and icon. Love the seahorse by the way, very clever.
The second one, love the colour choices again (reversed is nice!) but I’m not keen on the typeface. Looks a little bland to me compared with the first example? IMHO maybe try a more interesting sans serif with the circular icon?
Overall I prefer the circular mark…the negative space just out of the edge there is more interesting than the seahorse on its own. I’m looking forward to see how you carry this design forward with any collateral! :-)
Where’s the other 50 sketches like your personal logo? ;)
I like the first one in the circle, just looks a bit stronger to me - would look great applied to products. Did you try exploring having the sea horse also resemble the S of stresswell?
I agree with minxlj about the font on the second one, I much prefer the first one. It’s more refined yet friendly. You got the simple elegance down pat. How would it look to increase the tracking? I do like that part about the second one.
Did you try using a minty green for the colors? I think that would add a lot to the nurturing, growth and renewal that your client is looking for. The blue is quite calming, though, which goes with the whole idea of stressing well.
Also agree with Tara, I like the circle better and she had a good thought that it would look great on products.
There’s not too much to criticize or suggest, though, really. You have a strong sense of logo design!
Nice work David!
I really like the first group with the circular button effect the best. It gives off that “simple elegance” you were talking about. I can’t put my finger on it, but I just don’t like the second variations as much as the first.
That’s the best logo design I’ve seen here yet. Great job. I prefer the serif-ed version. If your client is stuck on sans-serif I might try one that’s less harsh looking.
In my professional work I’ve started avoiding design variations whenever possible. I think it muddies things up. Just a personal preference though. Millions of other designers disagree with me.
I agree the others that the first group is more appealing, especially the text/font. Very nice. Quite clever. Excellent stuff.
Just beautiful David- clean and simple and a nice soothing color. I’m with everyone else - the serif font is nicer.
I like the second set but without the black reversed, reckon it would be worth a try with the green instead of the black on the reversed
Great approach, David. The overall feel of the logo does justice to the concept of ’simple elegance’.
For some reason, the more I look at the seahorse silouhette, the less it looks like a seahorse. Yet, when I first saw it, I was pretty sure it was a seahorse - even before I read your commentary. I think that’s a sign of clocking too many hours in front of the laptop.
The serif font gives the company a more ‘classic’ look, while the sans-serif font offers a ‘modern’ one. Not knowing which look the company is actually going for, I’d go with the serif simply based on aesthetics. I do find, however, that the sans-serif orientation of the mark/text provides more flexibility in where/how the logo is placed on materials. A combination of both sets may help to perfect it.
My last comment is on the company’s name. You mentioned that it is formally known as “stressWELL”, while the logo suggests it’s “stresswell”. A slight distinction, but an important one when considering the brand image you’re establishing. I understand from personal experience the value of having your company’s name capitalized properly (especially in a case where the pattern is uncommon).
Just my 2 cents! Great work!
Good work David! I’d love to see variations in mint green, like LaurenMarie suggests. If sans serif still is an option, try something like Print Clearly or Adobe’s Kozuka. The serif font gives them a very traditional and classic look, which looks beautiful, but - in my opinion - offers less ‘compassionate kindness’.
Great work on your blog, as well! Interesting contrast between header and footer. I miss timestamps though, but that’s just me. ^^
Maybe the circle should have been in the shape of a fishbowl… :)
I hope to post a business card design here soon, and will give it a little mention when I do. Thanks very much for the feedback.
Tara,
There are quite a few other sketches, but I chose to show just a few this time around. :)
I did look at the sea horse as the ’s’ but in the end felt it gave an imbalance to the readability. It made a nice option, but having the mark separate was a stronger route for this one.
Lauren,
One thing I forgot to mention above was the client colour choices (earthy brown or caribbean blue). I went for a muted approach to add to the calmness, as opposed to darker tones, and personally preferred the blue over brown.
Deron, Eddie, Randa, Jermayn,
Thanks very much for your thoughts. They’re all very appreciated.
Ian,
I know what you mean about providing variations. Sometimes it works against you and ends up stalling the whole process. I now tend to narrow the focus to one or two designs unless the client is adamant they want to see more.
Verne,
You pick up on a good point, about the company name. At the beginning of the design process I gave my thoughts that stressWELL (using those letter cases) wasn’t the best route to take, and that they don’t add a calming effect.
The client wanted emphasis placed on the ‘well’ syllable and I achieved this by using a darker colour tint as opposed to uppercase characters. I think it works much better this way.
Thanks Asgeir,
I’ll check those two type options out, although the logo design has been completed. Glad you like the blog, and as for the timestamps, I wonder if anyone else misses them. The aim is to write timeless content, so I was questionning the use. I can feel where you’re coming from though.
A big thanks to everyone here for leaving your thoughts!
I love the first design with the circle, and I also love the blue it is very carming and a fresh colour. The circle with the seahorse inside it is like it is your own inner circle and your own personal space away from the stress.
Well done they are all very good.
Definitely the first set of logos. The seriffed font goes really well with the seahorse. I think you can do a lot with just that circular seahorse mark. I would be interested to see how you apply this logo to a stationary set.
Sketching again!!! Hey david, i wonder what you use to transfer the sketch to the one in the computer!! Photoshop vector?? really new about that. I have never experienced with that .Hope to receive some suggestion from you..:)
Good thinking, stressing (no pun intended) the well with a darker color.
I didn’t mean I don’t like the blue, it is very calming, as many have noted. Personally, I would’ve liked to see the green, and I agree that the blue is a bit nicer than the brown. Brown can be difficult to work with; it’s very easy to make it muddy (again, no pun intended).
Overall the logo has a calm feeling, I feel at peace when I look at it.
Nice, but I’m not sure that the ‘on-black’ version, certainly at that scale doesn’t haven’t something of the FCUK about the typography?
I love it! You are such an amazing mentor to me! The book you suggested by Bob Gill should arrive today! I know you said the design project is completed, but I just wanted to add a lil something about the suggestions of a muted/mint green. Where I live in Santa Cruz, CA it is a major hippy, holistic, total california town, and the green is a very ppopular color for holistic and new age companies because it is not only a calming colour, but also promotes the Green Revolution ie: recycling, earth friendly, and all that hippy jazz. But I love the seahorse and the blue was perfect goes with the calming sea feel! Thanks again for sharing all your thoughts and hard work with us! It is more appreciated than you know.
I just discovered your blog recently and reading back to some of your old entry, one of them suggest that a good logo “must be effective without the use of colour”. I totally agree with that and i wonder how do you feel about logos with a gradient fill?
Hey David,
The circular logo balanced over the serifed font are very elegant. Also, I don’t think it would have worked as well in a color other than that blue.
I’m going to have to remember to include some sketches on my next post, it really helps illustrate your thought process. BTW thanks for commenting on my blog earlier & I’ll be sure to post a link up to your new business card design once it’s up!
Please accept my apologies.
Wow… new layout on your blog. Not bad… not bad at all, but first I thought I landed on the wrong page. Luckily you kept that beautiful blue sky on the header and your picture… :) And now you’ve even got land at your feet… What can I say? I like it…
Now, to your logo: I tend to vote for the second one. The first one is a classic approach in wellness (at least I see this type of logo at all the wellness studious in Germany). Yes, it is more elegant, more beautiful, but is it memorable? We have to see how the company you worked for is going to promote their new logo, to brand it… You’ve done a great job.
Let us know what they choose. :)
I always sketch and think it’s extremely important when churning out as many ideas as possible. The computer is too restricting and slow and should only be used for tidying things up.
When I have an idea I want to transfer I make use of a scanner and the live trace tool in Illustrator. It’s very useful.
Dajo,
You’re very kind! Thanks for the comment.
Chiho,
Logos with a gradient fill? It’s fine to accommodate a gradient, but they must work without it. Gradients seem to be more popular today amongst the web 2.0 trend, but remember that they don’t always reproduce well in print work. A logo should never rely on a gradient (or other effect) to work well.
Dennis,
The visit to your site was my pleasure. No need to mention it. Thanks again for the link to my business card design.
Hi Mig,
Glad you like the new design! I’ve concentrated it on readability, with a larger type size than before and slightly more white space.
The client chose the second variation from above, so it’s interesting that you’re the first to prefer it.
Well, I had many reasons to believe that the second would be their choice… and not so much time to list them here right now…
I have a branding question you might be able to answer.
Let’s say you design a logo. The logo, as the one above, is formed of two words, differentiated by two colors. The words, however, are united in your design (there is no space between them). The question: how should the company spell its brand name in corporate documents?
As I see, stressWELL spells these two words together. What about WhiteBeam - (fictive name). And no, the company gives you no identity guidelines. They know nothing about branding. .. They just want this name…
Wouldn’t they spell it how their company’s name is registered legally?
If they’re Stresswell Inc. then that’s what they ought to write.
Regarding your question, I think it’s less important to have the printed name resemble the logo, as it is to be consistent. Take my logo for instance - it reads davidairey, but every time I mention my business in quotes, invoices etc. I show David Airey.
There are other well-known cases where two words are together, such as FeedBurner and FeedBlitz so one way or the other isn’t important, but consistency is.
What’s your take on it?
Those logos are really nice. I always like seeing graphic designers that start with a good ole pencil and paper.
Well, in many cases it just happens that the logo makes the brand. If it is well designed and memorable, people will spell the company name as they see it spelled in the logo. With personal names, like yours, it is different. People know who you are. They know the David Airey brand and I am sure they don’t really remember your logo first (it would be interesting to conduct a survey and see the results).
Denis makes a point: the company name should be written the way it is legally registered. But for start-ups, when there’s no legal registration in place, some branding guidelines need to be set.
To have two words united in the logo and then write them the same in the corporate documentation is already an industry standard. We could start an interesting debate and engage in the conversation some branding experts. :)
I think I’ll do it one of these days. Let’s see what conclusions we can draw at the end.
I hope you do start that debate too. I’d love to know what some other brand gurus can add to your thoughts.
Hi David,
Really liked the logo. My favourite was the serif logo, which is strange as I prefer sans-serif fonts. Its nice to see someone designing a logo for a client wanting to portray elegance and using a font other than helvetica light or Avant Garde.
I am interested to know if you tried the seahorse splitting the circle with two shades of blue either side of it (like with the copy) and how that would look. Probably a little over-designed I imagine but I would like to have seen how that would look also. Great job anyways
I didn’t try a colour option either side of the seahorse, but it could’ve made an interesting impression. I hope all’s well.