The Client

Patricia Wampler is the sister of a previous client of mine from Kulik Strategic. She reached out to me in July 2021 looking for a whole new business package that included a new website and new logo. Their role is to serve as trusted advisors to businesses of any size. They offer an objective view of performance and work with their clients to make the changes necessary to succeed in a world that is constantly raising the bar.

Conceptualize

During our briefing discussion, my main objective was to determine the marketing/branding direction Patricia was looking to go – as this logo design would set the table for the other project we would be undertaking. 

There were a few key ideas that I drew from the meeting. The name of the business was based on the Sierra Mountains, found in Kentucky. It needed to represent professionalism, strategic planning and business growth and success – as those were the key aspects of Patricia’s new venture.

Create

I started with 2 main ideas that quickly evolved into 4 different initial concepts. The mountains seemed to be very on-the-nose, but they worked so well. They were what the business was named for and they are a great representation of both growth and success, so that is where the first few concepts came from.

The second concept was based on a simplistic idea of using the initials of the business (SBS) to create some concepts that could work to represent the brand message Sierra Business Services were looking for. The initial concepts (see below on the left) gave a variety of interpretations of each of these larger ideas, pulling layout ideas from both tried-and-tested design theories and some more modern or trending ones.

Revisions were straightforward and concise. Patricia quickly narrowed down her choice to include the mountains and the person that the top with the flag – she felt it represented everything that she wanted in her logo. The next course of action was to create different layouts and variations using the mountain concept to create the final concept we would apply colour to later. I added geometric shapes to encase the design and created depth in some versions by adding “sun rays” behind the mountains.

The final choice was a combination of a few of the revised concepts with the circle being the geometric shape of choice and the sun rays added for the additional depth they created. From there we started applying colour to the design and came up with a wide variety of colour schemes that fit with the overall message from the briefing. 

Communicate

The chosen design is a strong design that perfectly displays messages of professionalism, growth and success. It is simple enough to be used across a variety of media, but complex enough to draw attention and convey the desired feel of the company.