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Pretty Little Melts - Logo Design Case Study

Elle became my client as part of the pilot phase when I launched my new services in June/July 2019 and I recently designed the logo design and brand identity for her business, Pretty Little Melts. 

Pretty Little Melts offer handmade luxury home fragrance that is affordable and made from 100% soy wax so they're vegan friendly too, yay! We could all take more time and TLC and Elle's mission is to bring you luxury home fragrance that encourages you to take that time to look after yourself and benefits your health and well being. 

We had our first consultation and Elle sent her brand workbook over to me, filled out and doodled in so much detail and bursting with inspiration for Pretty Little Melts logo design concepts. During our first conversation, I asked Elle if she had chance to create any kind of inspiration mood board and she sent over a few images - it was at this point I knew I was going to really enjoy this project, I had saved most of the same or very similar images myself. Knowing you're on the same page as a client is a feeling that NEVER gets old. 

The Problem

Through our conversations and the brand workbook, we established some key issues with the previous brand identity for Pretty Little Melts:

• Using two different logo designs on products, causing possible confusion.
• 'PLM' was used on both of these logo designs, however PLM did not stand strong as an identifier. Elle's website is optimised to be visible under Pretty Little Melts.

Pretty Little Melts needed a logo design that addressed these key points and also brings together the core values and personality of the brand. 

The previous Pretty Little Melts Logo Designs​​​​

The Solution

I gathered inspiration and began sketching ideas before bringing the developed concepts into Adobe Illustrator to finalise them. You can learn more about my logo design process here.

From the issues identified, I knew that I would create one singular logo design that would be strong across all of the variations of the luxury home fragrance products and the whole brand name, Pretty Little Melts, needed to be visible on all of these too. I had the sizes of the different stickers from Elle so I knew what I was working with and kept this in mind at all times. 

I presented two logo design concepts to Elle, both with sticker mockups so the designs could be visualised in a real life setting. The final design is one that, with a few tweaks, we brought together by taking pieces from each concept - seen below. 

The logo is sleek, modern and professional yet still communicates so many feelings about the Pretty Little Melts brand. 

The colours convey Elle's openness and honesty, while still being close to blues that can be found in nature, just like the quality natural ingredients customers can expect to be found in their luxury home fragrance products. The boldness of Pretty Little Melts is confident and strong while the plm in the background is a nod to the previous logos and the signature handmade products. The tagline 'luxury home fragrance' is positioned so that it can work across any of the sticker variations and in the main logo, the curved aspect represents Pretty Little Melts 110% customer satisfaction (seriously, check out Elle's reviews) - it's almost a smile, in a minimal kind of way. 

Here's what Elle had to say on the logo design process...

From Pretty Little Melts:

Do you have a logo design project in mind? GEM Design Studio can help!

Home > Blog  > GEM Design Studio > Logo Design Case Studies > Pilates with Claire - Logo Design Case Study

PILATES WITH CLAIRE - LOGO DESIGN CASE STUDY

Claire became my client as part of the pilot phase when I launched my new services in June/July 2019 and is a fully qualified and experienced Pilates Instructor specialising in Movement Rehabilitation, particularly focusing on Fascial Health. Claire believes how a person moves, is a good indicator of both physical and mental well being.

Pilates with Claire offer: Pilates classes, small group classes in the studio and Private 1:1 sessions on my studio equipment.

When I launched the pilot phase, I asked applicants why they thought this service was a good fit for their business. The moment I saw Claire's response, I typed up an email that said "LET'S WORK TOGETHER" or something a bit wordier but along those lines. It was instantly clear to me just how passionate Claire is about her work and as her personality, enthusiasm and expert knowledge (through 21years of experience) stand at the forefront of her classes and business, I wanted to create a logo design that embodied this. 

The Problem

Through the brand workbook and our first consultation together, we established that Claire has a loyal group of clients who love her classes, however Pilates with Claire wasn't readily visible to a wider audience of possible pilates newbies looking for weekly classes and corporates looking for an in-house solution. With the corporate market in mind, Pilates with Claire also needed a professional identity yet one that still resonated with Claire's values and the individuals looking for weekly classes with a personable teacher. 

The Solution

From our first conversation, ideas were jumping around my mind about how I could give Pilates with Claire a logo design and identity that shines with personality and hits home Claire's core values: professionalism, sincerity and care. 

I gathered inspiration and began sketching ideas before bringing the developed concepts into Adobe Illustrator to finalise them. You can learn more about my logo design process here.

Below are the concepts I presented to Claire initially. 

Claire responded that she loved the energy of the first geometric concept and how it looked on a vest, so we played around with some colour variations. The decision was made to keep the energy from the initial colour scheme and then the logo was finalised by adding "barre pilates • personal training • body conditioning" as a tagline and I delivered the final files to Claire. 

I also created a Canva account for Pilates with Claire and filled it with the colour scheme, pattern and logo variations. Below is the final result:

I have to add that Pilates with Claire has been one of my favourite projects to work on to date. I loved our first consultation and Claire's brand workbook was inspiring to read, plus there’s the fact that I love the logo we have created together, it really suits Pilates with Claire and achieves the goals we set out to achieve. 

From Pilates with Claire:

Do you have a logo design project in mind? GEM Design Studio can help!

Home > Blog  > The Ladies Who Trade > News and Updates > COMING SOON - All-female Coworking Space in Manchester

COMING SOON - All female coworking space in ancoats, manchester

The Ladies Who Trade is a group for service swapping, networking and empowering women who work for themselves and we will soon have our very own all-female coworking space in Ancoats, excited much?!

TLWT champion all things community and our group is a safe place for women working for themselves to make friends and support each other. Our first ever coworking space will be a home for our community spirit and will be a fantastic opportunity for self-employed and freelance ladies to get out of the lonely world that can be working from home and make real connections with like minded people, all without breaking the bank. 

Visit The Ladies Who Trade group

"this will be Manchester's first all-female coworking space and Manchester's lowest cost fixed desk coworking solution"

Why

Let's go back to 2018, I moved to Manchester and worked from home running GEM Design Studio. I loved my business and my clients from day one and I couldn't be happier to be working for myself but looking back now I was pretty miserable with my physical office setup.

My office was originally in our spare room but this became a pain when having guests stay over and so I moved into the living room. My computer was always there staring at me, willing (guilt tripping) me to do more work and as a result I was working a ridiculous amount of hours a week. I had no social interaction with anyone other than my Amazon delivery driver and my partner Jack and I would literally go days on end without actually going outside. 

When I decided that something needed to change, I spent MONTHS looking and looking and looking again for some kind of fixed desk coworking solution in Manchester but the most financially viable option I could find was £250pm. I didn't need an all singing all dancing office with a pool table and showers, I just needed a desk, WiFi and some like minded people. Enter Pollard Yard - the saviour.

I moved into a converted shipping container in June 2019 at Pollard Yard and I haven't looked back since. Surprisingly, once you're inside the containers it feels like you're in any other office and the community here is incredible. I now work 10am - 6pm on weekdays only and when I leave work I switch off completely, yet despite the dramatic drop in my hours, there has been a huge increase in my productivity. I get more done, have signed more new clients than ever, get much more sleep and just generally feel so much happier and I believe there are other women who could and deserve to benefit from this space too. 

What

For the pilot phase, there will be 3 desks available in one container (4 in total as I will be in there too, hi ), with possible expansion in the future. Everything in the office will be included in the membership fee (your desk, chair, storage, WiFi, electric, facilities) and after my research I believe this will be Manchester's first all-female coworking space and Manchester's lowest cost fixed desk coworking solution. 

Location

Situated next door to Wellington Mill and Ashton Canal, on Pollard Street East (Manchester), Pollard Yard is a busy hub of creatives and independent businesses, within 10-15 mins walking distance of Manchester City Centre. Converted shipping containers provide the perfect space for studios and offices, The Ladies Who Trade coworking space will be inside one of these containers and fully kitted out for all of your office needs. 

Around 30 containers are located at Pollard Yard currently and the rest of the land has been made available to local event, festival and market organisers in need of outdoor space in central Manchester. We've already had some top secret music video filming going on in the car park, but I didn't tell you that 

Later in 2019, another 200 container workspaces will be added, alongside more investment in the site, shared facilities and breakout space. Phase 2 is currently underway as another 65 containers are added. 

When

There isn't a confirmed opening date for The Ladies Who Trade all-female coworking space in Manchester just yet as I'm registering interest at the moment, however I'm aiming for October 2019.

Membership

Membership details are still to be 100% confirmed as I'm aiming to gain insight from members about what they would like to ultimately gain from the space however below is a rough overview of how the space is likely to run: 

• Everything inside the office is included in the monthly fee including your desk, chair, small lockable storage, high speed internet, and electric
• Fully furnished office that will feel like a home-office away from home
• Your own fixed desk, work in the same spot everyday
• Secure site with 24/7 access
• Tea/coffee facilities and microwave (an onsite kitchen will be added later in the year)
• Access to thriving network group The Ladies Who Trade
• Onsite paid secure parking or free on street parking in the local area
• All-female office, up to a maximum of 4 members
• Surrounded by 100+ other small businesses at Pollard Yard
• Convenient Ancoats / New-Islington location, 10-15 min walking distance to city centre, 3 min to Holt Town tram stop
• Regular TLWT and Pollard Yard meet-ups and social events
• Monthly rolling contract, guide prices: First 3 months pilot phase £99pm, £125pm thereafter (Cheapest equivalent in the area is currently approx. £250pm)
  
  

Register your interest

If The Ladies Who Trade all-female coworking space in Manchester sounds like a perfect fit for you, register your interest below and I'll get in touch with updates and availability. Please also feel free to share this with other ladies who might not be in the group yet.