Evolution of a logo

First sketched idea

I am not a graphic designer or experienced lettering artist, but the idea of creating my own logo for Orkney Vibes really caught my imagination. The name itself I think I first used as the hashtag for a photograph, but something about it stuck with me when I came to think about a name for my fledgling business.

Part of our inspiration for moving to Orkney was the way we felt whenever we were here, and it was those ‘vibes’ that we were channelling during our first few months in the islands: a summer stay on Sanday, autumn in South Ronaldsay and our first full Orcadian winter in the wild heart of Birsay. Making full use of our intention to learn new things as part of our Grown-up Gap Year, I started experimenting with calligraphy, hand lettering and bookbinding by following a range of online courses. While the wind raged and the snow fell outside the windows, I sat by the roaring fire practising basic strokes, drawing letter variations and playing with stroke connections until the first black and white version of the Orkney Vibes name sat proudly on the page.

Fast forward six months to a summer weekend in Stromness and an intense bookbinding course hosted by Vintage Paper Co and led by Nicky Oliver from the Black Fox Bindery in London. Learning in-person from such a well-respected professional bookbinder was truly inspiring and by the end of that weekend I knew that I had found a skill I was keen to practise and develop further. In fact it turned into a daily practice and my stack of experimental handmade books got taller and taller. I sent a few to friends and family as gifts, shared a few photos online and started to get enquiries about whether my books were for sale.

I couldn’t have planned a more perfect transition from the end of our Grown-up Gap Year into the start of our second year in Orkney. With the decision made to create a small online shop to sell my handmade books, I returned to the initial sketch of the Orkney Vibes name from the previous autumn and recreated it as a hand lettered, full colour logo. I liked the calligraphic lettering style with the contrast of thick and thin strokes which left space for the addition of colour. The selection of the blue, yellow and red of the Orkney flag was a happy accident, and the design has served us well for two years now. 

But the time had come for an update. In revising the design, I wanted to keep the colours and broad style from the existing logo, but include an image of a book to give more of a hint about what we do. One of my favourite photos from an early photoshoot of my books is of an open book with the pages fanning open, and this became the inspiration for new logo. Styling the lettering to fit around the image meant some slight changes to the format of the letters, but I think it has worked out well. Learning how to use digital art techniques allowed me to experiment and I am delighted with how the process turned out.

Our new logo can be seen at the top of this page as well as on all our new products and marketing materials.