Pink Collar Savvy & Chic business cards with the final logo arrived in the mail yesterday and MADE.MY.DAY. Thanks so much to everyone who gave ideas, provided feedback and weighed in on the process. Collaboration is beautiful! If you have an creative and/or business idea, go for it. There’s so much support from other amazing women like you.
It’s Day 277 of the Pink Collar Savvy & Chic on Purpose Project and the preliminary version of the Swan logo for my holistic life coaching agency is looking savvy and chic. Receiving it yesterday meant I could wrap up an intense work week on high note before heading out to dance in my second Zumbathon two weekends in a row. The young man doing the design work for me isn’t a professional graphic artist, however, because I’m a new entrepreneur myself it feels good to give another creative an opportunity to stretch his wings. Based on feedback from you readers on the two swan images I’d narrowed it down to, he incorporated the crown and the pink flower. And she had to have a pink collar, of course! Making the S part of the agency name is a request I added – I believe it works…Requesting him to pick up the crown color in the font doesn’t! He placed the image on this dark background instead of my soft signature pink just so the design would stand out for my review. I’m pleased so far and would love your input on this preliminary version to get the Swan logo looking as savvy & chic as possible before I finalize it.
Before I get to my suggestions, here’s a question:
How obvious is it that the Swan is the capital S? Is the shading necessary? Remember, the business card will be light pink…
Here are my suggested tweaks for the designer:
As a Pink Collar Savvy & Chic on Purpose entrepreneur, I’m working hard to build not only my business but my brand. I want the logo to represent my agency’s mission: Life Coaching to facilitate The Swan Experience: Minimizing barriers; Maximizing women’s beauty and best lives – through total transformation. And it certainly needs to reflect the tagline: You’ve always been a Swan. My designer, my Swan Sister Kibby, who has contributed so much to this process, and those of you who have weighed in to get me to this point have been so helpful. Now I’m hopeful that you’ll chime in to get the logo design over the finish line and looking its Pink Collar Savvy & Chic best.
Will you be Pink Collar Savvy & Chic on Purpose and take a moment to help a Swan Sister out? Any feedback on the question or suggested tweaks is appreciated. Thank you!
Be savvy & chic,
~Pink Collar Coach
It’s Day 259 of the Pink Collar Savvy & Chic on Purpose Project, and I’ve devoted part of my day to trying to select the logo image for my business and have narrowed it down to two; now I’m asking for you to participate in a Swan Logo Survey to help me determine the best choice. This logo may not be the final one, but until I can have one custom designed, it will serve the purpose of allowing me to order business cards for my next event, which is a month away. Here’s the backstory and my rationale for the two options before you participate in the Swan Logo Survey.
Backstory
A pink background with feminine details in the font and logo have always been my dream for Pink Collar Savvy & Chic, but I couldn’t nail down the right logo. I’d also received feedback that I needed to hone in on my target audience/mission. After months of struggle, in September of last year, I had an epiphany following an image coaching session with a client. She’d done a lot of hard work through career coaching and had made significant changes in many areas. Her professional packaging, however, was not one of them, even though she’d lost a significant amount of weight. My partner in crime of the good kind, Kay Fittes of High Heeled Success, referred her to me saying, “I can’t wait for you to get your paws on her!” You see, for many years, this Pink Collar center administrator had been living and “an ugly duckling” existence. Haters and saboteurs had caused her to forget who she really is. During our image coaching, I did what I love – Not only dressing her but addressing her issues. I also recognized her gorgeous eyes, skin, and hair… After outfitting her with several wardrobe options that maximize her beauty and trimmer figure, we met with the team I’d assembled (a make up artist and master hairstylist), to bring out more of the beauty that had been there all along. By the end of the total transformation, it was evident to all that she hadn’t been changed into something new; rather, she’d been reminded of what she’d always been – a Swan.
This powerful encounter resulted in me making the following changes to Pink Collar Savvy & Chic:
Logo: Swan (Previously I tried to come up with a pink shirt, but that just didn’t feel right…)
Mission Statement:
Coaching women to facilitate The Swan Experience: Minimizing personal barriers; Maximizing women’s beauty and best professional lives – through total transformation.
Tagline:
You’ve always been a Swan.
Logo Options & Rationale
#1 – My Soul Sister, Kibby found this one. Love the overall Shabby Chic painting look. Love the pink bill, and I like the flowers on her head. I want a pink floral collar around her neck, but haven’t been able to find one. Kibby’s son, a graphic artist may be able to design one later…Don’t care for the orange in the flowers and the leaves seem to be a bit much…
# 2 – Found this one today. Again, love the simple Shabby Chic lines. Love her pink bill. I LOVE these flowers – a rose with softer colors than above, and they’re symmetrical . The crown was debatable until I realized it has three prongs, so the tagline could be expanded to “You’ve always been a Swan – Crowned with beauty, grace and strength.”, which is what drew me to the swan initially. In additon, the softer pink and overall color palette would allow me to pick up the gold for the font, which would make it elegant as opposed to childlike (feedback I’d received on a similar image without the gold and florals).
As a Pink Collar Savvy & Chic on Purpose entrepreneur, I’d really appreciate you weighing in by just taking the time to comment #1 or #2, along with why if so inclined.
Hope you’ll be Pink Collar Savvy & Chic on Purpose and help a Swan Sister out! Thank you!
Be savvy & chic,
~Pink Collar Coach
It’s Day 118 of the Pink Collar Savvy & Chic on Purpose Project, and I’d like to thank those of you who weighed in on the post asking for feedback on my idea to use a swan as the logo for my agency which now shares its name with the blog. I appreciate the kind comments, along with the graphics and other suggestions some of you sent. What I haven’t shared yet is only hours after posting, I found something special that makes me believe the swan logo is the savvy & chic way for me to go.
While in the children’s department at Home Goods (I always look around there and have found many items I use in “adult” spaces), I spotted a beautiful swan book end. Though small, she doesn’t look childlike at all, but depicts beauty, grace and power, all in a petite piece. It felt like such confirmation! I searched almost frantically for the other book end but to no avail. Disappointed, I then realized, finding only one was even further confirmation that a single swan may be the strongest representation of my brand and the women I serve – you!
Add to that how I was blown away when I did some research and learned that a female swan is called a pen! How fitting for a girl whose “Pink Collar Portfolio” includes coaching, writing, training, speaking, singing, image and interior consultations, but whose first love has always been writing?
As a Pink Collar Savvy & Chic on Purpose Chick who is trying to figure out so many things as I transition from always having worked for others to going full-throttle with operating my agency full-time, I’d really love some additional feedback, so please weigh in. I hope to hear from you. In the meantime, I’m prepping for tomorrow morning’s image consultation. Regardless of whether I end up with this logo or not, my message to women – transition to transformation, whether they feel they’ve been an ugly duckling or not, will continue to be “You’ve always been a swan.”
On Day 111 of the Pink Collar Savvy & Chic Project, I had an epiphany. For years I’ve been considering what type of logo to use for my agency but could never land on the perfect fit to represent what I do. Of course I’ve considered all types of pink collars. And for a brief period I thought flamingos would be foot the bill (Please excuse my pun – I couldn’t help it!), that is until I learned the lawn version have some bizarre connection to swinging…Glad I dodged that bullet!
Then yesterday, when I went back to TJ Maxx to pick up my serendipitous Shabby Chic inspired folding screen find, I spotted a small white succulent pot that I mistook for a swan. I thought it was pretty but didn’t purchase it. Once I got home last night, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Upon researching I learned that swans represent beauty, dignity, elegance, grace, power, and transformation, along with many other positive things. Besides all that, they’re just pretty and a little Shabby Chic. Add to that the connection to ballet and be still my heart. Now I’m almost certain I’ve found the right fit. Unfortunately, when I rushed back to buy the “swan”, I learned it was actually a duck!
Conversely, the women I coach have never been ugly ducklings literally or figuratively. They have always been swans. Take my image consultation client for example. As was the case in Hans Christian Andersen’s “Tale of the Ugly Duckling”, her “transformation” was not becoming someone new, it was her recognizing the beauty she possessed all along. The overwhelming response she, and I in turn, are receiving feels like confirmation that the swan is my perfect logo fit.
Still, I’d love your feedback on the image below and my ideas on how I’d like to integrate my existing business card into it, minus their logo and the weird diamonds. These wouldn’t be visible on my cards. Disclaimer: I have paid for Shutterstock use of images, but for some reason their logo still appears. Just saying’. Just in case…
As a Pink Collar Savvy & Chic on Purpose Chick who presented a workshop on “Asking Powerful Questions” to a group of youth mentors this evening, instead of being tired, I couldn’t wait to get home and blog about my epiphany. And even though I’ll be getting business cards to promote my book, and my writing coach has informed me I need to have a website with my name in the domain, as I told Kay Fittes of High Heeled Success when I first came up with Pink Collar Savvy & Chic, I’m pretty married to the swan at this point.
As a Pink Collar Savvy & Chic Soul Sister, I’d love to have you weigh in. Thank you!
Be savvy & chic,
~Pink Collar Coach
