Logo Design: Bed & Biscuit Pet Care

I've made some logo and branding concepts for veterinary clinics before and I must say that it was always an interesting and rewarding experience. The reason for this is that designing for veterinary clinics always involved some form of mascot creation, and having quite a fondness for cartoon characters, I would always accept projects involving any form of character design. Plus, I like animals, particularly dogs and cats. And depicting them in cute, funny and comical situations is always enjoyable. Recently, I discussed in a blog about the creative process for iRescueRover (of which I am currently making a series of designs for their shirt line), but here are designs for previous clients.

Bed & Biscuit Pet Care, based in San Antonio, TX, provides services for pet sitting (in their home), pet boarding (in the client's home) and to a lesser degree dog walking, mail pickup and plant care. They wanted a design that will be used for company branding and advertising. The logo should be fun, but professional. It should represent trust and love of animals. They suggested using symbols that are animal themed (i.e. paw, head, full body, silhouette, dog bone, etc.). The client wanted dogs used specifically, but can also include cats and images of house / home.

I submitted 3 concepts. Here are the 2 designs that are basically mascot based.

But among the 3 concepts I submitted, I definitely like the 3rd design which is more simple. It is text-based rather than graphics heavy. The idea was almost accidental, since I was trying to figure out a way of integrating animals, particularly dogs and cats into the text, in very much the same way I did for the Two by Two clinic. While examining the letters, I thought of modifying the shapes of some of the letters to represent animal forms. At first, I thought of using the initials (both “B”s) but thought it would be more creative to use the “D” of “Bed” and the “B” of Biscuit. The “D” already is shaped liked the body of a dog, while the “B”, that of a cat. And since both these letters are separated by a the “&”, not only does the name of the company say “Bed & Biscuit” but also “Dog & Cats”…

After some feedback from the client, I made the necessary revisions (though minor) to create this final version.

Logo Design: iRescueRover

Hot Diggity Dog Premium Pet Pampering, LLC is a high end customized pet care and dog walking service which will soon release a line of clothing merchandise for iRescueRover.org. They needed a logo that will be featured in their first shirt that will launch the line and brand the company. Subsequent t-shirt designs will have the logo embroidered on each shirt in a more discreet way (for example, on the sleeve). Here are the specifications of the client:

1. One t-shirt design to highlight the logo itself. The client envisions a bronzed leafed sheriff type star as part of the logo, with the star placed central and large for the t-shirt. DO NOT Let this limit your vision however. The launching t-shirt might feature a huge star on the t-shirt front.
   
2. An image of a dog integrated or central to your design. Suggestions: a mutt, the painted dog of Africa or a Greyhound image –may be abstract, artsy, beautiful, hip, cool or high end. Any domestic or endangered dog may be used.
   
3. An image of a cat, domestic or endangered with the wording "iRescuekitty.org" (a sub category of iRescueRover.org).
   
4. An image of a great white shark presented in a unique way, including the wording "iRescueShark.org" (a sub category of iRescueRover.org).
   
5. An image of a bird, any endangered bird (i.e. a long crane vertically placed), and the wording "iRescueRobin.org" (a sub category of iRescueRover.org).
   

These were challenging requirements. Not only were they quite numerous, increasing the possibility of making the logo look cluttered. It seemed unavoidable, but I decided to include all these visual elements into one design. It felt like I was developing 5 separate ideas guised in one project. I turned to my sketchbook and went into my cartoon character mode, which I think is the appropriate approach to this. Besides, they wanted the design to appeal to all age ranges.

I really love the characters I created… I was actually drawing inspiration from stuffed toys here at home. I then traced by hand, inked with a brush pen, scanned and then digitized for vector editing.

I then added elements such as the sheriff star at the back and the name banner in front. At this point, it seemed a pretty solid T-shirt design.

I was worrying however about the design not being able to be translated well into small embroidered versions or even as a tag for their future shirts. I then developed simpler icons for the main organization and its subcategories.

And an option incorporating all these tags and just the characters.

I was glad the client selected this concept among numerous propositions by competing ideas. The design is still being finalized (deliberations regarding color and some design elements) for the shirt version but just in case you're wondering, here's Brad Pitt wearing the design, looking pretty serious in rescuing some helpless critters:

Furball

Let me introduce the newest addition to our feline family: Latifa… Some of you may recall an early notebook entry where I traced the lineage of our cats here at home. Now Latifa is the only surviving daughter of Björk among a litter of 4. The other 3 died during birth. Seems Björk has a lot to learn about parenting. Puttanesca herself bore 6 new kittens. Looks like I have to update this page:

Take note that Latifa is only 3½ weeks old, and see how much of a furball she has grown already. We were all excited when Latifa first opened her eyes, and this is how the family discussion went:

Mama: "Oggie, nakita mo na si Latifa? Ang cute cute… pero di niya kamukha si Björk… mas kamukha yung tatay, malaki (with matching hand gestures suggesting how exagerratedly large the stud father was) at maamo mukha..."

Archie (overhearing, indignant): "Teka, sino nagpangalan na Latifa? Masbagay yata na Lupita, mas-cute pakinggan!" (Papa and Oggie, just listening, beginning to smile, seem to know where this discussion is leading to)

Mama: "Ano ba? Masbagay yung Latifa no! Kasi ang taba taba niya. Tsaka, naumpisahan na na puro singers yung pangalan ng lahi ni Aretha…"

Archie (looking at Latifa): "Cute nga siya oh… pero bakit mukha siyang Ewok? Masmaganda yata na Ewok na lang tawag natin" (halatang nangaasar na)

Ian (ako ito, imitating the high pitched voice of an Ewok): "Ayun maganda!" (Star Wars fans should know why I said this! If you don't, click this link: Tagalog Ewok)

Mama: (already cuddling Latifa) "Ano ba?! Maayos na nga yung pangalan eh, di ba Lupita?" (without realizing what she said.).

All this talk happening while Sigrid repeatedly saying in the background "Awwwww, ang cute-cuuute! Awwwww, ang cute-cuuute!"

Check out the other pictures of Latifa, as well as the other cats at Flickr: Felis Catus.