Back to Graphic Art
I was approached by a mental health professional to create a logo for their business, with the specifications being that it have a green snail and the business name. Because my client helps neurodivergent individuals, it was important to us that the design be less clinical and sterile than logos one would normally see in the medical field. Neurodivergent folks are often at a loss when searching for mental health assistance due to decades of misinformation and infantilization, so we wanted to bring a welcoming and informal tone to the logo without it appearing childish.
While waiting for photo references from the client, I experimented with a more hand-drawn style for the snail. However, I believe this approach made the design appear much less polished than intended and I promptly moved away from it.
While working out what I wanted for the the snail's appearance, I chose the typeface Turnip for the wordmark because of its welcoming and cozy nature. In turn, this helped me decide how I wanted the angles and shapes of the snail to appear. Because Turnip's forms are sharp with organic accents, I wanted to balanced the round features of the snail with sharper accents. At this time, I also received client photos of their snails, which led me to restarting with a different species of snail.
With client feedback, we decided not to go forward with any script typeface. Cursive especially can be difficult for many to read, thus making it inaccessible to the people my client works with. Copy set in all-caps has also been shown to be less legible for dyslexics, and did not match the informal tone we were going for. Option 4 (above) fulfilled the goal of achieving a familiar, welcoming tone with all-lowercase type, and also had the most balanced angles, with sharp white lines helping to describe the shape of the snail shell.
For finishing touches, I smoothed the lines on the snail shell and alternated to circular antennae, as requested by the client. The type is set in a dark grey-brown instead of black to subtly create a more soft and natural appearance.
