When Choosing A Logo Becomes a Journey of Trust

As you may know I have been going through a process of evolution and rebranding to create a platform that serves to advocate for multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion by creating cultural awareness that ignites social change. Part of rebranding is choosing a logo that conveys exactly what is the brand about without needing to use any words. That sounds pretty straightforward, right? Well, if you know anything about me, you know there was a struggle.

My approach to this part of the process of choosing a logo was similar to my grandmother’s visits to the doctor: she will go to him and tell him every thing she knew she suffered from, her diagnosis on the disease she didn’t have for sure, and what kind of treatment he had to give her. Nowadays it kind of works like that here in the United States, but not in the Dominican Republic 25 years ago. But I digress…

In my head, I had already created a brand that was successful when I created La Familia Cool. In that case, I had created the name first, as a blog, and it evolved to what it is today. However, since I wasn’t intentional in its creation, I was doing many different things with the brand than what it really is. I became stuck in my blogging because I felt I was going all over the place with my message. Eventually on the process of rebranding I also got clear on what La Familia Cool is and now it is aligned with its true purpose.

The thing is that I love butterflies and to me they represent diversity and change, and I was sure that I wanted to have a butterfly as a part of my logo. I had even picked the kind of butterfly; I wanted a blue one. In my head, that was going to be the easiest thing to do, creating my logo. As it usually happens when working with my coach, I was challenged not to attach myself to an image but rather think of what the brand would communicate.

One of the main things I learned was to be intentional with every little thing the logo would represent, making sure that I wasn’t just choosing a logo I liked, just because, but to really create something that would make a real connection. In order to learn that and be open, I had to trust the process, and my coach Elayna Fernandez, by letting go of my wants and really open up to what was possible.

As you guys know, I love reading and listening to podcasts and TED talks that provide me with inspiration and insight that helps me improve myself and my life, and that extends to my brand. I love this quote I found from Barbara Smith: “Trust is to human relationships what faith is to gospel living. It is the beginning place, the foundation upon which more can be built. Where trust is, love can flourish.” With that in mind, I decided to trust the process, trust my coach and trust that I’m on a journey not only of rebranding but also of self-discovery.

Besides doing the research of logos I liked and thinking about my brand and what it stands for, it was very helpful for me to read this post from Elayna on 7 Best Practices You Need To Know Before Designing Your Logo. It gave me clarity on personal branding and logo design, but most importantly I loved what she said in the beginning, “your logo must be meaningful, purposeful, and beautiful!” That provided the insight I needed to think outside of my butterfly box and focus on being meaningful and purposeful.

“Trust is to human relationships what faith is to gospel living. It is the beginning place, the foundation upon which more can be built. Where trust is, love can flourish.” ~Barbara Smith

With that in mind I started to think of an embrace, of people coming together, on creating unity and transmitting all of those messages with my logo. We discussed shapes, colors, fonts and how they all would come together to convey the meaning, and after being mindful in each step of the process, we arrived at two options that would be put to the test by asking friends on social media to pick one of them.

Again, I was already set on the logo I liked the most, the one I felt was more attractive and expressed the meaning better. Although I was willing to put it up to vote, I was secretly confident that my favorite was the best one and that will ultimately be the logo. Once we posted the logo on Facebook and Twitter for people to vote on, it quickly became obvious to me that “my logo” was not the favorite.

I even got a bit anxious about it, asked closed friends and a couple of them suggested I picked the one I liked and that was that. I chose again to trust the process, to trust my coach and her experience on the creation of a brand. I remember she said it was not about what I liked, because we are not creating for me, but for my audience. She was right, and I’m so happy that I “lost”, and ended up winning with a meaningful logo that truly represents my brand.

Deconstructing The Meaning of The Logo

The Embracing Diversity logo was inspired by the word EMBRACE, that means to receive with open arms, and in the context of the brand expresses embracing cultural differences as a way of bringing about social change. It also represents a call to peace and harmony in our society. By embracing one another we create a connection that takes us further together.

I strongly believe that embracing diversity is the only way we are going to find common ground to address the common challenges we face. The people in my logo are happy to be together, living in community, embracing each other’s differences with joy and without reservation. The shape of my logo is the circle that represents a global, multicultural village. It represents wholeness, inclusion, unity, infinity; it implies the idea of movement and symbolizes potential.

The colors of my logo are blue and orange; blue represents trust, loyalty, sincerity, freedom and imagination while also being associated with stability and unity. The color orange is optimistic and uplifting, it relates to social communication, it stimulates two-way conversations and helps assimilate new ideas, giving people the freedom to be themselves. It also encourages self-respect and respect for others. Both colors together convey diversity, unity, respect, and communication. The fonts are bold and attractive and go well with the image that is soft and easy to the eyes.

I would love to know your thoughts on the final product. What do you love about the Embracing Diversity logo?