Sunday, February 10, 2019

Re-branding


Life has happened to me in a hard way. It was big. Good things happened too. In a big, good way. 
So here I am. 
I've been used to having an internet presence. I have friends all over the country.... and world for that matter, who I know through social media. I've missed you!
I knit. I've had labels with my name that I stitched onto a project as a finishing touch. Ya'll I spent a lot of years cultivating an identity associated with a name I no longer use. 

In my social, internet, crafting world I felt stagnant. 

I had started the process of rebranding or re-iodentifying if you will, but got stuck on some technicalities and could. not. move. forward. I had such a sense of who I was, but it was from an internal perspective. Have you ever spent so much time with yourself that you couldn't see you as a whole from the outside? I've kind of gotten to that point. 
So I was getting a bikini wax, (I love starting with that, it's an amusingly great hook) and Ruthie was talking about working with a graphic designer to do some business rebranding. I'd been thinking about pursuing this path and this just kind of fell in my lap. She started talking about Devinne of Monday Morning Media and how she has a passion for working with women and their businesses. Ruthie talked about how she loved collaborating with Devinne because Devinne is the kind of person who "gets you" and wants things to be "just right." 

I called Devinne of Monday Morning Media that night. We met the next morning. She's a fantastic like minded person and creator. Additionally, it was such a relief to hand over all these things about me, my process, what I create, and why I create. I knew I could hand it over to her and that she would take all of that to find a way to represent me! I left with such a sense of relief! And that night? That night I picked up my knitting. 

She took time to process and create. It was so hard to be patient but good things take time.
Devinne put together three inspiration boards as a starting point. 


I loved parts of all of them, but the one with the black lupine design really spoke to me the most. There were small teaks to be made, and then it was just right! The logo, the font, the icons. I felt like they represented me so well!

The only thing I still felt a little funny on were the colors. Which I very much identified as a me thing. How do I describe my colors? How do I define my colors? I love all the colors, which ones are ME? How could I convey that or communicate it to someone else? I spent that Friday night on PInterest. I scoured the boards for an image or color palate that spoke to me. I grabbed pictures from the interwebs and created my own photo inspiration board. I liked it. I didn't LOVE it. I wast at peace with it. Nowhere could I find a picture with ALL of my colors in it. 
The next morning (Saturday) I woke up inspired. I would take my own pictures. Thankfully, the light was on my side! I took photos of my favorite colored things. Quilt, knitting, glass, Fiestaware. I played with them, made some colors show more than others. I was back in m element! It had been SO. LONG. Since I'd felt inspired to just take pictures of things that made me happy so I could share them! (I paced myself sharing them on Instagram BTW. You're welcome for not bombarding you.) I was in my creative element playing with color, texture, and light. I was amazed at what a self seeking journey it was and how the process activated and inspired feelings and emotion. I was still trying to push the fuchsia but man, I did not have it hardly anywhere. 

I think that's when it hit me...why am I trying to push something I don't have in my life? How is that representative of me? 
So I compiled all the photos without the fuchsia and wow, was I at peace. That was it!

Sunday began the journey of finding the precise colors and shades. I put the inspiration board through several photo color palate finders. They all came back with different ideas. I pulled the pieces that spoke to me. I think I tried four variations of my green, three variations of blue and what felt like five purples. Then. I had it.

I took the digital file over to the print shop across the street to have them print it on 11x17 card-stock so I could tape it on my wall and just LOOK at it. It's so centering.

I ordered my knitting labels and my contact card (so I don't have to write my name and number on whatever receipt I have in my purse when I'm trying to give another knitter my numbah.) Both parts of my process that had been in my life before. I felt like the processes have been restored under the ownership of my name, my identity. Yes, these are material things. Yes, I know there's more to life than that, and that's probably a big reason I've waited so long to pick this process back up. But since I got my labels I've finished four WIPs (work in progress). That's huge! Celebrate with me! 

Lastly, I must ask. Are you a person who processes in images and color? How do you describe this to the people in your life who see numbers, names and words? How do you invite them to your table when you're trying to work through something hard, even if they don't speak "the language?" And more importantly, how do you as an image/color person meet them at their table when they're experiencing something hard?

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