With a new decade, new state I’m living in, and new projects I’m doing, I felt it was time for a new logo.
Retiring the serif JP logo. It served me well for the last 8 years being printed on my books, prints, business cards, bookmarks, etc. as well as all my social media avatars.
Big thanks to @vanguarddesignco for working with me to update it for the new decade. And also a salute and thanks to @melanieburk who designed the original logo back in 2012.
Why even have a logo if you’re an artist?
A logo isn’t going to make or break you as an artist, it’s not your brand, and it’s not going to get you more followers.
What it does is this: helps people remember you.
In a crowded online world, where attention is the most valuable commodity, you need a way to plant little flags in people’s minds. You do this by crafting a story about yourself. This story is made up of where you came from, who you are now, and where you’re going. Every time you share something you’ve created, something you’re interested in, or a hot take on something occupying people’s attention, you add to your story. When you sell a print, a book, or a sticker, it adds to your story. Both from the subject matter of your work, and the way it’s delivered to the person.
A personal logo is a visual hook that connects all these things together, and reminds people of your story whenever they see it.
Having a logo might not be for everyone, but I think it’s helped connect everything I’ve been doing this last decade together. Hopefully, when you see the (JP) you think positivity, cool art, and helpful advice.
A logo is only as strong as the thing it reps. My hope is I can do right by this great design, and make it mean something as we all move forward into this next decade.
-Jake
TMNT POWER
I forget where I read this (maybe twitter?) but someone was saying that Louisa May Alcott established how four different personalities should be used together in a narrative with her novel Little Women, and it’s been used ever since from rock bands to the TMNT.
The personalities are summed up as:
The leader.
The passionate one.
The contemplative one.
And the outgoing/social one
I was talking about this with a friend and we got into how the personalities of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy are also reflected in the four elements: Earth, Fire, Water, And Air respectively.
Earth can be grounded and practical. Fire can be passionate and emotional. Water can be fluid and excepting. Air can be idealistic and dreamy.
And it tracks from Little women, to the Beatles, to Seinfeld to the TMNT.
Earth: Meg, Harrison, Elaine, Leonardo
Fire: Jo, McCartney, George, Raphael
Air: Amy, Lennon, Jerry, Michaelangelo
Water: Beth, Ringo, Kramer, Donatello
What do you think? Can you come up with other characters this works with?
-Jake