The Menstrual Maven
Brand and Logo Design
The Menstrual Maven is a cycle syncing and fertility coach helping women optimize their life and increase productivity. Together with Sydney Simpson Digital, we rebranded The Menstrual Maven with something girly, fun, and classic.
Getting Started
The story of The Menstrual Maven rebrand starts like so many others. A business owner has outgrown their current brand. Maybe it was the one they DIY'ed when they first started or maybe they had it designed years ago and their business has drastically changed since then. Regardless of the reason, the branding no longer fits and it's time to rebrand.
This project was a developed with Sydney at Sydney Simpson Digital, a social media marketing agency, and when they came to me, a mood board had already been developed. Since I didn't create that, I'm not going to show it here, but I'll paint a picture: pink, all things girlhood, retro bubbly text. Literally, the most fun mood board.
I read through the client questionnaires and information and immediately, I knew what this brand would look like. Sometimes it takes a bit of sketching to work out the primary logo or logo mark, but for this one, I went straight to Illustrator.
You can see in the pictures above how I iterated the primary logo once I found the right font. I find logos with the word "the" to be an interesting challenge. It's such a small word and often isn't prominent, so finding the right place for it can be tricky. Readability and hierarchy are the most important factors, and it just so happened that it tucked nicely between the M and the t.
You can see the logo develop as the concepts move from left to right. I'm experimenting with placement, which words to highlight, outline weight, and the shadow. That last concept in the middle was IT.
So I switched to the brand colors (I always iterate in random colors because I know if I try to nail down the colors too early, I'll get stuck) and then created the submark and horizontal logo.
The font: perfection.
I added hearts to add to this image of taking care of people, loving yourself and your body, but also because cute hearts are just so girl. (Also, doesn't the swash on the M look like a heart? So fun.)
The Look Book for Concept Approval
The next step in this process is to put together a Look Book so that clients can see what the concept looks like in action. This is a 3-5 page PDF document that has the current concept in a few different forms, the colors, fonts, patterns, and photos. It's not a complete brand yet but it is the beginnings of one. 9 times out of 10, the first concept is approved and I go on to build out the rest of the brand.
But I did something a little different in the case of The Menstrual Maven.
I actually sent two Look Books with slightly different color schemes. One was all pink and one had a single shade of purple mixed in.
All pink 😍 was the immediate answer. Here's a peek at the approved Look Book concept.
Refining + Building Out the Brand
Up until this point, everything is conceptual. Nothing is set in stone (no matter how attached I might be to a specific concept) so even with an approved concept, there are still refinements that have to happen.
For instance, you might have noticed that the outline on the horizontal logo is much heavier than the outline on the primary logo. Things like that have to be fixed.
Once a concept is approved, I make the necessary refinements and then begin building out the brand kit. This includes the logo variations in different colors, black, and white (so that you're not limited in how you can use your branding.)
Patterns are one of my favorite ways to round out a brand. They're so versatile and are great for use in marketing materials and social media posts.
For The Menstrual Maven, I created a pink gingham pattern and a gradient background.
I also designed a set of custom icons. 😍 I. CAN. NOT.
I'm sorry, aren't these the most adorable? Can I say that if I designed them??
Icons are great for your website or any marketing materials. If you're using Canva templates for social media, custom branded icons are a great way to add a branded touch to premade graphics.
Ugh. That bra is the cutest. Do you see how this set of custom icons just solidifies this girlhood brand image? I love them so much.
And then, because I couldn't help myself, I developed two more patterns. I mean, who doesn't love options and it was just too fun not to.
Social Media Templates
This brand was designed for one of Sydney's social media clients, so having templates that she could use was an important piece of the overall branding kit. Obviously templates are great to have and use, but as a designer, this is a great opportunity for me to show you how I envision the brand assets to be used. Think of it as a kick start.
The Final Brand Kit
After everything is created, it all gets exported into folders organized by the type of asset and uploaded into a shared Google Drive. The Menstrual Maven brand kit has everything they need to be able to implement it well and have FUN with it.
Ready for a rebrand?
And if you're looking for a social media manager that's going to care about you, your business, and your audience just as much as you do, you want Sydney and her team in your corner!