Services
- Logo Design
- Visual Branding
- Brand Style Guide
Summary
Background
Herbert Sherbet is a one woman puppet show delivering social-emotional lessons to young audiences in a fun musical entertaining way. The owner - Kate - has been touring her puppet shows on the side of her school psychology work. She is now investing more fully into Herbert Sherbet the puppet, with hopes to transition to full-time performance work. She contacted MGalen Design to help develop her brand’s visual identity.
Challenge
Our challenge was to design a logo and visual identity that accurately represented an existing memorable puppet. We had to discern which traits on the puppet were most identifiable. Using those signatures, we needed to create a 2d representation of the puppet that felt as fun and lifelike as the real thing.
Our goal was to create a robust visual brand that was cohesive, representative, and future-proofed for a variety of digital and print needs.
Results
The owner and creative behind Herbert Sherbet was beyond satisfied with the results. Our organization of the brand’s visual guidelines thrilled and excited Kate. She is now ready to take Herbert’s performance career to the next level.
"This is so amazing. It's all adorable and feels very Herbert! ... I'm so pleased with everything and excited to start showing it off... It was a pleasure to work with you, thank you!”
Kate Carter, Owner & Artistic Director - Herbert Sherbet
Process
Strategy & Research
Kate came to us with a vision for her logo. We combined her vision with our own industry research, sharing our findings and guiding our direction. We agreed on a strategy inspired by Sesame Street’s brand identity and Herbert’s strong existing persona. There would be two main logo variations - one focused on Herbert’s head and the other on his name.
Design
We designed the head, following photos of the actual puppet for proportions and pulling his colors as a base.
Our largest challenge was finding the right typeface. One that spoke to youth but looked clean and professional. We didn’t want a handwritten script. Instead, we looked for a funky 70’s aesthetic, with whimsical curves and distortions. Something bold and chunky. We settled on the typeface ‘8-heavy’ by the CAST foundry.
Visual Identity Guide
We created a slide deck organizing all the logo variations and their use case scenarios, color palette, and typography. It was helpful to produce this before the logo was finalized because it allowed everyone to be on the same page and mentally organized. As we made adjustments to the final logos, we updated the slide deck.
Discerning between file formats and logo variations can feel overwhelming. We ensure each client is empowered with the assets and organization to launch a successful brand.
“I just super appreciated the layout [in the style guide]! It's so clear to see everything, and to see how [the logos] look on a black background, and to have all of the usage info in one easy to read place.”
Kate Carter, Owner & Artistic Director - Herbert Sherbet
