Seeking Eirene is a blog run by Phil that seeks to help others find peace and inspiration in their busy lives through the sayings of the Christian Orthodox Church. I was referred to do the logo design by a friend who was building the blog at the time.
The project was interesting to me on both a personal level, and a business level…
As a Christian, I have always held my faith quite closely. Yet, I never had the opportunity to find out more about the history of the Church. This project was the first time I came into contact with Christian Orthodoxy, now split into Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy with congregations primarily in Greece and Russia. Phil subscribes to its beliefs in a new-age way, and accepts all teachings from different religions.
At the same time, this was the first time I worked for a project outside of those from University, so I learnt a lot of practical stuff about how to deal with clients as well.
The Brief
My brief was simple. I was to create a banner and logo for the blog with several exemplars in mind, mainly Tiny Buddha. I was also told to incorporate the specific font into the logo according to Phil’s preference. The logo should also be scalable and transferable to different platforms such as Twitter or be used as a favicon.
The Process
To understand more about the subject matter of the blog so that I could design effectively, I had a short chat with Phil about his faith. I specifically asked if there were certain symbols that are identified with Christian Orthodoxy. From our conversation, I learnt that there is a special cross that is used in the religion, namely the Orthodox Cross. I also learnt that prayer ropes are commonly used, together with candles for prayers.
The Concept
Since the blog is named, “Seeking Eirene”, I tried to express the posture of seeking in the design. The usage of a candle was a great fit because of its link to prayer, i.e. seeking God, and the fact that light is used as tools for guidance, to light a path. The symbol of the candle also brings across the idea of peacefulness which was the key proposition of the blog. The cut-out style of the logo helps to add a hint of modernity in the logo to keep it current.
The Wordmark
Since the font was stipulated by the client, I tried to find ways to make the wordmark even more expressive of Christian Orthodoxy. To do so, I incorporated the Orthodox Cross into the wordmark, using it as the “E” in eirene. This suggests the slant of the blog without explicitly spelling it out for readers since Phil did not want his blog to serve only believers of Orthodoxy or Christianity.
The Colours
I considered using blue at first because of its association with calm and serenity. In the end, orange was used to impart warmth into the logo. This helped to tie the logo with the wordmark and gives a cosy feel to the whole wordmark.
what did you think of the design? Leave your comments below.
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