The Art and Science of Logo Designing a Children’s Brand

As a married 29-year-old with no children, I have limited interaction with children. So when I was tasked to be the lead designer of a storytelling app for preschoolers, I had mixed feelings. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to empathise enough with the target users because of my lack of exposure to children, which might result in a poorly-done design. 

Designers are often stereotyped as messy, and only living in the moment. But I am quite the opposite (in my opinion, I am a rare breed). I am a designer who thrives on flow, structure, organisation, and careful planning. So even though I was caught up in my own self-doubt,  I was excited because here was an opportunity that would get me out of my comfort zone.

I decided to pull up my big-girl pants and hype myself up to take on the task.

How the design journey began

The 55 Minutes team was commissioned by Nine Tales, a startup focusing on children’s storytelling, to design their app - including their brand identity. Talking about emotions is often taboo in many Asian households, but Nine Tales believed it was important. By using storytelling as a tool, the founder’s goal was to connect family members through a fun and collaborative process, all while helping children build emotional intelligence and learn life lessons together with adults through curated stories focused on values.

Based on Nine Tales’ product direction and goal, we kickstarted the process by designing the logo as it is the main identity of a brand. Here’s how we did it:

1. The importance of colour psychology

A logo consists of two visual elements, a logomark and logotype. They work together to create a symbol, a single identity that represents a brand. Also known as a pictorial logo, the logomark is often the first element users recognise. The visual is key, and therefore it is important to use the right colours and create the right visual to spark users’ interest.

More than just a way to draw attention, colours can help you connect with your users on a deeper psychological level. Different colours evoke different emotions, and the choice of colours impacts a brand’s recognition and reflects the brand identity, all of which subconsciously dictates the users’ perception of a brand. This makes the choice of colours crucial in logo design, and it requires a thorough understanding of a brand’s values, goals, and personality beforehand.

I started by throwing out colours that are not suitable for our client. This narrows down the selection, allowing me to focus only on a few I know might work. For instance, pink is definitely not a suitable colour because it’s too feminine. Purple would not be suitable as well, as it is often associated with royalty, luxury, and mystery, which is contradicting to what Nine Tales hopes to identify itself with:

• Exudes warmth and is fun to use

• Parents feel safe to use it with their children

• Promotes learning and growth

• Fosters connection among family members

  
  

Brand colours of Nine Tales

In the end, olive and yellow were the final brand colours for Nine Tales. Green symbolises growth, and it is a suitable colour as it promotes learning and growth. For the exact shade of green, we decided to opt for a darker tone, olive. This is to signify comfort, trust, reliability, and stability, which are values that are important in a storytelling app for parents and children. As a storytelling app, the usage of olive would also avoid clashing with book covers, allowing stories to stand out.

The addition of yellow is intentional, as we wanted to convey that it’s also about having fun when using the Nine Tales app. Yellow helps to define Nine Tales as a brand that is creative, expressive, uplifting, and optimistic. Together, both olive and yellow define what the client wants to convey — being a brand both adults and children can trust, all while having fun and having the freedom to express their creativity through storytelling.

2. Keep your target audience top of mind

Despite how influential colours are in logo design, understanding your target audience is also equally important as it determines the direction of a logo’s visual style. How would a child perceive the visual? What kind of impressions does it give to people? Both visual style and colours go hand in hand in the logo design process; they complement one another to achieve an impactful logo design.

Initial logomark renditions of Nine Tales

What captures children’s attention? How do they behave? We asked a few children to get some initial sense of their responses to the early draft designs. I also decided to look towards a different direction—why not focus on the aspect of fostering family connections between adults and children? This inspired me to go for a softer look using an organic blob-shape, representing the organic emotions adults and children would experience with different stories in the app. The fluid shape signifies how malleable our emotions are, how we are able to feel different emotions at once. The blob was then further molded into the shape of a digit ‘9’ to expand brand awareness.

3. Convey the organisation’s character and values

I felt that the blob shape alone lacked character and wasn’t sufficient on its own as an identity. It didn’t spark curiosity nor strongly convey the Nine Tales brand. I then experimented with the idea of humanising the blob. Emotions are what makes us human and it’s also something Nine Tales strongly believes in.  I felt it was important to convey this. So I gave the blob “character” by adding a pair of eyes, as I was inspired by what William Shakespeare once said, “The eyes are the window to the soul”.

Updated logomark design with eyes to humanise the blob

Now, here’s the tricky part. There are a ton of ways to illustrate a pair of eyes; a slight change in the shape of the eyes could make a huge difference in the way users perceive the logomark. Yes, this seemingly small detail of designing a pair of eyes is crucial because it too leaves an impression of the brand. Research states that 94% of first impressions are design-related, so users’ impression would determine if they stay because they’re interested to know more or decide that the brand and/or product is not for them and leave. This decision could also potentially affect other aspects such as brand and product satisfaction, usability, and how willing and active users are to explore the product.

We tried different renditions of the logomark by playing around with the shape and size of the eyes.

In this case, I dabbled around with a few renditions, playing around with the shape and size of the eyes. The team then showed it to a few individuals internally and externally to get their first impressions and feedback on the different designs. A 12-year-old pointed out how Logomark 6 reminded her of a popcorn kernel. Another person foundLogomark 5  interesting because he perceived it in so many different ways (e.g. a digit ‘9’, an apostrophe). He found it meaningful as it ties in with what Nine Tales is all about — a brand that allows users to be creative to tell stories.

It was a tough choice to make, but the Nine Tales team decided to go for the original shape we designed (Logomark 4). They did not feel the need to make the digit ‘9’ apparent such as in Logomark 5–6, and 8–9. They hoped Logomark 4 would spark users’ curiosity, making it a conversation starter. Logomark 4 also does not emote, which opens it up to users’ interpretations. The intention was to not have users establish a certain emotion and impression based on the logo (e.g. feeling happy when they see Logomark 7–9). Most importantly, it remains legible when it’s scaled, which is a crucial factor to take note of for an effective logo.

4.  Don’t forget the logotype

With all that said about the logomark, there’s still the logotype that can make or break the logo design. A logotype is essentially a text logo, which is usually a word or a group of separate letters usually centred around the company name or initials. Typefaces help communicate your brand to the audience as well. And since all typefaces have personalities; when done right, your logotype helps to reinforce your brand identity and convey the overall message together with the logomark.

We proposed two different logotypes for the Nine Tales logo.

For Nine Tales, we proposed two different logotypes with different intentions:

• Type 1: Sharp and slanted edges make the logo look modern and yet fun at the same time when paired with the logomark.

• Type 2: Rounded edges make the whole logo softer and more cohesive.

We also proposed the idea of having different baselines (the invisible line upon which letters rest) for the logotype to further convey the values of freedom and creativity in Nine Tales. Type 1 makes the cut eventually, and that’s how we designed the logo from scratch for Nine Tales.

Finalised logo for Nine Tales

Sample applications of where the Nine Tales logo is being used

This experience of designing this logo was definitely a welcome challenge as I was designing with an unfamiliar target audience which made the task harder. However, I’m glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and took on this challenge because I learned that designing a logo from scratch isn’t about expecting ideas popping into my head out of nowhere. There is a certain aspect of structure and flow in design and frameworks, which would guide you toward your ideation and creation.

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Elaine does UI/UX design at 55 Minutes. Inspired by architecture, art, fashion, nature, photography, and people, Elaine’s approach to design is to tap into what makes us human — our emotions. She believes good design involves understanding who she’s designing for, and how design makes them feel. For her to be pixel-perfect in her work, she needs a good breakfast. Coffee is a must too.