Monday, January 4, 2016

Creating a Logo, Not as Simple as You'd Think

If you are one of my few treasured fans over on Facebook, then you may have already noticed the new logo I created.  On most of my labels I had just been using this font to read "SHEGOGUE BREW" and I had some images of grain underneath it, It worked, but I wanted a logo that could stand alone.

Take note of the "Shegogue Brew" in one of my favorite labels


Thought Process

I went through a lot of thought and deliberation to come up with the logo presented below.  Here is some of that thought process:


  • Wanted to keep "Shegogue Brew" - Most brewery names have some variation of Brewing Co or Brewery.  That doesn't rhyme with the pronunciation of my last name Shegogue (pronounce Shuh-goo)
  • Since my home brewery name is just my last name I was at a loss for what identifying mark or symbol I should use
    • I thought about incorporating a beer mug and the letter 'S' but that was too plain
    • I thought about some sort of synergy of yeast, hops, water and grain, but those were all too busy
    • Considered creating some sort of chart or bar graph to reference my tagline (see tagline description below)
  • I put the symbol on the backburner to consider some sort of tagline.  Many of the great breweries have them.  i.e. Dogfish Head - "Off-centered ales for off-centered people".  Everyone in my family knows I have two speeds slow, and slower so I came up with the tagline "slowly analyzing ales"
  • With that tag line in place I had a slightly more narrow focus for my symbol which I decided to go with turtle or a snail.  To be honest, the snail images I found online were easier to work with than the turtles so I went with that
  • As an added bonus, I can now refer to my little guy as the "Ale Snail," which I think is pretty catchy
Without further ado - the new Logo for Shegogue Brew

New Logo