Introduction
As we continue to rush headlong into the podcast creation rabbit hole, we are now at the part of uploading the first episode to a hosting site. There was one element missing for that to happen, though. The box stating upload your Podcast artwork was blank. Let’s get that done now.
Creating a logo can seem daunting. A logo is crucial to your brand identity – especially when starting something new like we are here at LDDC. Ideally, the logo should be simple, memorable, and reflective of our brand’s values and personality. Justin and I wanted to create something that could be used as our Podcast artwork. The Lonely Drivers Driving Club or LDDC stemmed from the irony that you can’t be a lonely driver in a drivers club; despite maybe riding solo, you are still with a group of people who share the same passion and hobby, and that’s what connects us.
Once I had an idea, I spoke to Justin and floated the idea past him. With that, we had a rough idea and went about finding the right person to design our logo for us. An idea had initially been steamed from watching J-Tooned (Jason) convert cars into cartoon caricatures, so I reached out to see what could if it would be possible for him to create the vision of our logo. I had initially been following Jason and his 86/FR-S build through his blog and Instagram!
Jason was professional and clear with his communications. Initially, when I reached out with my first idea, he wasn’t 100% sure if he’d be the right person to execute what I had in mind. Upon simplifying the design and putting arguably the roughest of sketches together in Microsoft Paint, I sent this to Jason, and we finalised the design elements. Next, it was to create the vision.
Design Vision: Execution
I decided to go with a helmet to signify the freedom you experience when pushing your car to the limits in a controlled environment, plus the whole mantra of “When the visor drops, the bullshit stops” also came to mind here. I chose broken hearts framing the circle because, through my life journey, I know the pain of feeling alone. It was an all too familiar feeling when I struggled to connect with others meaningfully. When it was awful, it would feel like there was a black hole where my heart should be, and I could feel myself caving into it slowly.
The process itself was easy, and Jason guided it well. We first worked on simple design elements and finalised them (the helmet and heart design). Once confirmed, the colours and shading were next. Jason sent multiple revisions based on our initial discussion until I eventually settled on the finished piece seen in the featured image for this post. Seventeen designs later (a mix of different colour schemes and ideas, mind you – nothing changed fundamentally about the design) – we arrived.
Final Logo
I’m super happy with how the logo turned out ~ it was a pleasure working with Jason to complete this. As I learned, and Justin reiterated with the initial chat we had on logos, “Keep it simple”. It makes the design process much easier! Finding the right person for the job is another challenge, ensuring you know what you want. Being open to suggestions for improvements and working together to reach the end goal made this undertaking much more manageable.
Another task on the podcast to-do list has been completed. I’ve learned that it’s easy to get bogged down in the details when working towards a larger goal, but it’s essential to keep moving forward. We’re getting closer to launch day, and I’m excited to continue building on the foundation we’ve established at LDDC.
P.S. Huge shout out to Jason for working together with us to create this logo and the beginning of our brand identity. Links to his blog and Car-toon-up Instagram are below to keep: