You know the saying “A cobbler’s children wear no shoes?” Well, it’s always the case that I’m last on my list to produce a website or logo for myself. And I’ll tell you the past few years have hardly made me want to do it. I’ve been through some knock-down experiences of loss–including losing much of my design work when two external hard drives fizzed in the Arizona heat. After that it just seemed an overwhelming and impossible task to conjure up any work I’d done when people asked for a portfolio.
But everyone loses things and the best thing to do is to be resilient. I think one of my best God-given qualities is the ability to “bounce back” through creativity. So I finally set up this website and just a few days ago began loading it with anything I could find attached to my Gmail or Facebook accounts. Then I sat down and doodled a logo to represent myself.
How do you even go about creating a symbol to represent who you think you are? I mean, am I a designer, a singer, an actor, a dancer, a chef, a producer, a gardener, a Sign Language interpreter, or something else…? What kind of symbol could denote all of those things?
My process for designing a personal logo was experimental and playful conjuring up images and words that I liked and felt represented me. I thought about using hands as a symbol (a friend recently said she felt my new path was more focused on using my hands than singing) and even scribbled several on yellow sticky notes. Laying all the yellow squares before me on the coffee table, I was hit with a eureka moment recalling a childhood memory.
When I was in Kindergarten our teacher was a wonderful young lady from Hawaii named Mrs. Mary Brown. She noticed my aloofness to formal education and my propensity for perfectionism and she took special interest in me. One time we were working on our motor skills through an art project (the kind of thing that kept me interested in school–I was already ditching classes at age 5). We had to cut circles from squares to make wheels for an image of a wagon. I tried my best but was soon frustrated when my circles looked more like exploded or deflated balloons.
However, Mrs. Brown was able to help me see the good aspects of my accomplishments by pointing out how smooth many of the edges were. Or, stating how impressed she was that my bright mind had figured out if I cut the corners into octagons and then trimmed those corners and repeated the steps that I would eventually end with a perfect circle. Ultimately, she reminded me that my goal was not to have “perfect circles” but to create wheels for the wagon. I’m amazed 30 years later I am still learning from my kind, wise Kindergarten teacher.
So, in my logo I designed circles cut from squares making the letters “j” and “r” for my name. It is a symbol that being open to possibilities in the creative process is what keeps us moving (much like a wagon) toward the goal. – JR
Your beautiful eye, integrity, cre8tivity, and openness is the breeding ground for an interesting and satisfying adventure in this art form. You are amazingly powerful in what you’ve “birthed” in your other endeavors, Jon, and I feel excited to witness what will be expressed and come from your heart thru this medium!
Thank you Gari. You have a gift for seeing beauty, so I really appreciate your kind words. I am looking forward to sharing more of this creative process and I hope you will share with me as well.
I love this! So cool how you remembered the circles cut from squares from kindergarten and were able to incorporate them into your logo! I also love how your logo not only looks awesome but has personal attached to it! Your kindergarten teacher would be proud!
Thank you Missy! I tried to find Mary Brown to send her the link to this post but do you know how many there are in the world?? I think I found her son through Facebook as she named him “Jonathan” after me.
I love your logo! It’s perfect!
Thank you Karen!
I love your logo, and I love the story of how you are still learning from your past teacher! AWESOME!
Thank you, Tanya. I enjoy finding or creating meaning in my life. Usually it means connecting my past to the present. Mary Brown was definitely one of the most influential teachers I had and there are many more I will probably mention in my future posts.
love! reminds me of so many wonderful things about you! and i just had to start singing the “J jump joyful” song… remember that one? love you amazing bro!
Haha! Yes, Big Sis! I love that song. Lots of great memories of you and the older sisters singing that to me in 5 part harmony (How lucky could I be??) Love you too!
I can’t stop staring at your logo. You’re simply brilliant.
Jerah, thank you. I think the same thing about you! Please post links to what you are creating. I would love to see some of your designs!