CLIENT INFO:
“Awkward Therapy” is a new series from the New York Times Bestselling author and host of the top 100 Apple podcast, The School of Greatness Lewis Howes, and his good friend Jay Shetty, an award-winning host, storyteller, and viral content creator.
Through this series, Lewis and Jay aim to discuss different taboo topics to create a comfortable dialogue that allows for deeper inspiration and information for their audience.
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SERVICES:
• Discovery
• Research
• Brand Identity
• Brand Story Development
• Collaterals
THE CHALLENGE
When I was contacted by Lewis to put a concept together for this project, I knew there was going to be a twist 🙂
He was looking for a new logo that could be used to help identify this new series “Awkard Therapy” and our timeline to get the concept together was within 2 days! While I knew that could be a massive challenge, I was more than prepared to roll my sleeves up and deliver!
The biggest challenge faced was having enough time to explore the thoughts and concepts Lewis and Jay had around this initiative but after a brief phone call with Lewis, I immediately knew where I wanted to begin my process which was with a quick but deep exploration into the history around taboo and how it has crossed from culture to culture. I knew in order to truly accomplish the task, I would need to lean heavily on my personal process of exploration, research, and iteration while condensing the process in a way that could support me in getting to the creation phase much sooner than later.
BUILDING THE CONCEPT
For this project, I made sure that I kept my process in place beginning with a rapid but deep exploration into the roots and history of taboo and how it has crossed from culture to culture through our human history.
I leaned heavily on my process of word-mapping where I took words that I noted from my conversation with Lewis and began to create a web of sub-categories words that related to feelings that could be attached to those words.
Anything that could help describe and bring to life the direction that the series was ultimately attempting to take its listeners/audience.
I then went into my process of rapid iteration where I began sketching quick ideas that came to mind based on these words and the feelings that were associated with them.
THE SOLUTION
The solution was to create a custom logotype that would be fitting not only for the nature of the Awkard Therapy series and the audience it serves but to Lewis and Jay who both take a playful and inquisitive approach to their podcasts.
It was clear from my exploration that taking a larger-than-life and out-of-box direction would give us an opportunity to create a mark that was unique, distinctive, and appropriate.
Once I was able to construct the lettering, I realized there was an opportunity to carve out a distinct element in the logotype by flipping the K horizontally so it created that out-of-the-box, rebel-like messaging. It became the “taboo” letter. The one that wasn’t traditional but broke all the rules and redefined its position.
After realizing the logotype direction was locked in, another opportunity to create additional assets that could add flexibility and simplicity to the branding experience opened up and I immediately began carving them out. Taking the backward K out of the logotype now allowed us to use it as a logomark to further identify the series in a simplistic way. This would also assist in the logomark being able to exist in spaces that are smaller in nature such as mobile devices.
I was able to take things a step further and create what I like to call, “therapist icons” that use the AW in the word AWKWARD to playfully identify Lewis and Jay. Each step of the way, the idea was to create an identity system that was outspoken, disruptive, and playful all while carving out a unique face in their already saturated industry of podcast creators.
At the end of the day, the duo decided to move forward without an identity for the series and ended up using the School of Greatness’s current branding for the series but it was a great opportunity to create an amazing piece of work all within a 2-day time frame.
