Roots And Branches: Behind the Logo

A friend asked me to work on redesigning a logo for her father’s service and programming site. The mission was about interfaith learning, growing spiritually, and becoming a better person. She knew she wanted to keep the roots, trees, and leaves and the trees based on a line from the Bible.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life…producing its fruit…and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:1-2

Roots and Branches Original Logo

The original logo was a silhouette of 3 trees with Papyrus font.

Roots and Branches Logo Concept Sketches

Before I got to work on the project, I had to send samples of logo. I sent sketches of ideas. Once the project was approved to move forward, I continued to sketch the logos more roughly. I am not organized with my sketches, tending towards brain dump design as they are quicker to reiterate than working on the computer.

Roots and Branches Logo Concept Vector

I sent the client only vectorized comps, keeping the idea of trees and roots. I showed logos that were simple, abstract, and more defined.

Roots and Branches Logo

The chosen logo is based on Celtic knot plaits. This was based on idea of intertwined lines coming from various roots creating sprouted leaves. I stayed away from bare looking trees to really show the maturation and bountiful nature of a healthy tree.

The colors I selected remained in the same palette the original logo had. I updated the color to be a deeper green, which I called Root Green. I also included a Sunrise Yellow as the secondary color. These colors were selected from gold and green leaves from a stock photo.

Roots and Branches Logo

I was not tasked to do any stationary but I offered the option of how the logo could look on a card. I used the intertwined portion of the logo as a pattern in the background while the logo sits center as if floating atop the grayed out pattern. This logo was interesting to create since it used traditional plaited design with a modern, minimalist design.