Building a Strong Brand: Felicette’s Space Cat

Lauren Quinn Ward has been making stamps by hand since 2008 under the name Doodlebug Design. After turning her hobby into her full-time job in the fall of 2014, she came to us ready to create a build a strong brand identity that would stand out from the crowd. Lauren told us:

I am looking for a logo and branding that I can fall in love with and be proud to show off. For me the goal is to show customers how I am confident and proud of what I do and in turn make them proud to own one (or more) of my designs. I want people to be excited when they see a package arrive with my logo on it.

Building a strong brand: start with the name

Our first step was to brainstorm a new business name that fit the business’ personality. When Lauren began working with Natalia, she told us:

As weird as this is going to sound I want my business name to be like Sabrina the Teenage Witch (I’m a comic book collector). She is feisty, smart, sweet, trendy, quirky, and of course magical. The name should be more abstract than descriptive.

Two words that I looked at that weren’t available were Kis-Kis and Kisa which were old Norwegian words for kitty. (I have Norwegian ancestry and a love of cats)

Natalia connected to Lauren’s references (having grown up with comic books as well!) and came up with an initial list of 10 possible new business names. A few of those initial ideas were: Wicked Darlings, Two Cats Chariot, House of Freya, and Felicette. Lauren immediately connected to Felicette (which was Natalia’s favorite as well). Through a few more rounds of ideas, it was clearly the smart, quirky new name – perfect for Lauren’s business!

Building a strong brand: a logo that tells a story

Once the final business name was chosen, it was time for Sarah to work her magic. We asked Lauren to share her design preferences for the new logo and identity and she said:

Felicette was the name of the first cat in space, sent by France in in 1963. When Natalia first showed it to me it got me very excited. I love the smart geekiness of a cat in space. It’s simple, it’s about a cat, and it has a fun and interesting story. I love the French aspect (being in New Orleans). Overall I am super excited about this new direction.

I know I want a cat involved in the logo in some way and possibly stars (maybe, I’m not sure). Mostly I don’t want the logo to be too childish. One of my concerns is that the name is overly feminine, and I think that is best addressed in the logo design. I think if the logo was overly ornate and feminine it would be just too much with the name and that’s not the direction I want to go with my designs or customers.

Sarah was inspired by the idea of a cat in space and in her initial round of logo ideas, included the sketch for the final logo you see below. She told Lauren:

I can’t get over the awesomeness that is cats in space and her story is made even BETTER due to the fact that she returned back to earth! So of course, I had to kick things off with a little space exploration kitty. I couldn’t help myself!

Lauren immediately fell hard for the space kitty, saying:

You are the most awesome of all the awesome sauces. I wanted to sleep on the designs and answer you tomorrow, but I have been looking at them all day, I have printed them out, my cat has laid on them, I have hung them up and I am sure about how I feel about them. I love the quirky astronaut kitty paired with the stars and the script font with the lower case “F”. That cat in the bubble helmet is the cutest.

Sarah polished up the space kitty and rounded out the brand identity with smart, quirky graphics.

Extending the brand with printed identity pieces

We have been delighted by the beautiful brand identity collateral Lauren has been sharing on Instagram, and she kindly sent some photos over last minute so we could share them with you as well. They really give you the feel for how exciting having a brand identity you can be proud of is.

Conquering fears of working with a designer

We asked Lauren for feedback about her project with us and she said:

The moment I decided I wanted to rebrand and rename my rubber stamp business was the moment I realized I was in over my head. Over the past seven years I had managed to squeak by with a name I was never truly in love with and a logo I wasn’t proud to show off. But I was happy, my business was growing and there weren’t any real problems. Then I realized that I loved what I did and loved making stamps for people, so shouldn’t my brand and business be something I loved too?

I was so worried just before we started; I lay awake at night wondering if I had made a mistake. How could I hand over something as important as my name to a stranger? What if the designer and I didn’t see eye-to-eye at all? What if at the end of all of this I still have a brand that I only feel just ok about? Samantha was great at handling my concerns and assured me that we wouldn’t move onto the next step unless I was happy with the first one.

The naming process with Natalia was fantastic; she was patient and incredibly intuitive. The name I ended up choosing was in the first round, and fell in love with it immediately. But we went through several more rounds of names to make sure it was what I wanted.

When it was time to move on to the branding Sarah and I talked about what kind of styles I liked, colors, what I wanted to convey, and what my concerns were. She said leave it to her, and I did (which was hard for someone who had been doing it alone for so many years). I trusted her and she did not let me down.

I have high expectations, and Sarah managed to exceed every single one of them. We seemed to be on the same page the entire time. Collaborating with her has made my brand stronger than I ever imagined it could be. I have nothing but the highest praise for Sarah’s work, style, vision, creativity, process, and execution. Not only did I get a beautiful logo, a squishy orange space cat, and a brand I love, but also feel like I made a friend.

When I look at my new logo, name and overall brand I get those cartoon stars in my eyes. I now have a brand that I love as much as my stamps. I have no regrets; working with Aeolidia was the best decision I could have made for my business.

Are you ready to build a strong brand for your business?

Our logo designers are ready to make smart, purposeful decisions while creating a strong new identity for your business. You can view more business naming and brand design projects in our portfolio. Please contact us and be ready to stand out from the crowd.