Behind the Scenes #5: Grand logo reveal!
Trying my own hand at design… Welcome back to the Statement Mondays biweekly update! If you missed Update #4, check your spam folder… I sent it from my new natalie@statementmondays.com email but haven’t figured out how to get that verified yet. Yet another process problem 😨.
What is Statement Mondays? It’s a podcast for college and early-career women about being bold and authentic in the workplace. I interview career-minded women with strong identities who give examples, advice, and tools that inspire listeners to bring more of who they are into what they do.
👩🏼🎨 Since last time:
I designed the Statement Mondays logo v1 in Canva and can’t wait to work on everything it unblocks.
I tried Penji (design), and I got rid of Penji. See “learnings” section for more horrendous results…
A few generous people have given feedback on the first two episodes as part of my pre-launch “experiment.” The feedback is extremely helpful and I’m already making lots of changes in response.
🧠 #1 thing on my mind: Podcast artwork dependency
I designed the Statement Mondays artwork this weekend on my own! I’d lost faith in any design services for this need, so I downloaded Canva (design software that everyone raves about since it has a great free tier) and had so much fun iterating on my latest idea. I’m sticking with just lettering for now since imagery of any kind has gone so astray… I played around with a few fonts and colors, sought my Airbnb host’s opinion, and eventually decided to add a high heel in there after all. Let me know what you think!
The best part about having a design is that it unblocks several key tasks. I can finally finish and launch the website! I can set up the podcast hosting service and set up the podcast in places like Spotify & Apple podcasts (and publish the trailer). After that, I’ll only need to work on the episodes themselves -- launch finally feels tangible!
🤓 Learnings:
High expectations: I have an “it’ll only be done right if I do it myself” mindset which ensures my expectations are met but which sacrifices time and jumbles my priorities. I think branding makes sense to meet a certain bar right away, but in future and lower-stakes tasks I want to work on delegating, trusting, and being okay with imperfection to optimize for speed.
My kind of mind: My mind is very visual and spatial, so it’s no wonder I feel freed now that I’ve figured out podcast artwork. This branding was a bigger blocker for me than I think it’d be for other people. Cool to realize that. (Fun fact: one of my superpowers is navigation / orientation -- I can navigate a new city just by looking at a map once!)
Artwork failures: several people told me that in order to commission a good logo I’d need to have a clear vision of what I was looking for. I hoped that investing in a professional (expensive) service like Penji would mean the designer would also help design my vision and not just draw exactly what I say. Nope. B- ideas mean B- designs. This latest revision is absolutely atrocious and I couldn’t stop laughing after seeing it. I’m a bit embarrassed to share it but it’s too hilarious not to:
And another idea I had the designer work on which just didn't work out:
🍪 Asks:
What do you think of the new logo I designed on my own? Praise, critique, and suggestions are all welcome :)
Seeking tips on getting my natalie@statementmondays.com email verified. Emails go to spam and the profile image I added doesn’t show up. I’ve scoured Google but no success yet.
🙌 Shoutouts:
Thank you Togara for being my cheerleader flatmate / Airbnb host in Berlin! Your positivity and encouragement raises my confidence.
Thank you to my boyfriend Max, my mom Karen, and Mallory’s two friends for listening to the rough first two episodes and giving me feedback! It’s been incredibly valuable so far.
Thanks for reading! And if you need a reason to be bold today, here it is -- today is Statement Monday.
Natalie Muenster
Founder | Statement Mondays