Branding: The ShutterBee Effect

As a graphic designer, I love the variety of projects I have the opportunity to work on with small businesses and nonprofits. But every time I wrap up a branding project, I know this is the real bread and butter of my business, and what I truly love doing the most. 

I connected with Britt Trappe through The Rising Tide Society group on Facebook. She has run her photography business, Brittany Trappe Photography, for several years during college and as a weekend gig during time off from her full-time job. But as her photography style has changed and matured after a few years in business, she was ready to invest in new branding elements that really showed her personality and shooting style. 

After chatting on the phone and collaborating on some visual inspiration, I created the mood board above. Britt loves shooting in woodsy, moody tones, and has a close relationship with nature. She wanted that to come through in her logo, and was also drawn to tree, camera, and bee imagery. Britt was also taking this opportunity to rename her business to "The ShutterBee Effect," which will better fit her business as it grows. 

Initial Concepts

I took a few different directions with initial logos, with our final logo concept looking like a good mix of #1 and #3. Although I really loved the minimalistic bee, it ended up not being the right fit for this project. Maybe you'll see it somewhere else in the future :) 

Final Concept

For the final versions of The ShutterBee Effect's branding, I made a circular shutter for the background, edited the handlettered portion of the logo to make "ShutterBee" into one word, added the small bee from logo option #1, and voila! I was so excited to help bring Britt's vision to life for her new brand. 

About her experience, Britt said: "It was so much fun working with Anna. Her ability to get inside my head and creatively bring my vision to life truly excited me! I was thrilled whenever her emails popped up in my inbox. Would love to work with her again."