Say Hello For Me
When Daniel, the drummer from Say Hello For Me, reached out over Instagram to ask for my help with this project I was ecstatic! I had heard the clips of the band’s upcoming music and loved it, and admittedly, I have a bit of a personal connection with the band as Daniel is my partner’s brother! (Check out Redivider on Instagram!)
I hopped into a group chat with Daniel and his bandmate Hailey, the guitarist and vocalist of the band. Hailey had done the band’s original logo and while they loved it, they felt it was time for something more professional and updated.
The original logo for the band.
First I established what they wanted to keep from the original design. They wanted the band name and to maintain the wax seal shape, but wanted something more opaque with the band name labeled on top. Unfortunately, the little waving dude had to go and they didn’t have any ideas for imagery outside of that.
I also asked the band for some examples of band logos that they LOVED and what they liked about them. The examples they gave me were the album covers for the band GHOST and Starset’s Divisions album. They liked the rustic vibe of some of GHOST’s album covers, such as 13 Commandments and Dance Macabre, and they liked the minimalism of Starset’s Divisions album.
So, how was I going to incorporate a Rustic or Vintage feel into a design that also embraced minimalism? Minimalism is often very modern, but with this design I knew it could work. I decided that I would keep the logo as free of frills as I could and keep the basic wax seal shape with the band name in the center. I also wanted to incorporate something that brought that rustic vibe they liked from GHOST, so I thought about what imagery I associated with the phrase “Say Hello For Me“.
To me the phrase “Say Hello For Me“ is something you would say to a loved one as they’re passing into the next life. It’s slightly sad and makes you think about mortality so my mind immediately went to a graveyard or a skeleton of some sort. This train of thought made me feel as though a gothic font that you might see on a victorian gravestone or mausoleum would work best for the band name. Next, I headed to Canva.
Using available graphics from Canva’s free library, I created four mockups for Daniel and Hailey. I sketched the basic shape I was thinking for the wax seal and layered everything on top. I gave them options for imagery of a skeletal hand waving and a full-bodied skeleton leaning against a shovel; creating light and dark variants for both of them. After sharing them with the band they chose the lighter variant of the hand imagery.
Now it was time to illustrate the logo in Procreate. Now, you may be thinking, “Why would you go through all that trouble, you have a perfectly good hand graphic right there!“ I wanted Say Hello For Me to have a logo design that used elements that were uniquely theirs. I didn’t want to use royalty-free graphics because it left the possibility that someone somewhere would have that exact hand in their design too. I also had some problems with the original graphic, I felt the leftmost fingers were too bent and the overall hatching of the design caused a loss of detail.
The final design for Say Hello For Me's logo
For this design, I used multiple references to the hands of the human skeleton because I felt like a more anatomically accurate illustration would be unique and add an emotional connection between the viewer and the ideas of mortality I was playing with. I was sparing compared to the original when it came to the hatching in the hand since the most important aspect was the overall shape. As a final touch, I added a bit of shadow with a darker red to make the band's name pop.
Working with Daniel and Hailey was so much fun! I immensely enjoyed this project and I’m excited to work with them more in the future! I don’t make art with themes like this often so it made my me think differently and led to a lot of growth in my artistic journey. Thank you again to Say Hello For Me for the opportunity, and make sure to check out their Instagram! Tune in on November 28th for their first installment.
