The thoughts, motivations, and images that went into making Mugglehug Studio. Follow along through my design process, and learn some of my favorite design tips along the way.
the moodboard
Let's be honest; one of the first ever design items I made was a moodboard. I just didn't know what to call it when I was making them on Polyvore!
The board for Mugglehug was tricky, because I could not nail down a theme. I wanted everything to be glamorous and clean, but also have whimsical touches that made everything more unique. So I went for darker forest imagery, stunning ballet costumes, and celestial accents. The color scheme was heavily inspired by this image from @lovetheark on Instagram—mossy dark green with pops of mint, pink, and gold. The logo design itself comes from Chloé (one of my favorite fashion brands!) and the stars on the angel print from the British Library's collection.
color palette and fonts
This is also a favorite part of mine, but was fairly stressful. I have an Illustrator file that is completely full of hundreds of color palettes—how on earth was I going to choose just one? I used my inspiration image to land on my top three, and then found myself truly drawn to these soft, muted tones. It reminded me of film photos or a faded old book (the best kind).
The fonts also took awhile, but I landed on Regatto Bold, Amalfi Coast, and Cutive Mono because of how well they worked together. I've always been a fan of typewriter fonts, so Cutive Mono was my first choice. I then chose a bold serif with just enough personality and charm to pull of the feel I was going for. Amalfi Coast is truly a beautiful font, and excellent for the magical, dreamy look I was going for while still being readable.
logos and elements
Landing on a logo was SO difficult. I have an entire document of lovely unused marks that I might use as secondary logos in the future, but I am so pleased with what I landed on. The Art Deco style stars came directly from the angel print, and then evolved into this eyelash style mark that I absolutely love. And of course, I couldn't leave out the shooting star.
brand ideology & imagery
This is the part of design I am newest to. Creating a "brand" is something I was familiar with but had little experience doing. I read a lot of blog posts and surfed Pinterest until I decided on some words that I thought would represent Mugglehug:
dreamy
mystical
magical
organic
glamorous
minimal
astrophilic
For those without a dictionary, an astrophile is someone who loves stars and space. I am also playing off of "muggle" by bringing in the magical and mystical elements, which I hope come across in the overall design I've created.
collateral design: seamless patterns
No lie, this was the hardest and yet most satisfying piece to this whole project. I had absolutely no idea how to make a seamless pattern, but after a lot of googling, I finally found a method that made sense and worked for me. I'm going to make another Design Tips blog post about it soon, just in case others are wondering.
Once I had it figured out, I could not stop making more of these repeating patterns. It is extremely satisfying to see Illustrator snap them together and see them fit perfectly!
social images
I loved when Instagram and Facebook switched to circular profile images, because it makes designing them that much more fun! Creating these buttons made me even more confident in my color palette, as I absolutely adore how each of them turned out.
The other images are for different types of posts I have here—Friday Favorites, Swatch Sunday, the Font Archives, etc. and incorporate the different fonts and elements I've been carrying through the other designs.
art images
Last but not least are the art images I've created to accompany blog posts and use on Instagram. The idea to do this was one hundred percent inspired by Brighten Made, whose website and grid are some of the most beautiful pieces of art I have yet encountered. Most of these pieces were made by messing around with different paint brushes in Procreate, which was a ton of fun. I can't wait to make more to feature!
That's it, folks! The steps I took in creating my new identity here on the internet.
