Birth of a Logo, Part 2 of 3

In part one, I described the complex and chaotic way that logo design is started, and the crushing weight of everything that goes into the process.

But amidst a jumble of half-cooked ideas, brilliant nuggets and outright failures, the designer eventually pulls things together. Shapes coalesce, colors sort themselves out, and visual balance starts to round out. Things start to get exciting. The chase is on.

Gross missteps and embarrassments still happen in this part of the process, but as solid ideas are honed in on, each miss is leading the designer closer to a hit, or – with hope – a home run.

The unappealing work I did at the start of the process for Seacoast Area Libraries (a bespectacled seal reading a book?) eventually morphed into something new, when I realized my manipulations of the New Hampshire state outline began to look like a lighthouse – a perfect symbol for the New England Seacoast.
Here, after much wrangling, are the results of combining those two ideas.

This one is "lighthouse-y" enough, but the outline of New Hampshire is too stylized and  almost impossible to pick out.

Here, the seacoast area profile is more understood, while the lighthouse image is still obvious. I put the seacoast area of New Hampshire next to a blue field representing the ocean, a helpful visual cue.

I was getting close.

After these initial ideas were sent to the client, the feedback was very positive. But one person remained unconvinced. She wrote: 

I feel like it is missing something... I would like the seacoast libraries to come across as dynamic & up-to-date, and I'm not sure that this logo does that. I am definitely not a graphic designer so I am very unqualified to suggest what might work better -- but maybe even something as simple as color or font?
Here are a few things that seem to be missing (as concepts):Movement, Color, Modern-ness, Font with more character - more life, Some nod to the importance of people (librarians! patrons!) & community

Ouch.
The pointedness of her comments proved she was indeed qualified.
As painful as it was to face rejection, I know I needed it in order to create my best work. I have learned over the years not only to accept constructive criticism, but to embrace it. And further, to find a substitute for it when no one is complaining. A friend, a message board or a group of peers become vital to the designer's progress. And if I can't find those things when convenient, I just criticize myself, as honestly as I can.

And in my heart of hearts, I knew she was right. I could do better. This criticism didn't discourage me; it motivated me. Show me a successful designer and I'll show you someone with thick skin and a resilient imagination.

So, I went back to the drawing board. The kernel of inspiration (the NH profile/Lighthouse idea) stayed, and everything else about this logo was fighting for its job.

In part three, I will kick things up a notch and produce a final logo for my client.