Lauren Stubbs, Owner of Stubbs Mobile PT

For our first client spotlight of the year, we’re excited to share a fresh branding project for a brand-new business. We partnered up with Stubbs Mobile Physical Therapy in late 2020 to develop a custom logo and corresponding visual brand elements. Owner, Lauren Stubbs, recently started this mobile concierge physical therapy practice as a response to COVID-19 pandemic. Many outpatient physical therapy practices pivoted to include telehealth and some started offering PT at home, but Lauren jumped at the opportunity to make a fully mobile and telehealth practitioner available to the Triad for years to come.

Stubbs Mobile PT brings physical therapy to your home or private workspace to save you time and unnecessary hassle – all while keeping you safer than a traditional office setting. Being outside of insurance, Stubbs Mobile PT also offers preventative physical therapy services including an Annual Wellness Visit, Health Coaching, or Evaluation and Treatment before you have an injury (i.e. if something "just doesn't feel quite right"). Their goal is to provide top-quality service with longer appointment times and one-on-one individualized care so that you are feeling, moving, and living your best as soon as possible. 

We connected with Lauren while teaching Launch Greensboro’s Marketing 101 class. After discussing the importance of marketing and branding, she wanted to start things off strong with a bold and eye-catching brand. Knowing that a standout look would be crucial to marketing her business, we wanted a logo that would translate flawlessly to polo shirts, sprinter vans, and client swag. 

In the initial branding stages, it was clear Lauren was looking for a pictorial mark to accent her logo type and wanted to emphasize a feeling of movement and energy. Friendly, attentive, trustworthy and proactive are just a few of the words that were used to describe the desired look and feel of Stubbs Mobile PT’s future branding. 

One of our favorite stages of the branding process, a mood board helps ensure we’re on the same page as our client. By assigning visuals to the words we’ve been using, we can begin to home in on a feel for the future brand. 

After presenting three mood board options, we refined Lauren’s favorite to have an even more high-energy and vibrant feel. Lauren had mentioned aquas and blues during our initial branding kick-off, and we ended up tailoring her favorite option to include two shades of blue. The final product? A look that hinged on vibrant colors and energetic scenes. Healthy eating, movement, and the outdoors are central to Lauren’s business and we wanted to reflect that from the very early stages of the process.  

After narrowing down Lauren’s favorite mood board concept, it was time to move on to the logo design phase. Ultimately, we went through 4 rounds of initial concepts, and four rounds of color options to narrow down the exact look and feel. 

Many of the initial concepts incorporated kettle bell imagery, hearts, play or motion. After some brainstorming, we landed on the wording concept of “pressing play.” Used with various action phrases, this tagline could be targeted to a wide range of clients. You’ll see the main logo incorporates the phrase “Press play on being pain free.” 

The final logo uses pops of bright oranges, aqua, and yellow – all anchored by a deep blue. These colors pop on any timeline, and the graphic mark adds an element of action. The graphic mark is a take on a press play symbol – which ties into the tagline and lends itself well to use on social media. When working in tandem, all these elements create an action-packed look that’s sure to be eye catching and memorable. 

We’re thrilled with how this rebrand went, and we’re not the only ones. Hear firsthand from business owner, Lauren Stubbs, about the process: 

“I really enjoyed the entire process of working with Hannah at Hue & Tone Creative. Being a first-time entrepreneur, I knew little about the branding process. Hannah guided me through it with confidence and understanding... even when decision-making was tough because she had created multiple amazing logo options. If I could have two logos I would, because that's how great both of the final options were. Despite the Hue & Tone office and my home office being less than 1 mile apart, we went through the entire process virtually (due to COVID-19). The virtual experience didn't detract from the branding process, but I loved knowing we were both members of the same community. Knowing our proximity, ties to Launch Greensboro, and both being women business owners, gave me a sense of connection even though we never met in-person. Supporting small and local businesses, whether walking distance in downtown Greensboro or in the greater Triad area is a central tenet of Stubbs Mobile PT. Being able to work with someone locally yielded excellent results and I'm extremely excited about launching my new look. In fact, in the few weeks since we've unveiled our new logo we've already received positive comments on social media!”

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Want to learn more about Lauren’s business? Head over to her website to learn more! Or, follow her on Instagram here for regular PT, fitness, and movement tips!

This is our last blog post of 2020! After recharging out of the office we’ll be back on January 13, 2021 with fresh blog content. Have a topic request for 2021? We’d love to address any subject you need help with on our blog! Contact us here to share a topic suggestion or leave a comment on this blog post!

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For our last blog of the year, we’ve got an impactful and moving holiday campaign from Crisis Assistance Ministries to share with you.

The mission of Crisis Assistance Ministry (CAM) is to provide assistance and advocacy for people in financial crisis, helping them move toward self-sufficiency. They serve as a one-stop shop for Mecklenburg families facing poverty.  Whether providing a coat to a woman who is homeless, a utility payment for a single father who is trying to keep his home warm, or rental assistance for a veteran who has fallen on hard times, they preserves the dignity of customers while preventing homelessness and eviction. 

This was our second year working with CAM on their annual holiday campaign, and we were thrilled to get the opportunity to support this important cause. The work we did for this holiday giving campaign included designing a campaign logo, letter, card, and envelopes. 

This year’s campaign focused on a theme of “giving the gift of HOME.” Home stands for Help, Opportunity, Motivation, and Empathy. Early designs of the logo spelled out this acronym, but in the end, we opted for a simple logo design and the cozy imagery of a home decorated for the holidays. 

The campaign logo depicts the silhouette of a home, a heart, a key, and a light to draw a key connection between CAM’s services and the campaign. 

The card design features a caretaker and child looking out into the snowy night from the warmth of their home. Simple, yet classic, this scene evokes a wide range of emotions in the viewer – hopefully inspiring them to provide the gift of HOME to a deserving family. 

This campaign launched in November and is still going on today! If you’d like to learn mor or make a donation, head over to crisisassistance.org/holiday.

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Hue & Tone Creative: Design for non-profits 

Is your non-profit looking to launch a campaign of its own? Hue & Tone offers flexible and creative design solutions for nonprofits of all sizes. Let’s build a purposeful partnership today – reach out to learn more about cost-effective options for 501(c)3 nonprofits. 

In the fall of 2019, we partnered up with local lover Luck Davidson to brand her new blog. Named “SoLocal Life,” her new platform focuses on highlighting local people, places, and indie businesses. With a home-base of Greensboro, Luck builds community while eating, drinking, shopping, dog walking, and asking lots of questions.

We set out to help her build her community with a brand she could be proud of. Before we could start designing logos, we needed to narrow down the feel of Luck’s brand.

The best way to do this? Setting forth a series of five mood boards that all demonstrate a different feel and energy.

The winner? The below mood board… but with one request — we incorporate even brighter colors! Less earth tones and livelier hues.

Once we got to the logo development stage, we kept Luck’s preference for brighter colors in mind. But first, we had to narrow down a concept. We toyed around with a variety of fun fonts, organic elements, and playful ideas. Here’s a sampling of some of the black & white concepts we considered:

Ultimately, we ended up with a seal logo that incorporated the tagline “All Things Local.” Our final logo incorporated a bright pop of pink, a saturated green, and a vibrant blue. Deep grey and a soothing tan ground this color scheme.

Four variations of the logo ensure that there’s a mark to fit every space!

SoLocal Life launched earlier this year into — and while COVID has thrown many local businesses into flux, Luck’s support and online presence haven’t wavered. With local businesses working to make it through the pandemic, there’s no better person to follow for updates on all your favorite Boro businesses.

Follow Luck + SoLocal Life on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And, stay up to date with her website here!

It’s easy to spot a bad logo once it’s been created, but what should you be on the lookout for before the design process even begins? 

We see poorly designed logos every day – sometimes as a result of shoddy design work and sometimes as a result of miscommunication between client and designer. No matter what the reason, it’s important to know what makes a good quality logo before the design process even begins. 

If you’re just beginning to consult with a designer – or, you’re a novice designer just getting into brand design – we’ve got 7 common mistakes for you to look out for. 

1. Not considering black and white

If your logo relies heavily on gradients, 3-D effects or a specific color then you’re setting yourself up for failure. No element of your logo should only be distinguishable or in context when the logo is in full color. A properly designed logo will have a strong form and be recognizable as your brand even when printed in black and white. 

You don’t want to embroider your logo on hundreds of shirts only to find that it’s no longer identifiable. If you make sure to create a black and white version of your logo in the very early stages of the branding process, you’ll save yourself from any unhappy surprises down the road.

2. Not designing for all formats 

Every good logo needs to work for something as large as a billboard, but should also be able to printed on something as small as a lapel pin. 

Your logo should be future-proofed – meaning that no matter where it needs to be printed in the future, it will still work well. If your business needs a new branded product, you shouldn’t need to engage a designer to update the logo to make sure it works well on a new product. 

 However, designing for all formats may mean that you have multiple variations of your logo. That doesn’t mean your main logo isn’t effective, it just means that your designer has thought through all the possible applications and designed something that will work for every medium. 

3. Getting too trendy 

A properly designed logo might not look exactly like everyone else’s – and that’s a good thing. Your designer should be creating an original graphic based on your business and it’s unique appeal to customers. 

While you might want an ultra-sleek mark that mirrors what you see Google or Facebook doing, that doesn’t mean it’s the right look for your business. Your logo should be distinct and unique to your business and you shouldn’t get caught up in what everyone else is doing. If you do, chances are you’ll have to update things a few years down the road when the rest of the design hivemind sets its sights on a new trend. 

4. Utilizing raster images 

A professional logo requires professional software – any logo you’re able to create using freeware or that is delivered to you in a JPEG format isn’t going to work down the road. 

When you engage a designer be sure you request your logo in a .EPS or .Ai format – these are vector file formats, meaning they can be scaled to ANY size down the road. Beware, a Photoshop file is a raster image, meaning there’s a limit to the size it can be scaled. 

5. Tacky symbols and excessive inclusions 

There’s no need to include copyright symbols, “LLC”, “Inc.” or registration symbols in your logo. They clutter up the final design and are often distracting from the rest of the logo. Other than on tax forms, you should leave these designators out.  

6. Not investing in a quality designer

Whether you hold a contest, ask a friend to design your logo, or utilize somewhere like Fiverr, you can expect to get what you paid for…. or didn’t pay for. 

Logos are important, which is why they typically cost thousands of dollars. If you don’t budget accordingly, you can expect to cost yourself money down the road when you run into problems with your file formats, scaling… or even issues like plagiarism. 

7. Creating a logo, but not a brand 

While your logo may be a crucial building block for your brand, it’s not your whole brand. Don’t make the mistake of stopping the design process after your logo has been created, because it’s just one piece of the puzzle.

A well thought out set of brand colors, typography, alternate marks, and brand symbols are all crucial to creating a full brand identity. Before you engage a designer, make sure they can help you with the whole branding process and don’t intend to send you on your way with just a logo.  

We suggest asking for a brand guide or brand sheet that outlines all the elements of your brand and how to use each. 

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Hue & Tone Creative: Your logo and branding partner 

Your logo is a major investment – so pick the right design firm to invest in. Hue & Tone Creative is a boutique design firm specializing in all things visual, and we would love to partner up with you on your next big rebrand. 

Completely devoid of design sense? Struggling to put in words why others should support your business? It may be time to bring some outside help in. Whether you’re thinking about hiring an agency, graphic designer, or web designer, there’s a few things you need to know before hiring outside help.

We’ve pulled together some of our best articles from over the last year to help answer some of the big questions you’ll run into when hiring outside help.

Whether you’re a new business just getting off the ground, your business is suddenly growing, or you’ve just realized you’re in too deep — we’ve got an article here for you.

Best post if you’re just getting started: The essentials: Must have marketing assets for new businesses

You know you need the basics like a logo and business cards – but what other marketing assets should you make a priority? We’re here to tell you what you need it, why you need it, when you need it, and how you get it.

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Best post if you’re looking into doing a rebrand: 7 reasons why you should invest in a professional logo design

Your logo is an integral part of your brand. It identifies you. It distinguishes you. And it creates consistency across everything you do. This post breaks down how a professional can design a logo that has meaning, purpose and power.

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Best post if you’re in the process of finding a designer: 15 Questions to ask your designer before hiring them

Entrusting your business’s online presence to a trained professional is an excellent choice.  However, before journeying any further, there’s something you must consider: you’re the boss. Like with any other hire, it’s your responsibility to find the right talent to perform the task. Here are 15 questions you should ask a designer before shouting, in boss-like fashion, “you’re hired!”

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Best post if you might need website help: Pros and Cons: DIY Web Design vs. Hiring a Web Designer

You’re in need of a new website, but you’re not sure if you should take a stab at it yourself or hire outside help. It all depends on your needs. While web site builders make it easier than ever for non-designers to pull together their own website, they don’t work for everyone. If you’re a tech savvy business owner who needs a simple site, they might be a great option. But, if you’re tech-challenged, short on time, or in need of a more custom site you probably need to consider hiring a web designer.

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Best post if you already know you need website help: What’s the difference between a graphic designer and a developer?

As online tools make it easier for people to learn new skills there’s been more and more overlap between the jobs of graphic designer and developer. Although they are experiencing more and more of each other’s worlds, there are still several clear-cut differences between the skillsets of graphic designers and developers — so, who do you need to hire?  

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Best post no matter who you are: How to give honest feedback without frustrating your designer

If you do it right, giving feedback won’t be perceived as negative. In fact, it’s an important part of the design process – and it’s something that your designer is anticipating. But giving feedback in an unproductive way can lead to an overall unproductive relationship between you and the creative you hired. 

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Hue & Tone: Your new marketing partner

You probably made it to this blog post because you’re considering hiring an outside designer. We’d love to throw our hat in the ring! 🎩🙋🏻‍♀️No matter who you are or what stage your business is at, we’d love to sit down and tell you why we’re the right marketing partner for you. Let’s set something up: 336-365-8559.

Your logo is an integral part of your brand. It identifies you. It distinguishes you. And it creates consistency across everything you do.

Anybody can design any old logo. A professional can design a logo that has meaning, purpose and power. So, without further ado, here are our top seven cases for putting some investment behind your business’ logo.

1.  First impressions

You only have one shot to make a first impression, and a shoddy logo could shoot you in the foot. Put yourself in consumers’ shoes. If you’re looking to purchase a product or service and you stumble across a brand that has a logo that looks like it was made on Paint, it doesn’t set a very good tone for what’s behind the scenes.

2.  Relevancy

Telling a story through design takes a certain skill. A skill that not everyone (understandably!) has. From the colors, icons, images, fonts and sizes in your logo, to be truly impactful, every single element needs to have a purpose. And that, readers, is what a professional is paid to do.

3.  Trustworthy

The quality of your logo says a lot about you as a business. A poor logo can be construed as a poor brand, and we know that’s not the outcome you’re after.

Whether it’s a misaligned character, pixilated border or crazy color scheme, below par logos look inferior. High quality logos, on the other hand, give you an ora of professionalism, value and authority - all of which can give you one up over your competitors.

4.  Memorable

A strong logo is instantly identifiable. Whether it’s placed on a billboard, letterhead, social media or paid advert (and everything else in between!), it pulls peoples’ eyes to it, and it’s easily recognizable.

Professionals know that less can be more. That outrageous colors aren’t needed to attract attention. And that designs have to gel with a variety of settings. And they incorporate all of that into your finished product.

5.  Evergreen

As with almost everything in life, logos evolve. What might be spot on for your brand right now might feel slightly off in a few years - but that’s okay. You’ll not find many businesses out there that haven’t adapted their logo over the years, but the key is that they’re adaptable.

Entirely revamping your logo can damage your business’ brand awareness, which is why it’s more about continual tweaks than a complete do over. With a professional by your side, you’ll get a solid logo that’s designed to stand the test of time - bar the potential small touch ups now and then.

6.  Showcases your brand

Your logo is a pivotal part of your brand’s story and values. It’s your chance to let your personality shine through and showcase what you're all about! As an example, here are some of adidas’ logo milestones:

Same brand. Different logo. Completely contrasting messages.

7. Adaptable

Logos are needed left, right and centre. What might work perfectly fine on your website, might not necessarily sit right on your business card. That said, you absolutely don’t want two completely different versions that aren’t in-line with one another.

What you want, and need, is a few variations that fit in any given placement - for example, one that’s for a black background and one that’s for a white background - that are instantly associated with one another.

We could go on and on, but we’ll wrap it up at number seven. If you’re interested in sprucing up an existing logo or are a new brand starting from scratch, why not get in touch to see how we could help?

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Hue & Tone Creative: Logo and Branding in the Triad

Are you now convinced that you need professional help with your logo design? We think we might just be the perfect people to help you out. From logos to branding, and everything in between, we can help you create a lasting impression. But if you're feeling a little unsure we'll let our design work speak for itself.

The New Year is all about making positive changes: taking up a new hobby, improving your exercise routine, or embarking on another personal journey. Something else you might want to update? Your logo. As your company’s primary visual symbol, your logo is one of your brand’s most important assets. If you haven’t changed it in a while, here are a few signs it’s time for an upgrade.

It was a DIY project.

It’s no secret that fledgling businesses are strapped for cash, and it’s not uncommon for startups to hand the logo design to an artistic friend or family member. Now that your business has had a chance to grow a bit, it may be time to enlist the help of a professional graphic designer. A professional designer will have the best skills and experience necessary to create a modern, polished design that can compete in today’s marketplace.

It was designed for print media.

Ten years ago, company logos were most likely to appear on stationery, in newspapers, and in yellow pages. Nowadays, most consumers are squinting at websites on their phones. If your logo was designed for other times, certain details might not have been taken into consideration.

Ask yourself the following questions: is your logo still legible when shrunk to fit a smaller screen? Does it mesh well with your website design, colors, and fonts? Does it still command attention when placed on a web page with competing information? You might also want a logo that makes an appealing mobile app—think of Apple, whose infamous logo doubles as a desktop icon.

Your business has evolved. Your logo hasn’t.

Almost all businesses grow and change with time, adapting to different marketplace demands. For instance, you may have started a bookstore ten years ago, and expanded to offer coffee and small gift items. Does your logo reflect what you now offer? If not, it may be time for a logo that better represents your current services.

It uses dated design trends.

Many graphic design elements which were once extremely popular can now make a logo look dated. Color gradients, drop shadows, and “glossy” buttons are all design features that are—for lack of a better word—so 1990s. If your business is spelled out in Papyrus font or, heaven forbid, Comic Sans, it’s probably time to refresh.

Your company has made, or is making, significant changes.

Moves, mergers, and acquisitions: there are countless huge changes which can affect businesses. If your company has undergone a huge identity change, a new logo can deliver brand clarification that signifies new, better things are happening for your company.

It’s never been changed. Ever.

Many business owners worry that once their logo changes, their business will lose its brand recognition. But these concerns never stopped Starbucks, Google, or countless other popular brands from pursuing a change. A skilled graphic designer will be able to keep your brand’s core identity while still polishing the logo for a modern audience. A sleeker, more refined logo will signify to the marketplace that your company is present, relevant, and not afraid to embrace new challenges and new techniques—while retaining the core values that it has always held.

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Greensboro Graphic Design Company: Hue & Tone

Looking for a graphic designer in Greensboro, Winston Salem or the surrounding areas? Hue & Tone is a creative graphic design agency specializing in logo design, web design, social media management, and more. Be sure to check out our design portfolio to see clients we’ve helped in the past, and give us a call if you’d like us to build you a custom, modern logo that truly tells your story.

I've mentioned our work for Revolution Mill, a historic redevelopment site in Greensboro offering office and event space, a restaurant and (soon) residential.  Here's a look at the print and web collateral we created for Creating Community Week, a series of events aimed at sharing the vision of Revolution Mill with the public.

A few notes about the work: 

• The design needed some visual and textual continuity, which is why we developed the seal-style logo you see here.
• A consistent (but not rigid) color scheme of red and teal adds to the continuity between each piece.
• The look here is consistent but not uniform, as the audience for each event varied -- from residents of the surrounding neighborhood to creatives/ad agencies to CEOs and community officials.

Let us know what you think! We'll be back tomorrow with a few links to end the week.