After years of debating, shopping, discussion, and test runs at various vacation rentals my parents decided to purchase a vacation home; I am overjoyed! I spent much of my childhood playing in the snow around “Aunt Lee’s Cabin” in Crestline (in the mountains above San Bernardino). It was a perfect easy getaway for our family when I was a kid, and I have many fond memories of the house and area.
The mountains my folks settled on are outside of Murphys, in Arnold, California. They had a very specific vision for their getaway, fueled by pinterest boards, research, and years of house-hunting practice. They wanted a chalet – and they found one. The chalet has been completely renovated and decorated beautifully. My task was to create a logo, brand, and website for the rental.
Look & Feel
Mom has been keeping a pinterest board:
Follow Denise’s board Chalet on Pinterest.
The colors used throughout the house are red, teal, and gray. We had some fun debating names like:
- Camp Runamok
- The Deer Meadow Ghetto
- Camp Hogan
- Beaver Lodge
- Snowshoe Chalet
I took the chosen colors and actually created the website first. I looked for a WordPress theme with large images, a focus on blog entries, and the ability to customize fonts and colors. I’ll continue to update the site as time permits but the basic details are there. Currently a local management company is taking care of the rentals and cleaning.
The Logo
I did a few sketches for fun, but nothing I was super happy with so I turned to Canva to create a lot of different logo treatments very quickly. They picked a favorite and I customized it with their feedback (that part I did in Illustrator).
Customization of the Chosen Logo
They liked the hexagon version. So I took a screenshot and recreated it, changing fonts and adding some decorative elements. They asked to keep the second line, which we eventually changed to read “Heart of the Sierra” (a play on the Alsace heart and French Alps theme).
After another round of feedback I went back to black and white to ensure the elements played well together before I worried too much about color. I also fashioned an Alsace Heart icon for the accent.
Final Logo
I created a final version in both color and black and white. I think the elements describe the feeling and amenities of the place.
- The logo colors are reflected throughout the house and stem from visions of Swiss mountaineering (imagine a gray wool blanket with the red cross), and the teal of a nearby lake, gray rain clouds of spring, and smoke from the wood fire. The French Alps were also a strong influence.
- The icon is an alsace heart and the flower and leaves reflect the nature surrounding the chalet: spring flowers, shrubs, and bushes.
- The main font Courgette feels French and the secondary font is a classic Swiss variation similar to Helvetica.
- The hexagon modernizes the logo and speaks to the highly connected tech within the house, wifi, roku, and flat screen TVs.
You are an artist AND a poet, Heather Hogan! How eloquently you have described, and even defined, the family cabin dream. We adore the logo, thank you.
Love sharing life with you, Treasured One.