My final project for 2018 was this logo and business card design for a small arboriculture company in Auckland.

The logo was hand-drawn and then tidied up in Affinity Photo. I wanted the letters to retain an ‘organic’ quality and so I resisted the temptation to turn it into a black and white vector image.


The tree-line sketch (or, if you prefer, tree line-sketch) was drawn in black ink. I painted over some areas to boost the shadows and highlights prior to scanning. I then edited the trees (ever so slightly) to ensure that the tree heights looked good underneath the text.
As well as the pine/light brown colour, we also considered green and blue. Happily, the client went with pine brown which not only fits the brand identity beautifully, it also enables the finer details of the drawn elements to really stand out (the other colours were significantly darker when printed). And even though I was working on this right up until Christmas, I didn’t mind one bit because it just seemed so wonderfully 🌲🎄🌲 seasonally appropriate : )
love this – lettering is not easy. Was that actual tree rings added at the back…
Thank you, Maureen. Yes, actual pine tree rings. Well spotted.
My husband is a landscape architect in Otago/Southland so I really appreciate where you’ve taken this design. You achieved an awesome result!
Thank you very much, Liz : )