Saturday 25 September 2010

The importance of being Gooseberry Bush


Most of the time when we are asked to design a corporate image or logo, the client has a vague idea of the sort of thing he or she wants and usually has already decided upon a name.

Sometimes, however, we get the chance to work on a completely blank canvas.

This was the case recently when we were commissioned to design a corporate identity for a startup business run by a group of registered midwives offering antenatal, postnatal and breastfeeding classes in South Wales.

The first thing we had to do was decide upon a name.

We had a brainstorming session and came up with several possible suggestions.

The words "Bun" and "Oven" came readily to mind of course! The Stork and The Delivery Service were other names that were bandied about, but the name that was ultimately decided upon was Gooseberry Bush - the answer that parents sometimes give small children in response to the perennial question: "where do babies come from?".

It was felt that this name would portray the business in a lighthearted and memorable way.

Research was carried out to discover if anyone else was using this name and although there were several shops selling baby clothes called Gooseberry Bush, there were no anti-natal clinics or similar businesses using it.

We also looked into the availability of a domain name, and although, not surprisingly, www.gooseberrybush.co.uk had been taken, we managed to secure www.gooseberrybush.biz.

The first design idea we submitted for the logo hit the nail pretty much on the head and after a few small tweaks the final design was agreed upon. We then applied to the Intellectual Property Office to have the the logo and name registered as a trademark.

With this key element in place the identity was implemented on to a range of stationery and work started on a website.

The business was finally launched with an advertising campaign using the headline: "we wish you a happy birth day"