Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present. - Jim Rohn
Ah, that's so true. Today is the canvas of tomorrow. Alright, let's stop getting so deep! With so much going on, and my incoming rent being due soon, I've been sprinting on my projects like no tomorrow... Well sprinting as fast as I can without coming up with crappy designs. Even now, I'm alternating between writing this post, and designing 
I've been working closely with @Ausbitbank to produce a brand solution, or at least a head start on a brand image. The project that I worked on was surprising large spanning. I had came up with an initial logo design for his product, then an icon for that logo, with some variations. Then I designed a booklet for printing so that he has direction when it comes to designing his website or outsourcing any work.
Now, this design is a little bit different than my other projects. It's not a fancy illustration or traditional style of logo. It's a collection of guidelines. I'll try my best to walk you guys through it and show off what I came up with.
The client
So working with @Ausbitbank has been just absolutely stress-free. I mean 
When you talk to a whale, you can sense they don't really have an interest in talking to you like.. "Hey that's cool.." You can totally tell that they are probably talking to 20 people at once. Or that they really just don't care about what you have to say.
No diss intended to any of you whales out there!
I know you guys are way too busy to cater to every minnow that spams you!
But you know, talking to
And @Ausbitbank has a long history of making contributions to the steemit community. If you guys haven't voted for him as a witness, go vote for him right now! Seriously!
The brief
So considering this was a donation project and not a commission, the briefing was very informal.
However, it was very clear what steemvids needed as it had absolutely no direction in terms of design.
- Come up with a logo
- Simplistic, Professional, Easy to remember at first glance
- Like youtube, but not really
- Steem related
- Brand direction
So, with these guidelines set, I took off to sketching.
The Design
Now what ended up being really liked, and I mean, really liked by
Seriously, once he saw this one, he decided that was the one. The chain link reminds us that steem is based on blockchain technology. The shape reminds us of youtube, and when put together, it looks kind of like a film, and it looks like a ticket and the chains resemble tickets.
I'll be honest, I didn't really like it as much as
The style-guide. Now, this is sort of a hybrid of a branding strategy and a style-guide. I do go in detail as to how things should be handled when it comes to designing, and from these instructions, could be a good framework for a branding strategy. Like having this is a huge advantage especially at the stage that steemvids is at (Development of course).
This is actually pretty good stuff mate. Like, I really did show up for this project.
So yeah, designed a book that's ready to print filled with information on how steemvids should approach it's design. Feels good man, feels good. I mean, not to rant but, you guys have no idea how awesome the feeling is to bring all these different things together into one CLEAN and consistent package!
Final Thoughts
There are a few things that nag at me, and I know I'm going to be sending
@Ausbit was pretty happy with the work, and that makes me happy. I definitely want to get more projects in with him, and I'm sure in the future we will be working together again. I definitely look forward to it!
I really like doing these style guides too. Dipping my fingers in brand designing as well as my traditional logo design.
For this project, I've worked on it for 90+ hours give or take. There was a sketching phase I did not include here because I can't find the photos on my camera.
What would have been was to do some typography design in there. But writing and designing the style/brand guide took a lot of time.
Considering the amount of time, revenue potential, and scope of the project, this is something I would have charged 1,000 - 3,000 for. The gap is between that pricing is because I would have had a down payment for it, and there may have been more content and a lot more drafts.
More importantly, this wasn't just a logo design, this was pure direction and guidelines manifested. Every growing company needs this, as it keeps everything in line and consistent and not just a bundle of different things and experiences. And it's also an investment.
Lucky for me, 
I hope that other whales and top witnesses can learn from their example and together, we can make steemit more rewarding and grow it's potential.