Early JJ Mark in Sketchbook
As you’ll recall, I’ve been developing marketing materials for the Jesus Journey course that’s under development.
The Letter J
Right away I started to play with the letter ‘J’. I looked at lots and lots of fonts:
As I looked, I kept thinking about Isaiah 53
“His servant grew up like a tender young plant.
He grew like a root coming up out of dry ground.
He didn’t have any beauty or majesty that made us notice him.
There wasn’t anything special about the way he looked that drew us to him”
I realized I was looking for something normal, something human, something beautiful because it was simple. I wanted the logo and the lettering to be relatable, not too formal, not too fancy. I ruled out scripts. I ruled out trendy fonts. I looked for something solid and sturdy that I could build a mark out of…
I landed on Barlow. It’s simple, solid, and sturdy looking. I liked the ‘J’. The tail of it curves straight up. The corners of it are very subtly rounded.
At this point, I will often go through dozens and dozens of iterations before landing on something I think is working. But with this mark, things came together rather quickly. I think in part because that initial sketch feels fairly complete.
Here’s what I came up with:
As I worked and reflected on the mark, I began to see quite a bit of symbolism:
The ‘JJ’ Symbol
Built using the ‘J’ from logotype
Bold thick lines
Added crossbar to ‘J’ for a sense of motion and visual interest
The Square Holding Shape
Bold thick lines
Solid, sturdy shape to emphasize Jesus’ corporeal reality, His humanity, & the significance of who He is
A Fishhook
The ‘JJ’ symbol reflects the shape of a fishhook
Symbolic suggestion of becoming ‘fishers of men’
An Anchor
The ‘JJ’ symbol reflects the shape of an anchor
Symbolic suggestion of trustworthiness, security, and safety, going deep
A Mirror
The first ‘J’ is reflected
Symbolic suggestion of expressing christlikeness and imaging God
When I showed this mark to the team that is creating the curriculum, they immediately ‘got it’. They’ve already asked for final versions so they can begin using it.
Soonish I’ll post more… There are colors and other elements to talk about!
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