OPEN HEART
The Making of Salt + Charm
I am so very excited to give you all a little peak behind the curtain of Salt + Charm and introduce you to one of my favorite people, Lindsey Pruitt! I have known this woman for many many years and it was my privilege to enlist her help when I was ready to create this space. What I love most about Lindsey is her heart to encourage and support other women as they pursue their passions. {and also: she is stupid talented}
This journey was so very challenging in all the most wonderful ways! I invited Linds to share with you all a little about her creative process and how she helped me create the Salt + Charm branding. So enough from me – I’ll turn it over to her now!!
Hi everyone!
I’m so thrilled to dive in and discuss the process behind the branding!
To begin, a little about me:
I am a full-time independent Art Director & Graphic Designer living in the Queen City (Charlotte, NC), and my number one focus/clients are #girlbosses. We run the world, right?
It is my joy to come together with women who are fearlessly RUNNING after their passions, to help them bring their ideas to life and share them with the world through fresh branding & identity. I am passionate about authenticity, creativity, and making this world a more inspiring and empowering place- and I believe we CAN do that as long as we women continue to encourage, support & celebrate each other’s successes and unique endeavors.
a little peek into my workspace…
About the project:
There’s so many tiny details that go into every element of building a brand- and it is my most favorite thing to sit down with a client (especially when that client is someone I know and love) to dive into what we are creating, and first ask the biggest question: “why?”.
Why do you love what you love? Why are you doing this? What do you want to say? How will it effect others / make a difference? What unique thing do you have to offer the world, and how can you do it most authentically?”
These are the questions I am passionate about. These are the questions that, when we dig and find the truest answers, show us who we really are, and bring vital clarity to our identity and to a project. I’ve known Abbye McGee for YEARS, so I felt like I had a good grasp on her heart / what she loves / who she is – but it was an incredible experience to watch as she found the answers to the “why” for herself.
Lots of almost-tangible “lightbulb” moments happened in my little apartment over numerous lattes, avocado toast, and pad thai. It’s something special that I’ll always remember.
So, what was the why? Why Salt + Charm?
Healing. Vulnerability. FOOD. Community. Growth. More food. An open heart that says, “me too.” An open door that says, “come in.” Warmth. Honesty. A space for food & life, and all of the beautiful crazy mess in between.
Once we have the why figured out, then it’s time to make the mood board… and here was Abbye’s:
I spend a lot of time before projects researching my client, finding the patterns in the things they love, and collecting imagery and little details that I feel speak to who they are, so that when it’s time to put the mood board together everything just feels right.
Abbye and I collected inspo for quite a while leading up to her visit, and it is truly the coolest experience for me to piece together those visuals & watch as someone sees it all make sense together. I know a mood board is finished when the client says,
“THAT is my SOUL on a page.”
Back when I was living with Abbye (pre-Salt + Charm), we would do a lot of food shoots together and dream up what this blog right here could be one day. One day she brought home the most GORGEOUS octopus plate from Anthropologie, and I think I considered stealing it when I moved out.
Fast forward to this past Christmas when I was in Anthro and found the matching saucer & mug, and of course had to buy it for her. (after convincing myself I didn’t need it, and that true friendship is sacrificial…)
What I love is that while neither of us knew at the time what would come of Salt + Charm this year, that beautiful octopus found its way into the branding. The main feature, nonetheless.
When we were talking about the dichotomy of Salt + Charm (charming but salty, lovely but edgy, beautiful but not too beautiful…) we realized that an octopus was the perfect representation of those things.
And then this gorgeous, vintage, illustrated fella set the style for the rest of the branding:
What I love even more than the surprising choice of an octopus, is that he didn’t really represent food or life specifically- the two main topics on this blog. I always love when branding doesn’t have to be so obvious or specific, but sets a tone / style that does all the talking.
The octopus was such an abstract way to represent the idea of Salt + Charm without us saying LOOK AT THIS BLOG IT IS ABOUT FOOD AND ALSO ABOUT LIFE AND I REALLY WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT OKAY
But then there was the task of figuring out, beyond the main concept, how in the world to tie in more visuals that could represent the ideas Abbye was wanting to talk about in this space. And that, my friends, led us to the search of hundreds of vintage engravings of herbs, plants, florals, animals, fruits, hands and body parts (don’t ask), and the list goes on…
This is when I got extremely excited and could really see it all coming together. After hours of searching and settling on the right engravings, we nailed down the idea of tying each of those to a blog category- blending blog topics with visuals- and that is how we arrived here:
THE MAKING OF SALT + CHARM
Once the mood / aesthetic, color palette, type, and elements of a brand are in place like this- then I can go to work bringing the branding to life through design. And that is the part of the process that I find so. much. joy. in.
Having all of these beautiful vintage elements to work with didn’t hurt, either. (Maybe I’ll force all of my clients to use vintage engravings? Kidding. Sort of.)
I was able to create a complex version of the logo for Abbye that I had started dreaming up months prior- I just didn’t know at the time what the individual pieces would be. I spent the last few days leading up to the launch finishing up the various final graphics, and seeing it all come together.
social media headers…
This project is so close to my heart because I love Abbye so dearly, and am continuously inspired by her honest writings, her love for people, and her magical ways in a kitchen. The fact that she chose and trusted me with such a big dream and personal project is an honor.
Thank you for stopping by and spending some time with me today. I hope you’ve enjoyed the “behind the scenes” look at Salt + Charm. I hope you’ll leave us some comments below & engage in conversation, I’d love to talk with you!
Wishing each one of you the courage to run after your unique passions & dreams,
Lindsey.
Follow Along: @lindspruitt, For Inquiries: lindsey@thepruitts.co
Love all that went into this project! The site and the details are amazing and so well done. Lindsey beautiful work & Abbye I love your story and how this came about
Hey Lindsey,
Hoping to hear some of your process as far as timelines go. When in the creative process, it’s hard to scope out timelines for specific pieces of projects that wind up taking more focus than anticipated. How did you work with salt charm to communicate that and work out a launch date, being two very adaptive creatives?
Hey Julie! Such a great question. First, with Abbye it was a long timeline simply due to our schedules, living in different cities, and her patiently waiting for me to wrap up with other clients this past season. However, in general with clients when we are in the beginning stages, I find out their desired deadline date, break down the project into phases, and send them a proposal of how long each phase will take in hours, and how much those hours cost.
It took me over a year to realize that I was always estimating less hours and then working more for less money. I started to view the phases in real, 9-5 work hours and that helped me understand that "40hrs" (one work week) isn’t a ton, it’s actually very little. Or that 90 HOURS sounds like forever to spend on a logo, but break that down to Mon-Fri 9-5, and that’s only spending 2 full weeks on a logo creation.
Seeing my time that way and presenting it to my clients in a practical way they can understand, has made both parties happier and on the same page.
Hope that helps! 🙂
That is great to hear from someone else, because I understimate consistently in scoping hours. Also as a side note, wheeerrrreeeee did you get that amazing floral pillow in your instagram posts?
Hey Lindsey.
Where did you get all these beautiful engravings. Did you illustrate them yourself?
Hi Laura! I have ThinkStock accounts & iStock – there’s fantastic resources on each for vintage illustrations & licenses for them. Not cheap but worth the value! 🙂
Lindsey,
I’ve been following you on Instagram for quite a while because I adore your style. I appreciate how well articulated and detailed this post was, and it has brought many ideas to my mind about how to someday bring to life a business plan that I have been mulling over. Perhaps one day you could help turn my idea into a living and breathing brand. Do you work with clients at a distance or do you prefer to meet only in person to plan branding? Thank you for leading me to this blog through social media, I’ll be sure to continue following Salt and Charm.
Hi! Would love to work with you someday. Fun fact- ALL of my clients are from afar and spread out all over the US! It’s a fun process of getting to know them so closely over numerous emails, chats, mock ups, and project details. Thank you following along on Insta! Would love to know your username so I can say hi 🙂
It’s @jmseifried. I’m a journalist/historian by profession but looking long term into a documentary videography career with some special focuses. I’ll be sure to stay in touch as things come together in the future. Thank you for your interest!