As a graphic designer, my job is to constantly think of new ways to represent things.

Be it emotions, information, corporate mission statements, whatever it may be. The art of my trade isn’t to merely illustrate but to cleverly incorporate said illustrations and elements into something both aesthetically pleasing and meaningful to the audience. In plain English, what combination of colors, shapes, type and elements can coalesce into a form which portrays an abstract concept?

That question is at the heart of every logo design I attempt and none more so perhaps than my annual Christmas logo. Christmas, to me, as to many worldwide is a glorious celebration that involves a consistent palette of traditions. This is what makes designing a logo for the holiday both tricky and simplistic.

On one hand, many of the guidelines have been laid out on how to do this — time and time again.

The prototypical depiction of Christmas will usually involve some mix of reds and greens, maybe white, and repeated shapes or elements. Perhaps some references to Santa or secular traditions will be made, or a more religious approach could be taken.  If it sounds like I’m being patronizing towards depictions of Christmas, please don’t misunderstand. The topic is actually of such importance to me that you’ll notice my prior logo references nearly all of the aforementioned elements in some way.

To me, whether you celebrate Christmas as a devoted Christian, or a shopaholic, Christmas can mean many things, but at the core of it is fun. I want to depict “fun” in all of my Christmas logos and I understand that “fun” can mean many things to many people. A crazy logo like that from 2012 (pictured above) can be fun, but there are other forms of elegance that can be attained.

In admiring Christmas styled art directions and logos, I notice a couple of things, that I try to keep in mind in my own logo design. There’s something I like to call the “Childlike” Christmas and the “Mature” Christmas.

The child-like version is usually full of bright reds and greens, very “pop” art in its appearance and makes use of splashes of color or snowflakes. The elegant side of the holiday, on the other hand is more subdued, using deeper reds, and maybe even blue and white or silver to portray a tranquil side to the holiday that is equally important.

It should go without explaining that last year’s Christmas logo was clearly a “child-like” view of the holiday, and that was perfectly form fitting for the time. However, this year as I slowly (some may argue too slowly) transition from child to adult, I feel my logo design should do the same. This year’s creation will feature a similar positive vibe but with a different palette of colors and most notably, the sample of type, stenciled by hand and scanned into Photoshop with the utmost care.

I’ll be debuting the newest logo with pride on Sunday, and I eagerly await the reactions of my friends and family (as well as WordPress followers, of course) to the new design. However you choose to go about it, stay creative and have a Merry Christmas!