The Story Behind the Resting Place Logo

How I Designed a Logo That Honors Grief and Light: The Story Behind Resting Place

How It Started

Resting Place began in my mind gradually. A year after my mom died I relocated to The Woodlands, TX. It was a move I had been planning to make for a long time. First I put it off because I went to graduate school in California, then my mom was diagnosed, and finally the pandemic hit. All that to say when I finally relocated, one of the hardest adjustments was not being able to drive to the Memorial Park anytime I wanted. I noticed there is a limited market for grave decorations, so I got creative with crafts that I thought reflected her personality. Putting it together was a happy distraction.

The Problem I Couldn’t Ignore

When I came to Texas I planned to hire someone through Task Rabbit or even a gig for a college student at my alma mater, Santa Clara University. I planned to shop at Michael's still, opting for store pick up at a location convenient for whoever did the gig. It turns out I couldn't find anyone reliable even when I was willing to spend up to $400 for travel time and cleaning/placing decorations. As time passed I wondered if this was isolated to the bay area. I searched for grave decorating in Houston and found it didn't exist. Sometimes while I was in line doing a random errand I would pick another city just to see. The outcome was the same.

Designing With Meaning

When I decided to give this a go, I began with pathos. The sentiment I wanted to evoke was optimism without discounting the heaviness of death. I've always been drawn to anything "vintage", "old school", and "hand made" so I decided the logo had to feel nostalgic. As I contemplated how to convey innocence and nostalgia, I remembered how the ShowTime production of The Tudors popularized the myth that Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn wore yellow to both insult and pay homage to Catherine of Aragon. It was a subtle detail in the series, but their yellow attire was said to have dual meanings. In English culture the color was widely considered celebratory whereas in Spanish culture (Catherine's lineage) it was said to be somber. When I researched it, yellow has never been a common color to wear to funerals or indicate mourning in Spain, though some Asian and Latin American cultures do commonly attribute yellow to mourning.

Why Yellow Felt Right

That's when I knew yellow was perfect for the logo. Death is devastating and painful. It can also inspire, mobilize, and create special meaning. It's the perfect color to represent both optimism and sadness. I decided to use pale yellow to signal something faded, as in from the past to suggest nostalgia.

Bringing It to Life: The Sun and the Cloud

From there I decided the cloud and sun imagery would symbolize optimism even in hard times. The sun is above the cloud because optimism will prevail. The cloud is not colored to illustrate it's tendency to come and go in contrast to a bold sun that shines bright. I went with a hand sketched look to reinforce the good old days. The sketch reminds me so much of the animation style of The Rugrats from Nickelodeon. Those were my good old days.

The Logo That Might Have Been

I considered doing a yellow personified moon against a pale blue night sky. Blue is an easier palette to coordinate for merchandise. I even thought about using both logos: the yellow daytime one as the main logo because of its layered meaning and the blue night time for candlelight vigils and winter themed visits. Having a day and night logo would convey a full cycle, as in the cycle of life. I decided juggling them is too much to maintain for a solo operator. I will leave that to the big companies. I want to be out cleaning and decorating graves! Furthermore, when I examined what I want Resting Place to become I realized it is important to me for it to be distinct. Nobody else cleans and decorates graves.  This isn’t something the big players in the death industry are doing. I am proudly a small independent business and it's good for my quirky logo to reflect that. For fun, here is the mock up of the blue moon night time logo that AI deemed commercially appealing and polished.