When I started thinking about the ideal web designer for Hellobee, I envisioned a talented, female, web designer who was a great blogger, and also had experience creating sites in the design/wedding/baby blog world — not exactly an easy order!  But I thought someone with that background would best understand the look and features I wanted to create for Hellobee.  Whenever I’d surf the web and come across a site with a design that I liked, I’d look around for information about the designer.  I eventually came across Lauren O’ Neill’s work, and discovered that not only did she have experience designing websites in the wedding and baby space, but she also had a fun, fresh blog!  It was a match made in bee heaven.

During our initial conversation, I described my vision for Hellobee to Lauren:

  • a clean, modern, and fresh design
  • nothing overly cute or feminine
  • gender neutral colors like gray and yellow
  • details that can be evocative of a bee, but nothing too overtly bee related
  • incorporate watercolor details like the icons created by our illustrator

This is the subsequent moodboard she sent over to nail down the color scheme:

From top left: Caitlin McGauley | Valerie Chiang | TGG Hafen Senn Steiger | Lauren O’Neill Design | Poketo | Able Design | Chronicle Books | Kate Spade

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After we agreed on the color scheme, Lauren sent over these three logo options:

I immediately liked the logo in option 1 because it was evocative of a bee without being so obvious.  The second watercolor option was also fun but a little casual.  And the third option was just too bee-like for me.  I thought we’d have a lot of back and forth about the logo, but Lauren got it right the first time around.

She also sent over a site design incorporating the three logos:

As you can see not that much has changed since her first draft!

Lauren has a really great eye for clean, modern design.  It’s been so much fun working with her, and we think she did an awesome job with Hellobee.  You’ll definitely be seeing a lot more of her work as we continue to add more features to the site!

Hellobee Behind the Scenes part 1 of 3

1. Lauren O'Neill: Logo & Site Design by Behind the Scenes
2. The Search for a Watercolor Illustrator by Behind the Scenes
3. The Search for a Graphic Designer by Behind the Scenes