I am someone who has trouble making big final decisions. Don't get me wrong - I make hundreds of decisions a day as a mom. I made even more a day as a teacher of a revolving door of 35 students. I’m talking about BIG decisions: picking a college, choosing a wedding dress, moving houses, picking a logo... I want everything to be absolutely perfect. It’s the achiever in me (Fun fact: I’m an enneagram 2W3). I usually fall in love with bits here and there but typically not 100% right away due to my very specific yet eclectic tastes.
For example, I ended up with two wedding dresses because I kept narrowing my search down to two dresses at multiple stores and could never decide on just one. They each had different elements I loved: one off the rack in a 20s vintage style with lots of gorgeous beading and a scalloped hem and the other much softer, romantic fit and flare with a beautiful floral lace overlay and sparkly spaghetti straps. Totally different vibes but I loved them both the same. My mom was generous enough to get them both. What a lady.
You get the idea by now. So when it came time for this rebrand of my business from Green Haven Goods to Lannigan Home, you can imagine how much decision paralysis came my way. Do I have the right colors? What’s the vibe I’m going for? My style has evolved so much in the past five years. And what I’ve come to realize, however seemingly obvious, is that I’m not just ONE vibe. I’m not just ONE aesthetic. I like to mix and match. I like combining old and new. I know what I’m inherently drawn to and what trends I want to hop onto because they’re fun! That’s just me.
I experimented with the outline of our home, a vintage lamp, and an iris as the icon of my logo but none of them were exactly right. I finally came to see that the one thing that hasn’t changed throughout my journey is me. At my core, I am still the same person who started this business and I will still be that person ten, twenty, thirty years from now. Although my tastes may ebb and flow, it’s me doing the ebbing and flowing. Enter a logo with me on it: the source of the creative process and curation of the shop.
Ok, but I don’t just want to have myself as the logo. There needs to be more- a deeper meaning.
I still had the desire to incorporate the irises into the logo in honor of my grandma and also my daughter, whose middle name is Iris. A lot of my positive childhood memories involve being at my grandma’s house. Her house felt more of a home than my own so I wanted to honor her in my logo. Additionally, my daughter is the greatest thing I will ever create so I absolutely wanted a piece of her in there too. I casually played around with about 100 different iris options and landed on a bouquet of irises sticking out of a wicker market bag: a nod to my OG style- very bohemian. (I still love wicker as it can be incorporated into so many design styles). God bless my husband for giving me feedback on all of the ones I came up with and keeping my head from exploding during the process. No one will know the hours I poured into my brand and website better than Alec.
My RA from college and sweet friend, Monica Kegley, brought my ideas to life. I sent her my favorite option of me holding the market bag with irises inside and she made it perfect by adding the hanger and vintage lamp. In one version, she even handwrote "Lannigan Home" in her gorgeous handwriting. So special.
So I guess I can make a final decision! It just takes a ton of time and effort. Now it's absolutely perfect.
