What Designing a Logo Means to Me

Designing a logo has always stirred up a tangled mess of emotions in me. The moment you start naming something new, it’s like you’re holding the reins of destiny—thrilling, yet terrifying, as if one wrong move could tank everything. So, you tread lightly, right? I’ve thumbed through countless design books, but when it’s time to tackle a real project, my brain just stalls, and all my clever ideas vanish into thin air. I used to envy those slick designers who could rattle off case studies, laying out how they meticulously crafted a killer product. Only later did I realize those moments I coveted were just curated snippets of the design hustle—my idealized version of work, not the gritty reality.

A few days ago, I got this sudden urge to design a logo for our Jing Games Studio. Maybe it was the lingering inspiration from my recent trip to Japan’s Seto Inland Sea, where those intricate Japanese patterns were still swirling in my head. Coincidentally, I’d just flipped through a quirky Japanese design book, and its pattern section sparked some fleeting, unshakable inspiration.

Clinging to those faint vibes, I felt compelled to do something. But the second I started sketching, that familiar frustration came roaring back. This time, though, as I began drawing the logo, a strange heaviness crashed over me, layering onto that initial sense of grandeur. It was like I’d morphed into a solemn judge wielding a pen, every stroke deciding the life or death of some cosmic fate. Under this weight, every move felt stiff, every bold idea like it was headed for the creative chopping block. It was as if the world split open, and I was a lone needle stuck in the gap—unable to move forward or back, stewing in a self-inflicted sense of despair.

But let’s be real: this is just a logo sketch, a flat image. It could be as simple as a circle. Whatever it is, it’s just a starting point, not a destiny-altering blockbuster. Everything exists for a reason, so no matter what this logo ends up looking like, it’ll fulfill its purpose. And fulfilling that purpose? That’s its own kind of triumph.

Note: This is just a design sketch, meant to capture my shifting mindset during the process, not the final logo for Jing Games Studio.