I had a great opportunity to bring together my skills in logo design, illustration, and tarot for a fun little tarot business branding project.

I recently reached a 1 year anniversary on my YouTube channel where I offer general pick a card tarot readings to the collective.

What started as a way of “learning on stage”, developing my verbal storytelling skills, and putting my tarot knowledge to good use, has turned into a really fun hobby that brings me – and my audience - joy.

Over the year, I have refined and developed a deeper understanding of my tarot reading style and because of which, my original channel name (Rainforest Oracle) no longer felt aligned.

This prompted me to create a new channel name and design and illustrate a logo for it in the hopes of continuing to grow the channel in a more focused way and attract those looking for this type of guidance. In addition to distilling the idea that tarot is not all fluffy fortune telling.

In this blog post, I break down the brief, the challenge, and the result of creating this logo.

The Brief

Over the year of having my tarot YouTube channel I realized I’m not a predictive reader – aka a fortune teller. (Although predictions tend to squeak their way in sometimes.) My wheelhouse is action-oriented readings for those who are feeling a little lost and looking to feel more empowered. With that in mind, I wanted to create a logo that felt grounded and meaningful for the curious at heart.

The Challenge

My original tarot YouTube channel name was Rainforest Oracle which loosely offered the imagery of wandering the rainforest to find answers and stumbling upon an “oracle” or forest helper that could offer guidance.

It was important for me to maintain that feeling of “exploration” as my goal with tarot readings is to help my clients “find their way” and make that journey a little less daunting. However, the real challenge was that I didn’t have a new YouTube name yet. So, I asked myself how I can sum that idea up in a logo mark? A symbol? An icon? A talisman?

That’s typically not how I roll when creating logo’s. BUT, I’m always up for the unconventional.

I wanted the mark to speak to the type of tarot readings I offer so it resonates with the clients I’m looking to help. I also wanted to create a symbol that was rich in story and meaning that strayed from mainstream references of “fortune telling” which were tiresome and conventional.

The Solution

Clients seek my readings out when they are feeling somewhat lost and needing direction. They may even have some curiosity about tarot and how it might offer a different perspective. With the concepts of “direction” and “exploration”, I immediately was drawn to a compass.

Compasses are one of those real world tools that signify guidance when you’re trying to find your way in the wild. On their face, they have 8 cardinal directions so I started with the idea of a compass and an octagram, or 8-pointed star.

8 has personal meaning to me. Not only is it my lucky number and life path number, the number 8 is in my birth month, date, AND year so it was an appropriate starting point.

During the research phase, I began to explore different cultures around the world and what the 8-pointed star meant. In many cultures, 8-pointed stars represent guidance, protection, good luck, and balance which all aligned with what I want to offer to my clients.

There were three cultural references stood out as they reflected my own personal alignments and beliefs.

Hinduism

Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth. Her star (or symbol) is represented by two entwined squares forming an octagram. Each point represents eight forms of wealth: monetary, ability to transport, endless prosperity, victory, patience, health and nourishment, knowledge, and family.

There are also 8 main chakras in the body.

Buddhism

Buddhists use an eight-spoked wheel to represent the Eightfold Path taught by the Buddha as a means to escape suffering through the breaking of attachments with right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

Wicca

The Wiccan Wheel of the Year is commonly represented as a circle containing an eight-pointed star. Each point is a major holiday known as a Sabbat. Wiccans emphasize the system of holidays as a whole: each holiday is influenced by what has come before and prepares for the one approaching next.

With this information, I started exploring visuals through some rough sketching and found a winning combination to create the logo mark that would be the foundation for the name and the visuals of my tarot business.

The Result

The 7 direction points in the middle of the 8-pointed star represents dead ends or path already explored. The arrow pointing North symbolizes following one’s “North Star”, breaking free from limitations, exploring discomfort zones, and, essentially, finding your own way through. This symbol was then placed inside a circle to make it look like a seal.

To finish it off, I gave it a touch of “old world” charm with a rough edge on the seal and an organic font style.

As my channel grows, I may start offering products with this logo mark on it so others can use this as their own personal talisman to inspire and welcome change, balance, and new directions.

What do you think?

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