Unleashing Creativity and Empowerment
The creation of a mission patch was more than just an aesthetic exercise, it has been a creative journey. It’s become more than just a design; it has become a symbol of shared purpose, a visual representation of dreams, and I really want to portray that in my mission patch.
I felt encouraged to tap into my most inner self and explore the depths of what I believe my mission to be. The process of translating that into a visual representation was a little hard. It challenged me to find concepts that best represented my mission but was simple and meaningful symbols.
Define Your Mission
I invested some time into my design and listed a few “mission statements”, such as:
- Empowering of Family
- Create.Inspire.Evolve
- Personalization
- To explore the boundaries of creativity
- Expression
In the end I felt like Empowerment and Creativity really simplified and expressed what I want to portray.
Visual Concepts
I considered different symbols, colors, and sat with what my key values and goals are. I have a couple sketches in Mandy Sketch image 1 that I felt portrayed the element of empowerment or the process of lifting up and becoming stronger. I then realized, after some researching, that this a very popular way to show this feeling and I went back to the drawing board to come up with something more personal but still simple and straight to the point.
Brainstorm and meaning
Home, for me, will always be Hawaii. In Hawaii there is a legend about two lovers who were forbidden to be together. Naupaka, a princess banished to the mountains, tore a flower from her hair and split it in half, giving one to Kau’i, her lover banished to the ocean, and keeping the other. When the lovers died, flowers began to grow in the mountains and near the ocean, similar, and split in half.
You can find these flowers, one variety in the mountains while the other grows on the beach, while visiting Hawaii. Meant to grow apart but when brought together they form a perfect, full flower. The legend of these flowers is a tale of love, separation, and longing. Though they are still apart, they grow and are passionate about being put together. They’ve come to symbolize hope, eternal love, and to me home.
This lead to more research about creativity and symbols that represent creativity. I learned that the color yellow (my favorite color)can represent creativity, optimism, and friendliness.
You can find out more about this Hawaiian legend here
I think that what I came up with is a pretty good representation of my mission (portrayed in Mandy Sketch image 2). It is personal and the symbols are simplified enough to see what they are. I hope it translates my ideas into a visual form and can help me achieve extraordinary things.