Harvey Ball — Born in Massachusetts, created the iconic smiley graphic after being asked to design a positive logo to increase company morale at a life assurance company. 

I was given the task of designing a monogram and business card for the great Harvey Ball, of the smiley face fame. After researching Ball I knew his monogram had to be happy and somehow incorporate his iconic smiley face. I thought rounded serifs and letter forms would be conducive to this theme. And thicker letter forms were better for his brand because they were less formal and more casual like Harvey. I created several iterations using mainly cooper typeface as the inspiration and used the original form to produce different shapes.

several logo explorations

As I approached the final iteration for the monogram and business card, I was making small changes and then struggling to select one option. Each card design had its own special quality whether it was color choice or the specific positioning of a line. I asked peers for input to see which business card spoke to them and discussed hierarchy with color and text on the business card. Utilizing the feedback I was able to narrow down to one final choice with confidence.

Harvey Ball Monogram