Vanilla Velvet Audio's Branding Journey (Patreon)

At the start of 2022, I promised my listeners a lot of little tweaks and enhancements to my youtube channel. One of the things I focused on behind the scenes was working out some unique branding and a proper makeover for my content. It took several months to settle on a look that was both fresh, yet honored what came before, so there were a lot of rejected possibilities that never saw the light of day.

UNTIL NOW!

Join me on a little journey of All the Branding I Tossed in the Trash! And as an added bonus, some additional never before seen goodies from when I was first getting ready to launch Vanilla Velvet Audio all the way back in June 2021!

Before...

Back in April/May of 2021, when I was first thinking about launching a channel, I knew I wanted to hit the ground running with a strong brand identity that would be consistent and easily recognizable. First off, that meant a memorable name! Something that sounded good, evoked a particular vibe and represented the kind of content I wanted to make. 

There were a lot of possibilities that didn't make the cut. Peachy Bubble (too cute!), Velvet Kiss (too spicy!), Cherry Blossom (too generic!); I went through so many alternate possibilities that finally settling on "Vanilla Velvet Audio" was a relief. Unique, recognizable, sweet but with a little something extra going on, and a brand I could expand/spin-off into Red Velvet Audio if I ever decided to do racier content.

However: it presented some unique difficulties.

While Vanilla Velvet felt right, some of the other names that didn't make the cut were easier to represent visually through logos and other branding elements. "Peachy Bubble" for example, would have been easy: a bubble shaped like a peach. "Cherry Blossom"? Those logos are a dime a dozen!

But what is Vanilla Velvet? Red velvet is easy enough to represent: a deep red velvet cake. But vanilla? A flavor known for its inoffensiveness? A creamy, pale flower that isn't as commonly recognizable as a rose or a daisy? That's much harder to build a brand around. 

That didn't stop me from trying, of course. I knew right away that the yellow/brown of real vanilla looked a bit too sickly when trying to translate it to logos and backgrounds. It wound up more reminiscent of a rotting banana with a liver problem than a creamy, inviting vanilla cake.

So after deciding to go in a more pastel direction, I brainstormed, bashed my head against a bunch of walls wracking my brain and came up with something! The initial result was...lackluster.

Cupcakes and sprinkles screamed vanilla dessert, sure, but they were one dimensional: sweet and nothing else! Since my first audio was going to be a yandere, I knew that wouldn't work. 

I tried so hard to make that buttery yellow and beige-y brown combo look nice, but it fell flat. I even did a couple thumbnail tests:

And hated them. Like, it's fine, but...it's sort of bland and corporate. Yellow/beige is very cake-y, but it doesn't really catch the eye.

I went back to the drawing board to play with a few more conceptual elements. First stop: frosting! That's vanilla-adjacent! It sort of looks like velvety fabric! And a stronger purple/pink color scheme with splashes of yellow might be just the ticket:

Which, while bolder, still wasn't quite right for what I wanted! 

Back to the drawing board again, this time with part of the initial color scheme but a new concept: clouds! Those are fluffy and dreamy and a bit vanilla right?

Hmm. We might be on to something here!

During...

It felt like I was on the right track, but the colors were still too washed out and forgettable. Finally, I gave up on making yellow/beige central to the brand and starting thinking from a different angle: creating a mascot before anything else. 

I spent a lot of time poking around on picrew trying to get the right vibe. I went through entirely too many cute anime girls before I found The One to build the brand around:

Bright, cute, cartoony, and a little bit dangerous! Just like my content! Perfect. I made sure the pfp maker in question was okay with use on platforms like youtube and I was good to go! I picked out a template with clouds that was originally pink/purple/blue, and palette swapped it.

This remained my branding for about six months, but as I started considering monetization, I realized that I couldn't keep using someone else's character art in commercial projects, even if they were okay with it. Especially if I ever wanted to make merchandise or do vtubing! While the pfp maker I used was labeled as okay for commercial use, I wanted more thorough control over the design and usage rights.

So, back to the drawing board again! This time for a rebrand that could see me through becoming a proper commercial entity.

And somehow I kept falling into the exact same traps I had the first time! 

The real problem, aside from returning to motifs that just didn't work, was either a total lack of visual continuity with my initial branding or too much. The pixel art concept of my original pfp was fine, but because it was so similar it didn't solve the problems presented by using someone else's artwork. The first chibi Velvet had some elements from the original branding that I liked, but not enough to be recognizable as the same character, nor were they unique enough to be memorable.

After!

I threw almost everything in the trash and started over, selecting a handful of traits from the first mascot to carry over. (Headband/earrings, heart & bow motifs, knife, pink hair.) I also chucked out the color scheme and substituted a bolder one influenced by Princess Peach. With the help of the cutesy chibi bases of Nukababe and some elbow grease...

Now we're cooking with gas! The two versions of the mascot more clearly draw from the same well of elements, while the new one is bold, sleek and stands on its own. The clouds from the original branding carry over but with less cutesy clutter. Plus, the knife is a recognizable brand element all its own!

I don't know how long this particular branding will last. Hopefully a good long time! Even if it doesn't, this particular learning experience will make the next redesign much easier.

I hope you enjoyed this brief jaunt through Vanilla Velvet Audio's branding journey!