Art Credit: Beth Miller Petricoin.

I recently had a new logo designed for Paisley Lizard. It’s fabulous. And now I can’t decide which fonts to use with it on my website banners and business cards.

There are too many choices. There are so many typefaces, and then there are color choices and special effects in infinite combinations. How do I decide?

I haven’t yet landed on a final font. I’ve just been creating digital files with variations. And then staring at my monitor. Making some changes. Staring some more. It’s not unlike my jewelry design process sometimes. Where I put some beads on my board, move them around, change some colors or shapes, move them around some more. Eventually a design emerges.

This is version 1.0 of my new Paisley Lizard Etsy shop banner. The luscious paisley textured background was also created by Beth.

I  most emphatically am not a graphic design artist. That’s one reason I hired Beth Petricoin of Create My World to design my new lizard logo. I have ideas of how I want it to look. But I can neither draw them nor convert them to digital images that can be manipulated. I know Beth can do both. A couple of months ago she created an awesome Cactus Frog logo for my second Etsy shop.

In version 1.2 of my new Etsy banner, I changed the color of the word “paisley” because I thought it was overshadowing the lizard. I really like that font and want to make it work.

I have had orders of magnitude more success figuring out complex database and statistical software than using PhotoShop Elements to make simple banners. The words in the menus are in a completely foreign language and nothing about it is intuitive for me.

For version 2.0, I didn’t use the lovely paisley textured background. Because it was too much competition for the floral font I was testing. I would like to add a soft background texture. If I can just figure out how. And that border? It’s not a frame. Oh no. I couldn’t figure out how to add a simple frame or border. I drew and connected four straight lines.

At least I know how to download and install font files and change the color and size of the words. I can even add style effects like inner borders and bevels. Woo-hoo. And I can create an image of any pixel size. So not only can I play around with my banners, I can mock up new business cards.

A possible format for my new business cards. I’m still not sure which fonts I want to use. I’m also not sure about that tagline.

I like the floral burn-out effect for the word “Paisley” in version 2.0 of my banner and 1.0 of my business card. But I wonder if it’s too busy next to the lovely scaly details of the logo herself. I like using two different fonts for the words in my business name. A fatter and somewhat ornate one for the word “paisley” and a thinner one, with tail-like serifs, for the word “lizard.” And I like using both a darker and lighter shade of brown from the logo in the words.

For Version 3.0, I used the same thinner font for both words. I don’t care for it. That font just doesn’t work for me with the word “paisley.”

I think I’ve narrowed it down to two possible fonts for the word “Paisley” and I’m settled on the one for the word “Lizard.” I have several shades of brown to choose from in the lizard, which I’ve narrowed to a dark chocolate and a light ecru. I know I will apply a simple inner bezel to the word “Lizard.” Depending on which font I use for the word “Paisley” I will either use a sharp inner ridge, or a simple inner bezel. Also depending on which font I choose, there’s that lovely paisley textured background or a plain one.

I forget the mathematical formula for calculating all possible outcomes from combining that many variables. It’s more than what I’ve shown you here. And there’s still the matter of that frame around the banner.

I am seriously tempted to employ Beth’s graphic design services to make my banners and business cards. But I need to learn how to do some simple graphic things for myself, don’t I? Or do I? I do know for certain that Beth is talented and lovely to work with. And if you think you need a fabulous new logo for your business, or just some fun digital scrapbook paper, you should contact her through her Etsy shop, Your Digital World.

And keep an eye on my Etsy shop, Paisley Lizard Designs, and here on my website, to see where I finally land on the font front. I’d love to hear you thoughts on the options I’ve shown here, or other possible combinations of the variables. Which font do you like? What colors or style effects? Textured or plain background?