As some of you know, I’m preparing for our upcoming wedding! With that comes getting into better physical shape as well as focusing on my health — well, let’s be honest, I have to look fierce in my gown, don’t I?

All joking aside, once I decided to get serious and commit to my health goals, Ryan of Phoenix 360: Personal Training and Nutrition offered his help in my journey. He’s been more than a trainer for me becoming a great friend through the process. All via the internet! Yes, that’s right, my trainer lives in AZ and I live in NJ. Does it work? You bet it does, but only if you are willing to commit. It would, of course, be very easy to do skip workouts or eat poorly because my trainer is on the other side of the country, but luckily, I keep Ryan on my shoulder (or iPhone) with me at all times. I’m the type of person that if I have someone else who’s excited to see me succeed, it’s that extra added oomph that drives me to make it happen. It’s all about accountability for me.

But without getting all health nut on you, Ryan asked me to work on his new logo for him that he’ll be using on his upcoming website and other collateral. I wanted to keep this logo extremely clean and attractive to both men and women. It always seems that fitness/personal training logos are so masculine. Can’t there be a middle ground? Something that will reach out to all without singling out any particular audience — all while focusing on those interested in health and fitness, of course.

Here is what I came up with. An abstract phoenix wing with warm, fiery colors and a clean, legible, sans serif type treatment. The logo is shown below in all of its possible formats (color/black and white). Let me know what you think!

For more info on Phoenix 360: Personal Training and Nutrition follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

All graphics © 2011 Nicola Black Design, LLC • All rights reserved.

UPDATE: My new wedding stationery collection is live! Have a look at the suites available here. This Save-The-Date is also available if you’re interested in ordering. Just let me know via my contact form.

Whew! Running a business and planning a wedding is hard work! How do people do it?! Although it’s all keeping me VERY busy, I have to admit, I’m really enjoying it. It’s so much fun! All of the details, arrangements, pretty things, etc. etc. I never realized just how girly I am until I was fully submerged in the planning. I can finally admit that, yes, I do like things that sparkle!

So, my fiancé and I just sent out our save-the-dates and I’m very excited about them! We made vintage telegram messages in the style of the old Western Union telegrams. It fits in perfectly with the era of our theme (1920s-1930s). Todd had a ton of fun with the wording in the body which I edited a little for the sake of being somewhat authentic. I took out a lot of the small words such as “the” and “a” since you paid per word back then and those were the first to go. Needless to say, we had a blast creating these.

After I came up with the idea of sending out telegram save-the-dates, I did a search and realized it’s not all that original. Of course not, but it fits in perfectly with the theme and I just couldn’t pass it up. I couldn’t be happier with the result. I printed them on a parchment-like paper (which I purchased at Staples) and used kraft paper envelopes (from paperandmore.com) with clear address labels. Anyway, just a little something I wanted to share with everyone. Enjoy the pics! I can’t wait to complete our formal invitations next! I believe we’re going with letterpress! Woo hoo!

put your peepers on double-u double-u double-u (stop) mywedding (stop) com slash toddandnicola for more details (stop)”

UPDATE: My new wedding stationery collection is live! Have a look at the suites available here. This Save-The-Date is also available if you’re interested in ordering. Just let me know via my contact form.

I had the absolute pleasure of working on a logo for a very unique business local to the South Jersey area. I just love what they’re about and I think you will too.

Christine of Sharing the Joy of Music, provides piano and vocal entertainment as well as musical activities to assisted living, nursing home and adult day care facilities. She also teaches piano in her home studio. Christine is a very talented lady who I truly admire. The work she does with the elderly is very inspiring. I just love reading about her experiences on her blog – which I highly recommend visiting. The blog honestly makes me want to volunteer at a nursing home. Plus, I just love older folks. Some of them have such great stories! Some of which come through in Christine’s posts.

For the logo, Christine wanted to show her fun and caring approach to using music as a way to reach out to her audience. Something a bit lighthearted while still professional. The heart/piano logo was my solution which I complimented with a fun, easy-going, script text treatment. The main logo (above) uses a silver treatment giving it a bit of a classic feel as do the simple black and white logo treatments pictured below it. After experimenting with a few colors, we came to the conclusion that the black and white of the piano keys was a strong graphic element that shouldn’t change. With that decision, the silver treatment of the rest of the logo seemed natural.

Currently, Christine is working on a website for Sharing the Joy of Music which we will post a link to as soon as it’s complete. In the meantime, please visit the Facebook page here for updates.