Designing for Etsy...

I am so excited.  My husband an I just finished making all the little adjustments needed to make my Etsy banner work.  You would think that with two artists who work mostly digital this should have been a breeze.  Not so!  The crazy restrictions Etsy has placed on the size of the banner have made it practically impossible to work within the usual logo design rules.  Etsy calls it a banner when it's really an icon. Anything that is 100 pixels, yes pixels high is an icon.  Too small to be called anything else.

When I read 'banner' I thought logo not icon.  It took much longer to design around the restricted size then either of us expected.  Drawing letters and the little fox mask just one pixel at a time.  Tedious but I think worth it.

I really wanted something that spoke to the Japanese culture that is such a big part of the inspiration for my store.  After hours of searching for ideas I came upon some images of Noh masks but I didn't love most of the designs for a store identity.  I really wanted something more accessible and pretty.  Then we remembered a japanese anime called "Kakurenbo".  It's a spooky little story but the children in it all wore the most amazing masks.  All this research evolved into a Kitsune Noh style mask.  Kitsune is a fox in Japanese lore.  I will explain Kitsune a little.  The best way is by using an excerpt from the book Kitsune.

"Kitsune is an animal supposed to be mysterious, fascinating, and mischevious. And is believed to be very grateful for the kindness done to him, as seen in many tales, and is also affectionate as revealed in some dramas. He is enshrined as a god because of his supernatural power. He is endowed with the subtle art of metamorphosis, and he is able to bewitch men in the guise of a charming girl. An exceedingly interesting and entertaining beast Kitsune is."

There is much more but that is the general idea.  Here is the link to my Etsy store with the banner in place http://www.etsy.com/shop/RePurposeHistory?ref=pr_shop.