11th March 2010, Delhi, India
I was done with my News Presentation Shift, thankfully my reliever was on time (It sucks when your work hour gets extended). While removing my make-up I got a call from my room-mate, she forgot to carry the home keys, so she wanted me to come a bit early. As nothing was pending on me, I decided to head home immediately. As I was walking towards the metro station on one of the busiest streets of Delhi, I heard a car honking ceaselessly! Furiously, I turned back and then bang!!! I was hit by a car, I fell on the road; my right leg swelled from the thigh.
A few hours before, I was on my toes-delivering updates of the day to the nation covering all the breaking news as it happened and then lying helplessly unable to move even an inch. The pain I still remember was excruciating. Later that day, I underwent major surgery. My femur was crushed and the hip ball was dislocated.
From an independent, hopping around girl to this total dependency phase, it was a 180-degree turn. I was bed-ridden but still determined to walk normally again!
2 Months Later
After this incident, my family moved in with me, and I was fortunate to see my mother’s smiling face every morning. For the next seven months, I walked with the help of a walker and then graduated to an elbow crutch. I resumed office amidst many challenges. Among them, the biggest was to walk normally.
3 Years Later
For the next three years, I tried every form of exercise in fitness centers and at physiotherapy clinics, but all in vain. My gait was still bumpy.
This was the time when my dear friend Shaili, introduced me to Yoga. And then it was a new birth for me. Initially, I struggled a lot with the balance, lacked strength in leg but inch by inch I plunged into all the multiple profundities of my soul. Regular practice of Yoga not only brought my walking gesture to normal, but it also gave a new height to my inner strength-a way higher energy then it was before the accident itself.
Present Day
What is Yoga? For me, it is an inward life-long journey. It is not just an exercise but a change of consciousness. After years of practice, I am still a student, enhancing and exploring my strength. Yoga healed me physically and spiritually. During this pandemic, yoga helped me to stay calm and maintain my Sheen within. The benefits of Yoga are endless and every time I practice Yoga, I thank Shaili (now a Canadian Yoga teacher) for introducing me to this path of life. This logo (draft) is gratitude towards her.
‘Shakti Yoga’ is her brainchild. A news presenter and a trained Yoga teacher, this is her effort of giving it back to the world. ‘Shakti’ is a Hindi word which means strength and power. This logo is centered around a big glowing red dot. In Hinduism, the red dot is worn by ladies (mostly married) and is considered as an auspicious sign. It also relates to Goddess Maa(mother) ‘Durga’ who herself is the form of ‘Shakti’. In the center of the red dot, there is an icon of a man sitting in ‘Padmasan’, also known as the ‘lotus pose’, which is a mandatory posture to meditate. Surrounding the red dot there are multiple fist icons that here depict strength and determination-essential to practice yoga.
Having such a profound impact of Yoga on my life, I decided that I want to design something around Yoga. I started with scribbling and sketching some theme ideas by arranging the letters in ‘Yoga’ differently but nothing came out convincing.
I thought that maybe it will come out well if I start working on Illustrator. But after working on the sketched ideas for two days, I realized that it was not going anywhere. So, I went back to the pen and paper and this new logo design came out.
I started by creating a new document (800 x 800 pixels). The first thing which I wanted to design was a fist. So, I created a rounded rectangle, the corner radius was around 25 px but then I wanted them to be more curved. So, with the help of a direct selection tool, I pulled in the corner anchor points until I got the desired result which was around 65 px. Then with the ellipse tool, I created a circle, divided it into two by using the scissors tool, and with the pen tool completed their paths. Again, with the direct selection tool, I pulled in the corner anchors to give a curve. Then I placed them on the rectangle to create a thumb.
With the rounded rectangle, I created fingers. I wanted the two big fingers to look a bit round from the bottom, so again I repeated the semicircle process and placed them on the fingers. By using the shape builder tool, I combined them into one. As the desired composition was achieved, I grouped all the elements of the fist icon. Next, I created the red dot, by using the gradient tool; I mixed two shades of orange to give it a glowing effect.
Then the challenge was to position the fist icons around the red dot uniformly. For that, I selected both of them and selected horizontal align center. Then, I went into the outline mode by hitting (command+Y) on Mac. Further, I clicked on my fist icon and pressed the ‘R’ key. By pressing the ‘option’ key I clicked on the center of the red dot as I wanted my rotation to be derived from that point. Once I did that a dialogue box opened. Now, I wanted 8 icons around the red dot so I divided 360 by 8, which is 45. Therefore, I set the rotation angle at 45 degrees and selected option ‘copy’. By hitting ‘Command+D’ on Mac, I got the icons placed flawlessly. For reference, I followed this YouTube video.
Next for describing the brand name ‘Shakti Yoga’, I wanted my text to be Golden. For that, I created two new swatches, Golden Yellow and Goldenrod by using the key combinations as indicated in the chart. Then by applying a linear gradient and setting the angle at –90 degree I turned my text into a glowing golden texture. As a final step, I created a stickman image of Lotus pose by using the Polygon and Rectangle tools.
For my Final Logo, I am planning to work more on the center image. Which could be an enhanced version of Yoga pose. Also, I want to add some more effects to my text. I hope that based on the feedback which I am looking forward to, I’ll be able to create a distinctive and unique logo.
Sheen Within 
Hi Shipra!
This is very interesting, and I like it! I think you do a great job of tying in important yoga elements with your logo! The font choice in my opinion works great, and even though you think you should add ore effects, I think it works really well the way you have it now!
I do agree that there could be some more work on the man in the middle. Perhaps some more detail on the hand placements. It might help to just make it slightly bigger as well. There have been some yoga logos that emphasize the Chakras on a human body. You could see if that’s something worth adding into the man!
My last suggestion is just fixing some of the details on the fist. Some fingers appear a little more rounded than others. If you haven’t already tried it, see how it looks if you add a little more space between each fist. At first glance, I thought the fists were actually symbols or writing, but was intrigued when I realized what they were. The shape of them actually matches the text and images, I just think a little more detailed tweaks could help you out.
It is looking great!
Alma
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Hi Shipra,
Thank you for your heartfelt blog post. It helpful to understand the power of yoga in your life and what it means to you. You have thought of a design that is meaningful and relevant to the story you present. I like the combinations of colors, which do a good job in reflect power and strength.
I think you are on the right track for your modifications. The figure in the center may be difficult to make out when the image is very small, so take that into consideration when you are working on the final logo. Make sure your text is clear when you change the sizes or apply the image to different backgrounds.
Perhaps also consider some slight variation in the color of the fist to make the shape more dynamic or just to accent the detail. I would consider either a highlight or shading the color.
Great work. I look forward to seeing your final logo.
Heather
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Hi Shipra – I really enjoyed reading your post. I appreciate you sharing your personal journey and describing how yoga has impacted your health and outlook in a positive way. Your content is very inspiring to read and, as always, radiates your sheen within. I also found the technical detail of your design process to be very useful.
Your logo is looking great so far. I like the symmetry you achieved with the powerful hands encircling the center figure. The gradient of the red dot is a nice touch and gives the center of the logo a fitting sheen as well. For recommendations, I think the figure in Padmasan pose could be a little larger to make the logo more scalable. If you like the size of the figure, perhaps a slight white stroke effect could make the silhouette stand out more and add some visual depth to the center. The only other thing I’d suggest is experimenting with the size proportions of the text. The font, color and gradient choices of the text look fantastic, but the size detracts from the image a bit.
Your draft logo is an excellent representation of the spirit of your blog. I’m excited to see the final result! – T.J.
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Thanks to all of you for providing fantastic feedback. I got some superb suggestions and out of the box ideas. I am trying my hands-on Illustrator for the first time and the feedback is encouraging!. Now, for the final Logo, I am focusing on the center image, as Heather indicated that right now the image is considerably small. Maybe a white stroke on the padmasan image as suggested by T.J. or some other yoga posture or related image such as chakras or lotus as suggested by Alma could be a great add on here.
Next, I will experiment with the fist, will try to reduce the number of them, currently, they are overlapping. Last for the Font, I think I will go with Alma’s suggestion here as I don’t want to overdo it as that could add a distraction from the core message or design.
To ensure that my Logo communicates my desired message, I am going to revise the size and positioning of all the elements to achieve a more unified and balanced look. Thanks again group for helping me during this creative process!
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