This Week at Emily Lupita Studio – Designing a Family Coat of Arms
I had the most wonderful time working on my most recent Family Coat of Arms design project. I wanted to share with you the process of how the final design came about for my amazing client, Jennifer.
Family Coats of Arms are symbols of family dynasties that are handed down through the generations. That’s why it was so exciting and such an honor for me to create a brand new Coat of Arms to symbolize the beginning of a new family dynasty and all the hope & love that the future holds for them.
Designing a new Coat of Arms begins with learning about what is most important to the family. For Jennifer, her family values center around education, God, her family heritage (American, Jamaican & African), progress, and her husband & son.
I started with researching and drawing symbols to represent these values on paper. Here are a few preliminary sketches from my journal with ideas…an olive wreath for education and Jennifer is Christian, so a cross to represent God.
“Progress” was a bit more difficult to conceptualize into a visual. During my research, I found that birds have long been used to symbolize progress in many different cultures – it makes sense to me – with the idea of wings & the forward momentum of taking flight. I then found this beautiful symbol from the West African Adinkra culture, which symbolizes moving forward with knowledge.
After sharing all of this with Jennifer and getting her ideas & feedback, I set out to start the design.
I started with the basic shield design. I experimented with several different ways to integrate the three different flags of Jennifer’s family heritage into the shield. The challenge was to have all of the flags’ detail and color in a small space without it being overwhelming. After that I created a “family flag” as a symbol of the bond Jennifer’s family shares, using three “J” letters in honor of their three names. The olive wreath (for education) wraps nicely around the flags and the green color anchors the design.
Next I added a name banner (using the yellow from the Jamaican flag) and a large cross at the center of the design to symbolize the value at the very center of Jennifer’s family. I placed the bird on top, as a guide toward the future.
Once this stage of the design was complete, I created several different color combinations for Jennifer to share with her family. I was so fortunate to have such a kind, friendly, and creative client in Jennifer and we really had a great time trying out different ideas and combinations to get just the right look.
Here it is – the new Logan Family Coat of Arms!
The best part of this whole project was receiving these photos of Jennifer’s fabulous “family wall” project, where she created a special space in her home to honor her family. On the top right you can see the new Coat of Arms, complete with an explanation of the symbols in the design. So lovely…thank you, Jennifer!
Sending wishes for a beautiful week ahead,
~Emily Lupita
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Emily Lupita Studio 
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