We spent some time talking about what  her vision for what the bakery was going to be and how to capitalize on her strengths in both making great baked goods and art. Specialization in wedding cakes and other special occasion cakes would be the obvious thing to do. We talked and talked. Nel and I are alike in that we have a vision of these kinds of things that is very complete, down to the last detail.

I remember we were sitting at the kitchen counter and she announced that she had decided on the name of the bakery. It would be CAKE CITY. I instantly said “great!… now you will need a logo”.

I’ve designed my share of logos in my career and it usually involves a week or two of pondering, sketching, looking up stuff, trying to find inspiration, etc, etc.  I was kind of shocked when Nel reached for an envolope from the junk mail pile and began drawing on the blank side. I scanned the envelope and you can see it in the upper left of this post. As you can see there are a few erasures, but she finished the drawing in less than a minute. I was astounded! The next day she traced the scan I made in Adobe Illustrator to make a vector file and added the type.  A few days later, I was filling out forms on the Patent and Trademark Office website to apply for our trademark.

Trademarked Logo

Things can go quickly sometimes and that is a good thing. Like I said, Nel sees this project in a very complete form. The logo is just an example. It seems like no thought but in reality there is almost infinite thought and it is immediate. She then proceeded to draw a floorplan for the space and we were off and running.

Next was a website. We were able to get the domain name cakecity.com and I set up a temporary page. Visit the page and sign up for updates as we get closer to opening day. If you like to watch the “cake shows” on TV you will be pleased to know that we will have a video channel on the website that will show the goings-on in the bakery. You can watch your pastries being made and be part of the fun!

http://cakecity.com … sign up now!

Photoshop mock-up of our sign as it will appear and where it will appear.