"Did YOU make all this?"

Lovely music, giggles and colourful stalls made the afternoon scorching heat seem so pleasant. I was immersed in the lovely ambience sipping the cooling coconut water. Surrounding me, were the bead creations that I created all year long - Name Tags with beaded characters, Theme-based skirts with bead danglers for girls and ladies, Bead Jewellery,... to name a few. Yes! We had yet another stall, like every year in the BIG Diwali Mela at Primus Public School.

A girl came strolling to our stall. Looking around, what first stroke her attention was the band of beads banner. She studied it for quite some time. Touched it. Pondered over it. I just sat on my chair and observed her. Later, she glanced at our products. She had the Alice in wonderland look on her face! I kept observing her and loved her imagination. After a while, she asked, "Did YOU make all this?"

Well yes, I did make the bead products. But the banner, which attracted her first had a strong foundation. A foundation laid by four generations - my grand mom, mom, myself and of course my daughter. Made from cloth by the technique of hand applique, this colourful banner has a lots of stories hidden behind it.

A result of great dedication and team work by the four of us, the whole process was like passing a baton to the other. One person did the tracing. The other did the cutting and the third person stitched it. I also had an ever-ready little helper, who gave me pencils and pens from her pencil box! The best part was that we inter-changed our roles but could still achieve an awesome result!

Band of beads has one more memory. And, it will truly be placed on top at all times!

The band of beads banner. Hand applique done by four generations!

We now have a logo!

Now that I had practiced many bands, we thought, "Why not have a logo?"

Being a Graphic-cum-User Interface designer, I tried my hand in logo design. 

The first logo was this:

I loved this logo as it seemed to convey the band quite seamlessly. But, it did not have a symbol which could portray the "band of beads". The combination of text and beads in the logo proved to be a hindrance at times in smaller resolutions.

Then, there was this new cycle of brainstorming. This time, we needed a symbol and the text. Also, we needed to convey that:

> The brand is all about beads. Beads of all sizes, colors and shapes. Currently, the product for sale will be jewelry - necklaces, bracelets, anklets and ear-rings. In the future, the product range can be diversified.

> The logo graphic should have a representation of the band which I used to create back in school. The band was woven with beads and had a uniform width.

So finally, we zeroed in on the brand name - "band of beads". After all, it all started from it! The symbol turned out to be a band (like that of a rainbow). It had beads of various colors and sizes. And here's what we got: