How I designed The Bootstrapped Founder’s brand identity

Greetings, fellow brand design enthusiasts. I’m Lucie Baratte, the creative director and founder of Logology. Today, I’ll share how I created a bespoke logo design for The Bootstrapped Founder, a multi-platform content business created and led by Arvid Kahl.

Do you know about “bootstrapping” a company? And have you ever heard about “building in public”? If yes, you can jump directly to the fourth paragraph. If not, hold on a sec—I’ll explain.

Bootstrapping a company happens when an entrepreneur launches a business from scratch. This means the founder sets up their venture with minimal or no funds, usually depending on personal savings. Bootstrapping contrasts with the traditional startup approach, which starts by securing funds through angel investors or venture capital firms. Building in public is the practice of openly sharing the entire process of developing a product or company. Startups that build in public are transparent about their journey, including both successes and setbacks. The mindset of bootstrapping often aligns with building in public.

With almost 150,000 followers on Twitter, Arvid Kahl is a prominent figure in the indie entrepreneurship scene. A while back, Arvid approached us to completely rethink the design of his brand, The Bootstrapped Founder, and create a custom logo. As bootstrapped founders ourselves, it felt natural to help Arvid and, in doing so, contribute to the indie startup movement.

Let me tell you now how I designed The Bootstrapped Founder’s brand identity!

With all its insights, advice, and inspiring stories, The Bootstrapped Founder is a top resource for anyone curious about bootstrapped entrepreneurship and for those eager to embark on the entrepreneurial adventure.

Behind the name The Bootstrapped Founder is Arvid Kahl, a pillar of the indie founder community. Kind and generous, Arvid has a solid background as a bootstrapped entrepreneur. He co-founded an online teacher productivity SaaS company with his partner and sold it within two years. Bolstered by this experience, Arvid decided to help other entrepreneurs, convinced that bootstrapping is a fantastic and underrated way of running a company. In 2019, he created The Bootstrapped Founder blog, where you can find all his articles, podcasts, books, and resources to support the entrepreneurial journey. Arvid also offers one-on-one consulting sessions. Concerned about the mental health of bootstrapped founders, he believes in the power of benevolence and dedicates himself to helping fellow startup creators.

Before proceeding, Arvid took the time to define the brand voice through our brand identity questionnaire. The emerging brand personality was described as “kind with a classic tone,” which Arvid fully endorsed. According to him, the key values of The Bootstrapped Founder are helpfulness, friendliness, benevolence, and pragmatism. Arvid selected a few logos from our catalog, which helped us understand his aesthetic preferences. I was ready to design!

With a refined understanding of The Bootstrapped Founder’s brand personality, its audience, and its mission to support entrepreneurs, I compiled a series of keywords, and noted questions, seeking a balance among all the ideas.

• How can I tell a long story with a simple, clear symbol? What kind of design would open narrative possibilities in the viewer's mind without being too complex?
• How can I reconcile a kind and serious approach with a friendly tone without being too childish or sentimental?

At this stage of the process, the time had come for me to use only my hands to think and look for solutions. Trying every possibility. So I sketched and sketched again. White pages had been quickly filled with dozens of boots, books, and so on…

To create an effective, intelligible logo, it’s crucial to design a visual that complements the company name—not an illustration but rather an echo. Since the name “The Bootstrapped Founder” encloses the word “boot,” and the previous logo design of the company was somewhat boot-shaped, I thought it was worth exploring the boot logo concept. This does not exclude other ideas, such as the open book, which evokes the educational aspect of Arvid Kahl’s dedicated work and the aim to be perceived as “a source of knowledge.”

I've crafted a diverse array of concepts, spanning from boots to books (and sometimes I mixed both). For instance:

• The Musketeer:
  Inspired by the iconic motto of the musketeers, penned by the novelist Alexandre Dumas, “All for one and one for all, united we stand divided we fall." It’s a powerful phrase that illustrates the strength of collective efforts. Thus, the logo evoking a Musketeer’s boot symbolizes the unity and courage of entrepreneurs within the community.
• The Monogrammed Book: 
  Here, the book embodies knowledge and documentation, while the monogram lends authority to the brand. The outer contours suggest expansion, as if knowledge were spreading outward, while the subtle vibrations imbue a sense of energy and openness.

Among all my logo proposals, one design captured Arvid’s attention. After a week of reflection, his choice was confirmed. The selected design is both efficient and gentle, striking the perfect balance between simplicity and modernity.

“The Journey’s Booster”.  

The boot symbolizes the journey of a bootstrapped founder, representing the long path and determination required to build a business from the ground up with limited financial resources. Furthermore, the image of a boot creates a mental resonance with the name of the brand, making it even more memorable. The dotted shape illustrates the idea of a booster propelling the founder forward on their entrepreneurial path, which is exactly what The Bootstrapped Founder provides to business creators. The dot pattern also adds a sense of depth.

• The deep navy blue conveys a sense of reliability, pragmatism, and straightforwardness, reinforcing the brand’s trustworthiness.
• The vibrant yellow immediately evokes a positive vibe. It's a cheerful and inviting color that infuses the brand with energy and dynamism.
• The soft yellow tone adds a layer of warmth and comfort, creating a cozy and welcoming feeling.

Silka, a typeface created by Atipo foundry, expresses clarity and modernity with its sans-serif design. Its geometric and rounded forms exude simplicity, smartness, and warmth. The bold weight, used for the logo, imparts a strong sense of stature and presence to the brand. The distinctive lowercase “l”, with its subtle handwriting-like base, shows an approachable and friendly demeanor.

If there’s one place where people at work want to keep things fresh and engaging, it’s the startup world. Consequently, the jargon of this sector is full of cool words borrowed from pop culture or casual language. One such word is “swag”, which refers to a brand's promotional products, similar to the merchandise for movies or rock bands.

Swag not only boosts brand recognition but also fosters an emotional bond between the brand and its community and audience. Since The Bootstrapped Founder emphasizes the spirit of community, it quickly became clear that swag was a fantastic way to unite and motivate indie entrepreneurs.

So, I designed a range of products for The Bootstrapped Founder. Some feature daily mantras—phrases to stay motivated. These items serve as tools to keep insightful knowledge top of mind and to reinforce personal strength. Others showcase the brand’s logo as a way to declare your membership in the bootstrapped community and identify as an indie founder, with the hope of meeting and recognizing fellow entrepreneurs in co-working spaces or at startup events.

All these products are available on The Bootstrapped Founder’s store. 

Working with someone as gentle and supportive as Arvid is a privilege. His passion for helping bootstrapped entrepreneurs and his ability to unite a community inspired me to design a brand that attracts and benefits as many people as possible from Arvid’s expertise.

And, Arvid was kind enough to leave a few words of testimonial about working with me:

“Lucie created a brand design that is so essentially me that people have started recognizing my podcast and yelling joyfully at me from all across the room at conferences and industry events. It's simple, elegant, and tells the story of who I am, what my work is about, and who it’s for. Spectacular work.”

If you feel like diving into entrepreneurship, if you're inspired by the community-driven approach of the build in public movement, I highly recommend exploring the resources offered by The Bootstrapped Founder. Arvid is there to help and guide you!

When it’s time to define your startup’s brand identity, Logology provides a selection of logo designs crafted to meet diverse startup needs. Whether you discover the perfect design or require a customized touch, I’d be delighted to assist you.

If you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to get in touch. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article—share them with me on Twitter. Your feedback is always welcome!

❤️

Lucie Baratte
happy art director & founder of Logology