For the 31 Days of Holidays! On A Budget! logo, we wanted to fully embrace the idea of something handmade, created with very little money—and even less skill. After all, this stunt was hosted by the cast of RENO 911!, so it needed to feel as hilariously low-budget as the show itself.
When I started brainstorming, I couldn’t stop thinking about wonky paper snowflakes, messy holiday arts and crafts, and those loud price tags and clearance stickers you see during last-minute shopping sprees since holiday spending was right at the heart of this year’s theme.
The logo had to be perfectly imperfect, and that’s exactly where my process began.
As I started putting the logos together, I explored
the concept from every angle I could think of.
I experimented with the shopping theme, using paper tags and callout graphics as framing elements, but those quickly started to feel a little too off track. I tried a paper snowflake, but it came across as too plain.
I even went more abstract and stitched together a logo from scraps of past 31 Days designs, considering a "recycling" approach—turns out that was far too messy.
Eventually, though, one of my concepts finally began
to stand out from the rest, and I knew I was onto something good.
After some refinement and compositional tweaks,
I finally had the logo. Since “31 Days” is the recurring theme every year, we wanted it front and center in our Comedy Sans font. For the rest of the typography,
I aimed for a look that felt completely handwritten,
as if it had been thrown together with whatever supplies were lying around.
Everything was designed to feel like it was crammed inside a wonky construction paper ornament, with the final touch—some string and pieces of tape holding it all together. Perfectly imperfect.
As I started adding texture to the design, I could finally see my vision coming to life. The glittery text, the roughly cut paper frame, the masking tape, and the thin twine all came together perfectly. The logo looked exactly like a DIY holiday project put together at home, and I couldn’t have been happier with how it turned out.
With the logo finalized, the next step was adapting the design into a horizontal layout for the lower third. Keeping the red paper frame was essential, as it helped anchor the lower half of the logo and maintained a cohesive look. In the end, I think this horizontal lockup came together really well.
The next step was dropping the logo onto the backplate for our endpages. Since the
RENO 911! crew would be celebrating the holidays
in a community rec center, Comedy Central built an entire set to bring that vibe to life. They did such an awesome job with the background, and it was so cool seeing my logo right in the middle of it all. The two looked like they were made for each other.
When it came time to add motion graphics to the logo, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Everything about this design looked clumsy and homemade, so I leaned into that vibe by making it drop into the frame like someone was dangling it in front of a camera. I added a little twist and a gentle swinging motion as it landed, and it just felt perfect.
I learned so much working on this project, and it was such a fun experience from start to finish!
Logo References
Logo Options
Logo Refinement
Logo Color Treatment
Horizontal Logo Lockup
Logo with Background
Animated Logo
