I struggled for a long time in search of a good logo and brand identity, and what I settled on is 180 degrees from the direction I was looking when I started this little venture, but I thought it would be important for me to explain why I settled on what I did, and what it means to me.
Let me start by quickly breaking down the logo elements....this is tough, so follow close....let’s see, we have an egg, a flame, and the words "Muscle Nog". Pretty simple right? Well, just like a double rainbow, ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI ) I am sure that some things are a little difficult to interpret and leave you asking "what does it mean?" So, let’s dissect -
The Egg - It seems obvious that we would use the image of an egg for an egg white protein powder, but the image actually represents a lot more. Have you ever been car shopping and wanted something unique but after your purchase realized that "everyone" drives "your" car? That has happened to me with egg protein. From the moment I started developing Muscle Nog I began noticing that EVERYONE was writing and talking about eggs. I started seeing more articles in fitness magazines regarding egg whites, I started seeing more medical studies done with egg protein, I began noticing tweets and Facebook posts with more people talking about the egg whites in their diets....eggs were popping up everywhere....they even popped up on Southwest Airline's in-flight magazine Spirit. Gracing the front cover on April's issue is the image of an egg with two words next to it - "Still Incredible". Inside the magazine are several articles on eggs, the origin, the history, the art, the design inspiration and the overall beauty of EGGS! One article in particular, "A Study in Perfection" illustrates the symbolism and deeper meanings behind eggs and so I want to borrow a few paragraphs from the article to help explain the beauty behind the image - "...Across borders and cultures, races and classes, few foods unite us like the egg. Since our early ancestors snatched them from pre-historic nests, eggs have been infused with divine symbolism. In many folkloric cultures, the egg is nothing less than creation itself, with our world hatching from its shell, fully intact. This is called the World Egg Theory in divinity studies, and its current flows through myths of Hinduism - those found in ancient Sanskrit texts - and Taoism, where the sky and earth began as two halves of a broken egg." "...In Judaism, eggs are a symbol of life's fertility and cyclical nature, and consumed both at ceremonies honoring births and during the mourning period that follows death. In Christianity, Easter is the holiest day of the year. But for many families, Easter wouldn’t be Easter without Easter eggs, which range from a simple dyed shell to the jewel-encrusted Faberge variety." The article goes on to talk about how eggs have invaded our culture from cartoons and fairy tales to movies and language, but the thing that i wanted to showcase most was the thought and idea of "edible evidence of a higher power" and the symbolism of LIFE in an EGG. More so than just a representation of the type of protein in Muscle Nog, I saw a perfect opportunity to show a symbol that represents A NEW BEGINNING...the seed of life.
The Flame - This one was a little harder for me to accept, but only because Muscle Nog is created without heat, which is one of its key benefits, and I didn't want there to be any confusion....in fact, originally we had the egg on fire and I was always unsettled with it, but one day I was reading an article on PASSION and realized that the flame needs to represent what’s "inside" not "outside", and thus the logo was born. ...Fire has always been a representation of passion and commitment...love and devotion, but fire is also unruly and consumes everything in its path (I suppose that’s HOW passionate it is...it’s hard to stop and control when it really gets going), so I wanted to reflect "THE PASSION WITHIN" but I also want the image to reflect the importance of control...keeping your passion "in bounds". If you bridle that energy and control it, without allowing it to control you, you'll be unstoppable. We are beings of energy and power and finding a way to understand and focus on that is key to conquering anything you set your mind to (easier said than done and I'd like to talk more about this in a future post).
The name Muscle Nog - When I first started this project I was having a terrible time finding a name that reflected my idea. My idea for Muscle Nog was always centered around a drinkable egg protein, which I'll admit isn't the most glorious and appetizing thing to think about, so I wanted to try my best to exclude the word "egg" from the name but offer some type of subtle hint. I was talking to my mom one day and she mentioned "egg nog" and the bulb immediately went off. My first thought was Body Nog, but it was immediately overruled, just seconds later, by Muscle Nog....and you can only imagine how thrilled I was when I rushed home, hopped onto the internet, and saw that musclenog.com and getnogged.com were available to register....and really that’s where this whole thing really caught fire. In the day and age that we live in and the information super highway and social networking that we bounce through, it is extremely frustrating to have what you think is a unique idea uncovered to be someone else’s brainchild (which has happened to me more than a few times), so I was extremely grateful that the pieces fell into place perfectly. I have since been able to trademark Muscle Nog and Get Nogged! and I have fallen in love with the name and the brand, and I am extremely proud to pioneer this product into sport nutrition.
So, there you have it. Muscle Nog is an egg with fire. Interpret it as you'd like, but to me it means finding passion in life and bearing life out of passion!
What’s your interpretation?
Charlie
