Mermaid Boat Logo: A Canadian Twist on the Original Design

Our SV Aphrodite logo has been finalized. And, it seemed a perfect time to update the look-and-feel of my blog.

About the Aphrodite Mermaid Boat Logo

The mermaid boat logo was developed by Fe Wyma of Kapwa Communications. Fe developed several concepts, and after some back-and-forth, our new boat logo looks like this.

Mermaid Boat Logo
Aphrodite’s 2015 Update: A Mermaid Boat Logo

Fe refers to this mermaid creature as a Sedna.

What is a Sedna you might ask?

A Sedna stems from Inuit culture and legends of creation. We liked the tie-in to the far North as it spoke to our roots. I grew up in the Yukon. And, my husband originates from Alberta — but had done some work in Iqaluit. While he was there, he stayed in expensive, but shared accomodations, much like a dorm-style hotel room. And, with his team, he accidentally racked up a huge bill eating hotel Danishes.

But, I digress.

Preserving the Original Aphrodite Artwork

In creating the new logo, our goal was to preserve the original SV Aphrodite artwork while updating it with some personal features that are unique to our family.

As a reference, here is the original Aphrodite artwork, which St Francis Marine kindly provided to us.

Aphrodite LOGO
Original, 2005 SV Aphrodite artwork.

We liked the wild hair and sense of motion that the original graphic conveyed. And, tried to preserve that, to an extent, in the new logo.

Borrowing from Northern Canada

Borrowing from Inuit culture, our new logo is distinctly Canadian. The dark outlines are a nod to Canadian artist, Ted Harrison. To illustrate his style of simple lines, here is a sample of Harrison’s work.

ted harrison
Painting by Canadian artist, Ted Harrison

We wanted to add some colour to the logo, and chose blue and yellow — similar in tone to the St Francis Marine logo.

st-francis-marine

And, yes — we depict our four children with harp seals. How to describe that without sounding like I’ve lost the plot? My daughter, Karen, who is the youngest of our children being the lastborn twin, told me quietly that she thought of herself as the biggest seal in the pod.

More like the biggest monkey.

Thanks so much to Fe for pulling together the concepts, and for sticking with us as we changed our minds, or scratched our heads. I am looking forward to seeing the Sedna logo appear on our boat during the haul-out that’s happening in Tampa, Florida in August.

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If you enjoyed this story, you can save it to your own Pinterest board using the image below. Thanks for reading and following our journey.

Before and after photos of the logo we designed for our St. Francis 50 catamaran, SV Aphrodite in 2015.

0 comments

  1. Lovely. You have put so much thought into this. When practical tasks are pulling you in all directions. so nice that there is energy and desire to express yourself artistically. the illustrations were spot on to convey the development of the logo.

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