When designing the new Premium Line, I wanted to create a symbol that could be used throughout the line on the various items and materials. While there are tons of beautiful ampersands from existing typefaces, I wanted to design a character that would be unique to Ugmonk so I broke out my pencil and sketchbook and came up with several original concepts. I thought it would be neat to give you guys a small peek into my process and show a timelapse of the ampersand from sketch to finished leather journal.

Here is my general workflow:

1. Sketch ideas
2. Scan sketch and open in Illustrator
3. Draw paths in Illustrator with pen tool
4. Refine overall shape and smooth out curves
5. More fine tweaking and adjustments
6. Offset path to create stroked shape 
7. Send to manufacturer to create leather stamp

(Having trouble viewing the animation? Click here)