History of the New LB Insignia

Actually insignia sounds slightly negative to me — as if I’m running a pushy dictatorship or something. That’s definitely not the case. I’ve been wrestling with my personal branding for years. However one thing has surfaced again and again: an icon that incorporates my initials. At one point in time I used 2M3 because of the way I sign my name. The L in Levi looks a lot like a 2 when written in my sloppy cursive, and the B doesn’t have a stem. I’ve thought for years about possibly combining them into one symbol that I could use as my own person icon. 

In 2003 I bought a blue jean jacket. On the tag I drew the following…

This was the start of the journey to combine the two letters. After a couple years obsessing over the number 23, I started to try and bring it out of the numeric realm and add a more personal touch to it. I began by drawing some cursive letterforms.

After my new site launched I realized I needed to revisit this concept. Instead of scanning in these and converting them to vector I decided to just start drawing with my Bamboo Pen. After a bunch of tries I finally decided to use this one.

I took it into Illustrator where I fine-tuned the lines to my liking, and came up with a much cleaner vector version.

I then threw it up on Dribbble to get some feedback. Here’s what I submitted…

I think I’m pretty happy with it, and I really love the fact that it’s fairly versatile. It’s got some history as well as represent the constant learning, playing, and building I’ve been doing over the years.