I Loves it!

How the I Loves The 'Diff logo came into being

Like many people, I've always admired the simplicity, fun and sheer ubiquitousness of Milton Glaser's classic original logo. For a long time I thought I'd hijack it to promote the 'Diff, which is how my friends and I (and many other locals, obviously) refer with affection to Cardiff, the capital of Wales and a great little city with a lot going for it.

Back in February 2009, using Photoshop I came up with the initial logo of "I Love The 'Diff" without, you may note, an 's' after the heart. I even had a protoype t-shirt made, which I remember showing to my brother when I picked up from the airport when he arrived back in the UK from Sydney. "It's okay," he commented.

And that was the general opinion: it's alright. But nobody was getting excited. Then, I had the idea for the 's' after the heart to make 'loves', like someone with a strong local accent might say, as in "I loves it, I does".

It was a small but significant addition. Suddenly, friends and family members to whom I showed it got excited. "And therein lies its genius," said a friend of ours, Andrew, back in June 2009 shortly before demanding that be allowed to invest in the project. "It's the 's' that makes it." And of course, he was right. He was also drunk at the time, but that's not important.

I asked my friend Jes, an art director and designer to have a play with it and he kindly agreed. He took my amateurish logo and, without changing it drastically, adjusted it so that suddenly it looked clean and professional. A few drafts later and we were ready to find t-shirt printers and build a website shop.

The rest, as they say, is history. We began selling I Loves The 'Diff t-shirts after The South Wales Echo ran a story on the enterprise in late August. Although we weren't 100 per cent ready and the website wasn't quite finished, we weren't about to lose that great opportunity to launch with a bang.

We started selling hoodies in October, in which month we sold our 100th t-shirt and appeared in Cardiff Life magazine.

"We've received such enthusiastic and positive reactions from the public since launching a few weeks ago," Al was quoted as saying in the Cardiff Life article. Indeed, the people who contact us often refer to the logo as "fabulous". It's great to see people as enthusiastic about our idea as we still are.

It's also great to see that while still a very small operation, I Loves The 'Diff has gone global, with sales to Australia, the United States and Canada among other far-flung places.

The t-shirts have been recognised by the Cardiff fashion community too. In October we supported the Vintage Rocks Cardiff charity event at The Gate, Cathays, and in December we are supporting the excellent Fashion Showcase Wales, the largest fashion event in the country. For this Coal Exchange event we have donated the backstage and crew t-shirts, which feature exclusive pink hearts!

The I Loves The 'Diff brand is growing, increasingly recognised, helping to promote Cardiff and supporting charities along the way. It's all good, and we loves it!