During the first Covid lockdown, when work was scarce and things were weird, I began to worry that I'd forget how to be creative if I didn't stay busy. So I did a bit of drawing, restored a table, made a (shit) roller blind with some old fabric and a mop handle, rescued the plants from our empty studio and nursed them back to health, embarked on a load of digital paintings created on my phone every morning before getting up, and basically said yes to anything creative that came my way in order to stop myself losing the plot. 

This logo job for @friendsofcounty was one of those creative lifelines, kindly thrown to me by @whoisandrewbeattie, and I grabbed it with both hands. He was part of a community project aiming to regenerate County Road and its surrounding area in Walton, North Liverpool. The project had a name, but no identity, so he figured I could help. 

One of the rare upsides of that first lockdown was an unusual amount of headspace. Not only did I not have any appointments, I wasn't allowed any. I didn't have emails to respond to because my clients were at home making bread and fighting over toilet paper. This was very odd but it brought with it time to immerse myself in inspiration before picking up a pen or opening Illustrator. I spent time thinking about good financial stewardship and what it meant to be responsible for a neighbourhood and its redevelopment. I studied union logos and thought about what it meant to be part of a group fighting for a common cause. What might an identity look and feel like if it was rooted in that area? 

I kept it simple. Corpy green and cream, influenced by the buses that lined County Road in my childhood. The logo itself was a twelve sided coin, like an old threepenny bit, harking back to the idea that "if you look after the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves". It was all a valuable lesson in slowing down and sitting with the questions before rushing to answer them with a design – and I try to remember this each time I'm presented with a new design brief. It's not always easy to slow down, especially when I feel like I know the answer straight away, but I'm always happier with the results when I do.