An iPad, an Ampersand, & Attempts At Doing “Art”

Hey, it’s TJ here again – the head honcho (and only employee) of Bones & Butterflies with some tales from the digital frontier of design. I recently swapped out my terrible drawing technique for the sleek stylus of an Apple Pencil, and my Sharpie-scrawled sketchbook for the classier, glassier screen of an iPad. It’s a whole new world for me — with backwards B’s.

Digital vs. Analog

So, I’ve got this iPad, right? It’s shiny, it’s reliable, and it doesn’t judge me for my lack of fine motor skills (it fixes that part for me). With the Apple Pencil, it’s like I’ve unlocked some sort of cheat code for drawing. Lines are smoother, mistakes are a thing of the past (thank you, undo button), and my B’s look less like a deflated balloon animal and more, well, like B’s.

The B’s Knees & The Aesthetic

Let’s talk about the B’s in Bones & Butterflies. Why backwards, you ask? Because in the world of design, backwards is the new forwards. It’s a statement, an attempt to hijack the tidiness of typography. When you put two of those handwritten B’s back to back with an ampersand tossed in the middle, you don’t just get another brand logo —you get a butterfly. That’s right, a butterfly. It’s been redrawn more times than I’ve rewatched seasons of “Brooklyn 99”, but every new version brings it closer to its transformation into that “perfect imperfection” I’m going for. I want to create my aesthetic of “kind of rough – but organized, a bit messy, and the mistakes are all intentional”.

The Domain Drama

The ampersand – the twisty little symbol that’s the glue of ‘Bones & Butterflies’. It’s the peas to our carrots, the Mac to our Miller, the…well, you get the idea. But try telling that to a web domain. Turns out, you can’t use an ampersand in a URL. Who knew? So, I did what any sensible person would do – I swapped it for a ‘3’. Why? Because if you squint and tilt your head just right, a ‘3’ looks almost like an ampersand doing yoga – almost. Deadmau5 did something similar when he came up with the 5 in his name.

Devil in the Details, No Prada

Now, let’s chop it up about the details. Each element of the Bones & Butterflies brand, from the logos to the long stories, have been crafted with the kind of attention that a cat gives a laser pointer. The details matter. Like discovering that neon pink surprisingly works with everything (and so does black, obviously) . Details are the handshake, the secret wink that says, “I see what you did there.” It’s all about turning the “Go Away, End It.” into the “Okay, Send It.”

Wannabe Artist, Hopeful Creator

So here I am, a self-proclaimed wannabe artist turned digital wizard, having a laugh over my clever use of the number three. As I write more blogs and obsess over the latest version of the B&B logo on my iPad, I think to myself, “Sure, it’s 3am on a Tuesday, but maybe someone out there is going to dig this one.”

I want people to grab some B&B gear not only because it’s (potentially) fashionable, but because I’m weaving stories, humor, and countless sleep-deprived nights into each design. I want people to look at those back-to-back B’s and see the butterfly, not just my backwards remix of the alphabet. I want people to type that ‘3’ in the web address and feel like they’re in on the joke.

A solid narrative, unique details, and a good product. I’d maybe even pay for that…

xX T. Xx ☠️🦋❤️