The Meaning Behind the PositiveHug Logo 💕
You've seen them before, but do you know the story behind the two little faces?
If you've been around PositiveHug for a while, you'll recognise the two little faces that make up the logo. They've been there since the beginning, appearing across the website, social media and products, but I've never really stopped to explain who they are, why they look the way they do, or what all those little hidden details actually mean.
Now that I'm starting to develop them beyond simply being part of the logo and bring them into the wider PositiveHug world, it feels like the right time to introduce them properly.
So, meet Elfie and Nessie 💕
Where it all began 🌱
The name PositiveHug came before the logo, so when I started creating it, I knew I wanted something that felt happy, friendly and full of positive vibes - something that visually represented a Positive Hug.
But I didn't want two polished, perfect characters. I wanted personality, individuality and, most importantly, something that felt human.
That's why Elfie and Nessie aren't identical. They're deliberately a little different from each other. Elfie, on the left, has wonky eyes and funky hair, while Nessie has a wonky mouth. These aren't imperfections that needed correcting; they're simply part of who they are.
There's nothing wrong with either of them. They're just different. 💕
That idea of embracing individuality rather than trying to smooth everything into perfection and being the same as everyone else is something I really connect with. It's also one of the reasons I loved Weird Barbie in The Barbie Movie. She represents the idea that being a little different, unconventional or imperfect doesn't make you less worthy. Those things can actually be part of what makes you uniquely you. And that was something which deeply resonated with me.
That felt very fitting for PositiveHug, particularly alongside my other muses, Barbie and Elle Woods, who both represent different aspects of individuality, self-expression, feminism and being unapologetically yourself.
Elfie is deliberately the more wonky of the two, while Nessie is almost perfect - but not quite, because nobody is. And that's the point.
We're all different. We all have our quirks, insecurities and things about ourselves that perhaps we'd change if we could. Sometimes we're much harder on ourselves because of those things than we'd ever be towards somebody else.
That's one of the reasons self-kindness is at the heart of PositiveHug. ❤️
The little voice in our heads 💭
One of the things I really want PositiveHug to encourage is a little more awareness around negative self-talk.
We all have an internal voice, and sometimes it's incredibly supportive. Other times, it can be our harshest critic.
That's something I really wanted to reflect in the wider PositiveHug world. The idea isn't to pretend those thoughts don't exist or to tell ourselves we have to be positive every minute of every day. Life isn't like that.
For me, it's about becoming more aware of the way we speak to ourselves and learning to question those thoughts rather than automatically believing them. I think it's important to remember a thought isn't a fact.
If you wouldn't speak to a friend that way, why should you speak to yourself that way?
Sometimes self-kindness can be as simple as stopping for a moment and changing the conversation.
And that's the little reminder I hope PositiveHug can offer
The Happy Faces 😊
The happy smiling faces were always important to me because I wanted the logo to have that immediate feeling of positivity.
A smile from one person to another, even from a stanger can mean a lot. You see one and instinctively understand the feeling behind it. I wanted that little spark of happiness to be part of PositiveHug, but I also wanted the characters themselves to feel like they belonged to the brand.
Then there's the hug ❤️
The part of the logo that probably means the most to me is their arms.
When the two characters come together, their arms form the shape of a heart, which is where the idea of PositiveHug really comes to life.
The arms not only represent a hug but heart represents love, kindness, connection and support.
Sometimes a hug doesn't need to fix anything. It doesn't need to make the problem disappear. Sometimes it simply says, "I'm here."
And that's why the hug isn't just about kindness towards yourself. It's also about being the person who offers that kindness to somebody else.
I want PositiveHug to encourage both sides of that.
To be kinder to yourself, while also noticing when somebody else might need a little kindness too. PositiveHug is all about sharing kind words not only with yourself, but to others 🫶
And those little hands? 👊
Most people don't notice the hug is in the shape of a heart, but there's another detail that you might not immediately notice. Their hands aren't simply holding each other; they're shaped like little fist pumps.
That was deliberate because I wanted the logo to represent encouragement and support as well as comfort.
Sometimes supporting someone means giving them a hug when they're having a difficult day. Other times it means celebrating them, cheering them on or giving them that little boost when they're struggling.
I like to think of Nessie's little fist pump as that supportive voice saying, "Come on, you've got this, Elfie"
And I'd love PositiveHug to encourage people to be that kind voice for someone else too, because we don't always know what someone is carrying around in their head. A little encouragement, kindness or support at the right moment might mean far more to someone than we realise.
But neither of them is perfect 💕
There's something else about the two characters that I think is really important.
Although Elfie is the one receiving the support in the logo and Nessie is the one giving it, I don't see them as permanently fixed in those roles. I didn't want the message to be that one character is somehow broken and the other has all the answers. That's not how real life works.
Sometimes we're Elfie, and we need somebody to remind us that we're okay. Sometimes we're Nessie, and we're able to offer that encouragement to someone else. And sometimes we're both at the same time.
You can be supporting somebody else while having a difficult day yourself. You can be the person everyone comes to for advice and still need someone to put their arm around you occasionally.
We all need support sometimes.
And now they have names... 💕
For a long time, they were simply the two PositiveHug characters.
But as I've started thinking about how they could become more of a presence within the brand, I realised they needed names.
Giving them names felt like the moment they stopped being simply part of the logo and started becoming characters in their own right.
I didn't want to choose names just because they sounded cute. I wanted their names to have a little meaning hidden inside them, just as the logo itself always has.
And that's when Elfie and Nessie came along.
Introducing Elfie 💕
Elfie is the character on the left, with the wonky eyes and funky hair.
Her name comes from the word sELF, because Elfie represents the self.
That includes the relationship we have with ourselves, the way we speak to ourselves, our self-worth and self-acceptance, as well as self-expression and self-discovery.
Sometimes Elfie needs a little more support.
Not because there's anything wrong with her, and not because she needs fixing, but simply because sometimes we all need a little extra kindness.
Elfie represents that part of us that is still figuring things out. The part that can sometimes overthink, doubt itself or listen a little too closely to that negative voice in our heads.
She represents the self that is learning to recognise those thoughts and perhaps start responding to them differently.
And I think most of us can recognise a little bit of ourselves in Elfie.
Introducing Nessie 💕
Nessie is the character on the right, the one doing the supporting.
Her name comes from kindNESS, because she represents kindness.
That's kindness towards ourselves, but also kindness towards other people. It's compassion, encouragement, understanding and being willing to support someone when they need it.
Nessie is the one giving Elfie that little fist pump and letting her know that she's got her back. 👊💕
But Nessie isn't perfect either.
That's why she has her own little imperfection in the form of her wonky mouth.
I wanted that to be part of her character because being the supportive one doesn't mean that you have everything figured out. You can be there for somebody else and still have days when you need someone to be there for you.
Sometimes Nessie might need Elfie's support too.
Because kindness isn't one-directional.
It's something we can give, receive and share.
The little secret in their names ✨
This is probably my favourite part because when you put their names together, they carry the same message as the hug itself.
sELF + kindNESS = SELF-KINDNESS.
Elfie represents the self and Nessie represents kindness, and together they represent self-kindness.
And that really is at the heart of what PositiveHug to stands for.
Self-kindness doesn't mean never having a negative thought. It doesn't mean looking in the mirror every morning and convincing yourself that everything is perfect, and it certainly doesn't mean that you can't want to grow, change or improve.
For me, it's about how we speak to ourselves while we're doing all of those things.
You can want to achieve more and still believe you're enough right now. You can want to change something about yourself without deciding that you're not good enough as you are. You can make a mistake without turning that mistake into a judgement about who you are.
And when that negative voice appears, perhaps we can learn to pause and question it rather than automatically believing it.
That's the little conversation I want PositiveHug to encourage.
But I don't want that kindness to stop with ourselves.
Our products are designed to spread words of encouragement to ourselves as well as others. Wearing your PositiveHug in public shares these kind, encouraging words with everyone around, and you never know the difference it can make to someone's day.
The right supportive words at the right time can make all the difference. That's at the core of PositiveHug's purpose and reason for existing.
Self-kindness and kindness towards others aren't separate ideas. They're connected. 💕
