(Sacramento County Recycling Department figures)

The Before Times

In January of 2020 (right before…well…you know) we were all still firmly footed in what some call “the before times.”  My copywriter and at-the-time conceptual partner Jenna Lazzarone (cracking good copywriter, should you be in the market for one) were working at Sacramento’s 3fold agency, and we had been tasked with a full rebrand Nevada County Transit, a rapid transit system servicing the Northeastern California area including Grass Valley. With our mission in place, we of set off north to the Grass Valley area to research what was working about the brand, what could be improved upon, and how we could find a new way to present Nevada County Transit as a brand.   

A Break with the Tropes of the Past  

At the time, the transit system up in Nevada County was beholden to some well-worn brand elements devoted to the area’s history as a gold rush boomtown. 

Dubbed the Gold Country Stage, it was a sturdy brand that had over time simply not grown alongside the region. It felt more aligned with mid-20th century tourism vibes than the sophisticated and arty town it had since grown in to. Further, the public in the area didnt really have much of a solid perception for what the transit line even was or how it could fit into their lives and lifestyles. 

Simplification was Key  

In interviewing locals about the service, one thing came up more often than anything else: its current map was unwieldy and too hard to parse at a glance. In looking at it you could see why. It’s a classic example of a map that’s trying to say too many things, to express every bend in the road, every detail for miles. What if we took the example of large metropolitan subway lines and worked from there? This would also give us a way to streamline not just the logo but the name itself.  

Exit Gold Country Stage, Enter: Nevada County Connects.

Making the Brand About Connection, Destination and Lifestyle   

I wanted to focus on Nevada County Transit as a consumer brand, since that was the way the public would be interacting with it. What does it feel like? How does it make you feel? What does it do for you? In a city full of brewpubs and art galleries and interesting restaurants, how will it fit in between the rider and those points.  The destination point itself would become an important piece of the logo mark, and we would articulate that out through the brand materials, posters, flyers, fare cards, shelters, and even the fleet itself. 

My goal with the “connects” logo was to tap into riders’ sense of adventure. For that reason, the end of the ”S” pushes off infinitely, giving a sense of an open-ended road with limitless possibilities. This is a concept that was articulated throughout print and environmental materials, as well as on the fleet itself. 

A sleek “supergraphics” style brand extends to the service map itself

We had our mark and a way to articulate it thoughout the brand system, but we needed to remember that one of the original problems we were hired to solve was the map itself. Fortunately, I had a fantastic designer to turn loose on it. Maria “Masha” Ratinova was my graphic designer at 3fold and being a native of Moscow originally, she knew her way around sprawling transit maps. She would take it on like it was the transit map for a large cosmopolitan metropolis, with all the minimalism and simplification that comes with it. Her system map was truly a thing of beauty. 

The system map comes alive

Masha’s terrific work on the map itself cant help but feel like a moving thing, even as a static asset. But she went a step further, tossed it into After Effects and really made it come to life in sprawling motion. We used it on several motion assets across every social channel.

Defining and refining the brand

I did the poster design and some social and motion assets for 2022’s Same Same But Different festival in Southern California on Lake Perris (you can see my work from that year here) and the promoters liked the work so much they asked me to return for the 2023 fest, but this time in an expanded role. A common factor with most music festivals is how they often start off with a less disciplined brand system, usually defined and then refined after the fest has had a few years to get up and running. During those first few years there can be a few too many variations in color, type, texture, etc. present and SSBD wanted the 2023 iteration of the event to have a more structured brand system and they wanted me to be part of creating that look.

Redesigning the logo

The mark they had from the beginning through 2022 was nice but to my taste felt a touch too indebted to 00s blog house culture and the aesthetics of the time. I sought to take what was strong about the mark and shake off the early-millenial design nods to give us a sleeker, more streamlined mark that updated the vibe of the event visually.

Use the slider below to compare the pre-2023 logo with the current updated version…

You can see how the new mark plays with the new illustration I made of Lake Perris in the static and motion lineup announcement posters below…

And of course we then articulated this new look through all manner of social assets, maps, wayfinders, etc…

The industry comes roaring back

In winter 2019/20 I was working on art for several music festivals (nearly all festivals are planned several months in advance as they end up impacting many artists’ touring plans for the years they occur in. Of course then (motions around) things changed. Spring dates shifted optimistically to early summer, then late summer, then autumn before being ultimately shelved. A trend that would stick around for a year or two. Since Covid first hit in 2020 there have been multiple false starts and plans that never made it past the initial planning stages. 2023 felt like things were finally geting back to normal. That year I would do four music festivals just in the first four months of the year.

I was thrilled when Activated Events asked me to help them rebrand their long-running Coastal Country Jam festival, which would be returning in 2023 but in a very different location than its original stomping grounds in Huntington Beach. The festival was moving north. To Long Beach. And that change of venue was going to inform the artwork.

Avoiding the usual “country/western” tropes

Sure, this was a country music festival but it was also a California country music festival. On the beach no less. The look would need to avoid all the usual trappings associated with country music. No boots, for instance. And it should at least nod to the California model of country. A bit more Eagles than Charlie Daniels Band. I set to work on a few different brand marks to see about presenting this specific vibe. And as I often do, I would start with color. What could bridge the gap in vibe here? Sand, sea, earth tones and honky tonks. All that. I put together a simple palette as my jumping off point. 

Color and type are often my way “in” on a project. Each carries its own language and tone into things that help light the path toward what the other elements will be. So next I’dd find some type that could live in that space between Country tradition and California attitude. I would mock up a couple basic logotypes.

The further along we got into the process the more we realized that the new location would be such a major change that it should be primary in the artwork. Almost like Long Beach itself was a headliner. So in the third mark above I began working notable Long Beach landmarks into the art. The Queen Mary, the Lions Lighthouse, the Gerald Desmond Bridge. All local landmarks that would feature in the eventual art, poster, and social assets were beginning to work their way in here. I even rough mocked up a version that leaned perhaps too heavily on SoCal beach vibes.  

Personally, I was kind of fond of that direction, but it was becoming clear during the process that the new location in Long Beach would need to be more overtly expressed in the design. It was about 15 miles to the north of its previous location in Huntington Beach but these were LA freeway miles and that might need to be part of the pitch to festivalgoers.  Visually, the skyline would be the star as the festival would be taking place on Long Beach’s scenic harbor shoreline at their recently revamped convention center. With that in mind, I reworked the concept to make Long Beach primary. But I still wanted this to have a flavor different than what one might get from a tourism photo. There should be a sense of fun, buoyancy and simplicity in the illustration style. But for right now we needed to get the logotype locked in. I was able to come up with a mix of vibes that was a little bit Pacific Waterfront and a little Country so that the two halves would complement each other. At last we had our mark…

Now to couch it in an inviting setting. Much like with my artwork for the California State Fair’s 50th anniversary, I felt the setting needed to be more of a vibe than a factual schematic. You should feel the amber of the setting sun and the warm Pacific breeeze as it colored the skyline, the sea, the setting. Employing an abstract, if minimal, style would allow a few larger-than-life liberties to be taken that would make the location feel welcoming and inviting. 

It was all beginning to come together. We had an iconic illustration for what would be an iconic setting for a fantastic weekend. I wanted that vibe to extend to the motion assets as well. Less of a kinetic assault and more of a pleasant sunbeam to bask in. “Inviting” again would be the watchword here. I wanted it to pleasantly coax you in.

And of course with our footing established and a look in place, we then articulated this out through a number of different assets