City Logo, Branding,
& Wayfinding
For this project I did tourism branding for the city of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Hattiesburg is the city where my mother grew up with her cousin and best friend, Brenda, who was one of my favorite people in the world. This project was an homage to her.
I designed wayfinding icons, billboards, wayfinding signage, some merchandising items, and a website homepage.
Mood Board
My mood board shows all of my favorite things about Hattiesburg: the nature, the art, and the architecture. I focused in on a lot of buildings with colonial architecture, mostly from the University of Southern Mississippi which resides in Hattiesburg. The one thing I always remember most, however, is how green Hattiesburg is. Even my youngest memories there always include all the trees.
From the beginning I knew that my color palette would be taken from nature, as is shown here,
Style Boards
1
I did three style boards to choose from going forward:
The first is in a very light and delicate style, showing magnolia trees, a student, and a couple eating at what looks like Mack's on the River.
The second focuses on student life, and is in a more modern style. It shows more students, another couple eating, some families, and a riverboat.
The third style board is personified by the Southern Belle; I even included a picture of Scarlet O'Hara. This palette shows more trees and a lot of families. I decided to with this style, incorporating soft but bright colors in a simple but elegant style.
2
3
Icons
The color palette I used is mostly centered around the magnolia tree, but also incorporates a sky blue, as well as a floral purple which is in remembrance of my cousin Brenda, since it was her favorite color. For the icons I used soft shapes. I wanted to use soft shapes and colors throughout this project to reflect the lovely and natural aspect of Hattiesburg. I created a horizontal line out of a famour Hattiesburg icon: the bronze feet cast into the concrete downtown, which are the footprints of a freedman named John Wesley Fairley who lived an amazing life in Hattiesburg
Touchpoints
Logo
The logo is the word Hattiesburg with the crossbar in the H extending like a Magnolia tree branch. I wanted to emphasize the natural beauty of Mississippi and Hattiesburg by representing the Magnolia in the logo.
Touchpoints
Wordmarks, Lettermarks, Fonts, & Colors
Process Work & Takeaway
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Final Icons
My takeaway for this project came from the process of simplifying the icons. Rather than doing sketches, I started by playing with geometric shapes and seein where that took me. I also used a photo of the Town Square Park as the basis for the Park icon. I then worked in a reductive manner and worked in rounds, reducing in stages the icons that needed to be simplified. This resulted in a set of very simple yet readable icons that were identifiable as a cohesive set. I chose to use a few different geometric shapes with soft corners to make them more playful and welcoming. I also used several colors from my color palette to keep it fun.
My initial workdmark had some colonial architecture in the crossbars on the T's and in the columns in some of the letters, but it was just too busy. This project taught me a lot about why less is sometimes more. Even though I really liked my design and still do, it wasn't fitting for the assignment. However, it did end up carrying over into the design of the Museum icon. I never give up on my ideas because I know I will always be able to find a use for them somwhere.
Original Wordmark Design
What I enjoyed most about this project was simply how close to my heart it is. I enjoyed making little references to my mom snd Brenda's life in Hattiesburg, as well as the time that I have spent there myself.
If I were to redo this project or do something similar in the future, I would focus more on making more of a design system that ties together. I would also like to try creating a travel brochure.
This was a passion project for me and I feel and have been told that I have honored Hattiesburg with my work. My only regret is that Brenda never got to see it.