Round Top, Texas
City Rebrand
Logo Design, Print Marketing, Brochure Design
Round Top, Texas is a quirky little Texas town a little over an hour away from Austin. It is an interesting study of contradictions. On one hand, it’s known for its seasonal antique shows and HGTV alums Junk Gypsies. On the other, it is home to a world-renowned classical music school and a Shakespeare Festival. So you have an interesting mix of people who are drawn to this tiny town.
The challenge was to rebrand the city’s logo and design a small print marketing campaign for the new brand. This project was originally produced to fulfill requirements for a typography design class during the completion of my degree.
Process.
The Discovery process began with trying to nail down the target audience. Because of the wide variety of offerings in Round Top, this process proved to be a bit difficult. There were many different groups of people who might be enticed to visit Round Top, Texas - antiques, junkers, DIY-ers, classical music aficionados, day-trippers, theater lovers, and many others. I looked for commonalities between these groups and determined that a logo that is friendly and welcoming would have broad appeal.
Moodboard and Inspiration
The current logo for. the town features a windmill enclosed within a dark teal badge shape. It showcases the historical windmill that is in one of the market squares but doesn’t fully portray even a fraction of what the town offers visitors.
Letterform Exploration
Digital Exploration.
For this project, I felt did not do any conceptual sketching, but felt compelled to jump in and start looking at the shapes formed by the letters in the town’s name. Several of the combinations are reminiscent of cattle brands, but that concept would only appeal to a part of the people. This process led to me customizing the bold, funky, and friendly typeface Blenny Black to fit the lowercase ‘r’ and ‘t’ together to form a cohesive unit.
Revisions
Digital Drafts.
I developed several ideas from the exploration phase to take into critique. Based on feedback, there were several successful directions to go. I wound up making my choice based on what solution worked in the broadest possible uses. Some of these were trapped inside shapes and didn’t work as well when released from them.
The Results.
In the end, I chose to blend two directions together. The stacked Avant Garde Gothic Pro with the customized Blenny Black makes a bold statement when paired with a cheery yellow-orange that speaks of a warm spring afternoon. This logo works on many levels. It makes a striking logomark but can also be used as a container for photography or patterns in certain situations. Based on the feedback I received on earlier rounds, I simplified the color palette to the three colors shown in the brand standards below. These colors will translate well across various channels to portray the natural friendliness of the design.
Final Logo Design
Print Marketing
Part of the deliverables for the brief is examples of how the brand could expand across multiple channels in a tourism campaign. I designed a brochure that highlights different attractions and events around town. Through this design, I was able to showcase how the new logo can be used in different ways. I can be used as a container for photography or as texture in the background. I also carried over the use of lowercase into the headings.
Brochure
Z-Fold Brochure
Embroidered hat
Brander coffee mugs
Airport Sign
The Reflection.
Working on this project taught me a lot about analyzing letterforms and working with the exact positioning of these forms when using them as the basis for a logo. This project also forced me to keep the overall tone that I was going for top of mind while designing to mitigate spending time on designs that aren’t going to fit the direction I chose. I plan on continuing this project to expand the marketing campaign across channels by designing an interactive website prototype for various screen sizes.