la mesa goal zero
la mesa goal zero
PROJECT TYPE
Assignment for Design Studio course at SDSU with the potential to get selected by the city of La Mesa
OBJECTIVE
Design the logo, branding, and collateral for a zero waste campaign for the city of La Mesa to use with new efforts of waste management rolling out in the next few years.
CHALLENGE
This campaign is to reach everybody in the city of La Mesa from all demographics. However, businesses produce the most waste and families are a key target for this campaign, therefore we should design this campaign keeping a simultaneous appeal for these two groups at the forefront.
SOLUTION
I designed a campaign that is modern and approachable, yet still shares features with commonly thought of recycling campaigns. I designed this campaign with the idea of the family and businesses first, while also taking into account other demographic groups found in most cities.
logo process
I decided to come up with a unique name for this campaign and not use the "La Mesa Zero Waste" name that was suggested to us by the city. After brainstorming, I settled on "Goal Zero" since during the briefing from the campaign staff, they emphasized that they realize it's unlikely to get to 100% zero waste levels, however the combined effort of waste reduction and changing paradigms around waste was their ultimate intention. This made me want to emphasize the "goal" aspect of this campaign more so than the waste itself.
After coming up with the name, I began to play with the mark of the "0" and to emphasize it. I then thought of an arrow coming out from the "0" and then going back into itself to evoke the engrained visual ideas of recycling and reuse in the viewer's minds. Since the effort to getting to zero waste is what the city of La Mesa was emphasizing with this campaign, I decided to also have the word "goal" be an important part of the logo, since the "0" in zero waste would be nice, but the "goal" of getting there and the path we take now is what will have the most immediate effect on this waste reduction.
final logos & colors
Since this city campaign is to appeal to virtually everyone in the city with an emphasis on business owners and families, I designed a logo that is clear, concise, and neutral without too much ornamentation to reach as wide of an audience as possible.
I chose the color green to not divorce this campaign completely from common recycling or waste reduction campaigns, but also with a strong presence of orange and yellow to bring this campaign out of the 80's and 90's and into its own lane with more current and contemporary design styles.
For the tagline, I came up with the phrase "The Path To Zero Waste" to focus again on the idea of the communal progress towards reducing waste, and not on an idea of a complete elimination of waste. This way, I feel the program seems more approachable and the goal seems more attainable.
icon set
A set of icons was created to represent the various themes and focuses this campaign focuses on such as community, the home, the family, various forms of waste, and others.
bus stop ad & poster designs
These ad and poster designs are supposed get a clear message across quickly, but then also give the viewer something to look at for a bit if they choose. Since I am emphasizing the idea of community and joined effort for this campaign, I included that idea in some of the illustrations to show the viewer that they are not alone with their efforts in this, and they can connect with their neighbors to help keep their community clean.
pattern
Playing off of the commonly-known triangular recycling icon that's been in use for decades, I developed a pattern using the arrow from the "0" logo icon that shows reuse, but also integration on a much larger scale. This was to show how the goal of zero waste requires a united effort from everyone in the community.
business card
Incorporating the various elements of the branding system, an accompanying business card was created for the city employees’ use. The main information on the back side is the employee contact information, therefore I wanted the front side to feature a little peak into the program itself, being the logo and slogan. This way, the person receiving the business card can have some insight into the program itself and can learn more if they wish by visiting the website featured on the back side.
billboard
Boiling the brand elements down to the bare minimum to get the point across to drivers, this billboard shows the community unity of the people picking up trash together, the hills referenced by the La Mesa slogan “jewel in the hills”, and the more flat urban areas. All these different aspects of the city are shown together as one to symbolize the united fight for reducing waste.