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Meet the Friends of the Waterfront
Visual Designer
April 2024 - June 2024
Illustrator, Pen & Pencil
[01]
If you're visiting Seattle for the first time, don’t miss the events hosted by the Port of Seattle. "Friends of the Waterfront" is a public campaign focused on revitalizing the waterfront through community events and promoting public engagement with art and activities. The campaign celebrates diverse cultures and offers a fun way to explore. I aimed to rebrand the existing design system for "Friends of the Waterfront" with a more sophisticated and modern symbol set, capturing the essence of the campaign's events through animals that live by the port.
Design process
Here is my design process for this project
1. Research
3. Vectorizatized Draft
Conducted background research on "Friends of the Waterfront" and its cultural and community events at the pier.
2. Initial Sketch
Hand-drawn first draft symbol sketches in three variations.
Created vector-based symbols in three variations using Illustrator.
4. Final Design
Finalized vectorized symbol set for the "Friends of the Waterfront" campaign.
Problem Statement
How might we redesign the symbol set to represent the events hosted while incorporating a more modern approach, all while maintaining the playful spirit of the campaign?
Research
For my research, I conducted desk research and attended the WABA Korean Festival to understand how the events are organized. The atmosphere was lively and fun, with families dancing to music from various cultures. The event was professionally organized, and I aimed to capture that balance of fun and professionalism in my symbol set design.
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Hosts a variety of events, including cultural festivals, sports, and music parties.
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Open for all ages, making it perfect for families and children.
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Closely studied the animals that inhabit the area around the Port of Seattle: Octopus, Otter, Seal, Duck, Dolphin, and Heron
Although the symbols were playful and colorful, I realized the style lacked coherence, and some animals weren’t directly tied to specific events. For example, the octopus, while fun, was more related to music in general rather than any particular event.
Original symbol style
Initial Sketch
For my initial draft, I created three different styles for a set of six symbols. The symbols were hand-drawn, drawing inspiration from images of the Seattle Waterfront. The first style featured seals participating in various activities, while the other two were more object-based, symbolizing the events. I received positive feedback on the seal design, as it felt more playful and effectively represented the events through their actions.
Vectorized Draft
After receiving positive feedback on the initial seal set, I moved forward by exploring more variations of animals and figures that were simpler and conveyed more action to represent the events in the campaign. On the right, I created my final set, which included various animals that inhabit the Port of Seattle, and gave the symbol set the name, "Meet the Friends of the Waterfront."
Final Symbol Set
I proceeded with using various animals participating in the events to create a clean design that still captured the playfulness. I transitioned from line strokes to solid fills for the symbols to enhance their clarity. My goal was to create a modern symbol set that could be used across multiple mediums, including signs, banners, bags, Instagram posts, and more.
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