Zero Waste La Mesa is a program managed by the city of La Mesa that focuses on creating a clearer and cleaner environment for their community. For this project, I was expected to create a branding system that includes basic brand elements such as a graphic mark, business cards, posters, flyers, ads and a responsive web page.

I started off by creating a mood board and researching existing programs and branding systems similar to the topic. The client wanted a modern design for the branding system so I explored marks with modern sans serif typography and vector images. I then went on to create many illustrative hand drawn sketches of the intended logotype design. I wanted to make a mark that is fun and friendly and for all ages. After deciding on my favorite sketched logotype, I uploaded the sketch to my laptop to create a digital version. Once on screen, I decided to play around with a more experimental approach to my design.

For my final logotype, I chose the font DIN Condensed Bold because it is clean and legible. I chose to remove certain elements from the word “waste” in order to illustratively show the idea of waste being “removed” or “disappearing”, since that is the goal of this project put on by La Mesa. I also added arrows to the logotype to convey the idea of upcycling/recycling. In choosing my color palette, I had the idea in mind to still show the idea of eco friendly with the classic green color, but with an added modern twist. I chose to use textured images of products pertaining to zero waste for my poster design backgrounds in order to make the focus of the project stand out. I used a large white Futura font for legibility. I also wanted to make the messages on the posters be funny in order to peak interest. I chose to print my business card design on actual cardboard because I felt it would be a great way for La Mesa to be true activists on this matter. What better way to promote the project than by leading by example and using actual recycled materials for your branding system.