In January of 2024, I had just gone out on my own with Vibrosonic as a full time studio. I had been using the Vibrosonic name for freelance work for years, but now it was real. I had noticed a post by another well respected designer about a job he had completed rebranding a city in the Midwest and I started looking around my home town of Vista, California. I had always noticed that the city’s logo looked like it has been designed by a third grader…no disrespect to third graders! But it was time for a rebrand. So I sat down one afternoon and created an entire branding scheme for my city. And I posted it on social media. And it caught the eye of the right person.

I got a note from a local who said I should send my designs in the a certain person in the city offices. The next thing you know I was in the running with a handful of other designers for the job of rebranding of Vista. From what I’ve been told, my presentation blew everyone away and the job was mine. Committees were formed, meetings were had, directions were determined and the design process began. I work fast, and it wasn’t long before I had a new presentation put together with some options for the committee to peruse. Favorites were chosen and, long story short, after many meetings and emails, we zeroed in on the final design.

Here are some images to give you an idea of where it started, where it went, and where it ended up. There are many departments within a city, and levels and layers below that. I won’t bore you with each and every design that it takes to fill the needs of every tiny detail, but just know there are countless variations on many of the designs.

This was a project that I absolutely loved working on and would love to take on designing other cities in the future. Let me know if your city is stuck in time and could use a good update!

This is the original post I made on Instagram in January of 2024. Although this is not the logo that was ultimately chosen, it’s what got the ball rolling.

The following are (almost) every logo design presented in Round One, of which none were actually chosen, but parts and pieces were stolen, and a direction was established. Colors were also narrowed down. There were also mockups of street signs, trucks, light pole banners, and more presented at this time. It was helpful for others to see designs in their natural habitat.

After more rounds and honing and adjusting colors and accommodating and incorporating feedback from the committee, we finalized a logo, along with the design of alternate versions and sub-logos used for different districts and departments.

When rebranding a city, no matter the size, there are a million little things to update or redesign with new colors and styles. Here are only a few: city work trucks, road signs, buildings, monument signs when you enter the city, city employee business cards and security badges, and street banners. You’ve also got websites, paperwork and documents, uniforms, clothing, hats, and so much more!