Rusty Roots Festival
Branding of a cultural, summer food and music festival held in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Rusty Roots food and music festival is an annual event that celebrates the cities identity as a place built from its diverse cultural backgrounds. Its diversity is largely thanks to its early success as an industrialized city that brought many different tradespeople to the area looking for opportunity. During the height of Cleveland’s economic successes, its number one industry was steel manufacturing, which greatly decreased over the second half of the 20th century—along with other major cities lining the Great Lakes coastline now referred to as part of the countries “Rust Belt.”
The imagery for this design is drawn from the Cleveland skyline and Edgewater Beach. Rough textures are added to the photos, using a “rusty” palette to evoke a nostalgic feeling and compliment the humble roots of the cities history. The logotype takes on a more modern feel incorporating a slightly more saturated color scheme. The folding chair and umbrella are representative of city events and local community.
