Visit Corpus Christi
Background
Corpus Christi is a popular beach vacation destination in Texas, and tourism is critical to its economy. The objective of this speculative project was to discover a version of the city that could be marketed to tourists throughout airports in the Southern United States, and developing a signature style that could be utilized for a variety of advertising efforts.
Above: Early drafts of my Visit Corpus Christi logo
Logo Development
Tourists who visit Corpus Christi tend to skew older than typical beach-goers, and culture is an important part of the city’s identity. There is an impressive array of museums and plenty of local festivities year-round, so adult tourists and their families have plenty to see and do when they vacation in the Gulf Coast Capitol. This fact influenced the visual style of this project by forcing it to evolve past a “beachy” aesthetic into something that communicated the idea of culture and maturity. Taking inspiration from the ocean-like curves of the Blenny typeface, I experimented with transforming a Blenny Black “c” into an abstract image that would evoke both sea shapes (like shells and waves) and minimalist maturity.
Above: My final Visit Corpus Christi logo and alternate horizontal logo
Visual Identity
Another thing that makes Corpus Christi stand out in comparison to other beach vacation destinations is the Texan part of its identity, so the visual style of the marketing campaign needed to reflect that. Taking inspiration from the paisley pattern associated with a stereotypical cowboy’s bandana, I created a style that incorporated the abstractly oceanic “c” shape that I used for the logo as a visual motif. The airport advertising campaign took this idea of a “beachy Texas” further by combining iconic Texas symbols (like a cowboy hat, boot, and Texas longhorn cow) with imagery associated with the Gulf Coast.
Above: postcard with illustrations inspired by my Visit Corpus Christi logo
Above: Airport advertisements showcasing Visit Corpus Christi branding illustrations
The choice to use photographic backgrounds for the illustrations came from a need to ground these fantastical images in reality, or perhaps, make reality into a fantasy, by treating them as a lens through which a person can view Corpus Christi.
Conclusion
This project taught me a lot about creating a cohesive visual style for a brand. I started with an abstract logo image that encompassed the core characteristics of Corpus Christi (beachy, mature, and cultured), and then used that as my primary source of inspiration for everything from typography to illustrations. This process was massively influential on the way that I now think about and approach design projects, figuring out the core visual of a brand and creating a web of content that all connects back to it.
Above: Visit Corpus Christi branding illustration on T-shirt merchandise