Group Project in Advanced Art Direction
Collaboration with Lauren Nelson

Overview

This site is a 90 acre area of public parkland along the north shore of Lady Bird Lake on the east side of I-35 in Austin, Texas. It will include the newly dedicated and restored parkland at the site of the now demolished Holly Street Power Plant. This area has always been a lively gathering place for the neighborhood community in east Austin. The park has many popular features, including bike trails, community gardens, playgrounds, and baseball fields. 

The parkland renovation project is scheduled to be finished in early 2019 with the construction of a new fishing pier, concessions stand, and bike trail, as well as several landscaping improvements. The wall around the power plant grounds has several beautiful murals that will be preserved after the renovations. 

Problem / Solution

The problem with this park complex is mainly that it has no brand identity. In fact, the power plant is still in the process of being decommissioned. Apart from public baseball fields, some old picnic tables, and trails, nothing has undergone construction. The proposed name “Edward Rendon Sr. Metro Park at Festival Beach” is also too long and dull. Existing murals from the old power plant and community gardens need to be promoted and brought into the public eye in a better way.

A new name should be decided along with a consistent brand to extend along the different sections of the parkland. Wayfinding can be implemented in an environmentally friendly way such as utilizing the back of the wall mural and remains of the power plant. We will reference this site’s historical significance to the city and environmentally conscious approach to giving private land back to the community by using visuals symbolic of power & electricity combined with those of plants & nature.

The logo combines a rendering of the letter H made to look like the old power plant’s windows encircled by a vine representing the return of nature to the new area.

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