The Logos
Our first step in the process of design was a collaborative "brainstorming" session. We pulled out a white board, asked a lot of questions, and gently guided the Bella Vista team as they gave us ideas on their preference and vision for the new trail logos. Our design goals were clear from the beginning: clean, approachable, young, energetic, commanding, and recognizable. From this meeting, we were able to build out our design brief to guide the creative process and hold us accountable to our objectives. Our next step was facilitating a design competition through 99 Designs, a platform where designers from all over the world submit ideas and designs for a winner's pot. We chose this option as a productive way to get the most variety of designers and options as possible. We loved facilitating this process and guiding both logos down the journey of revisions and edits until arrival at a final. Both logos underwent scrutiny and analysis before landing on a beautiful final result. The Little Sugar logo was especially free-flowing, a direct representation of the river and the trails that flow beside it. And the Back 40 was more forward and commanding, an accurate reflection of the intense up and down trail-riding experience and adventure of flying through the woods.
Photography
In addition to logo design, our team helped with capturing photos for each of their departments. We staged early morning photo shoots and captured police cars to firetrucks to mountain bikes to dump trucks - a wide variety of shots that reflect the hard working team at City of Bella Vista. Two of our favorite shots included capturing photos of "Huk" the German Shephard next to his decal on the police car and hiking into the woods to capture shots of the Sugar Creek.
