Rural Design Studio

The seeds

Since I first picked up a camera as a middle schooler, I’ve been documenting rural design: Main street signage, craft fairs, landscapes, art installations, building masses. However, I didn’t think about design as a career path — apart from architecture — until I was well into my career.

DIY Design

I love and understand the scrappy nature of small business owners and nonprofit marketers, especially in rural places. But I want the hair stylist, the local florist, the new bakery, the community foundation, the mechanic not to ALSO be to be their own in-house graphic and web designer.

Design dollars going to urban agencies

The brands I noticed were doing a great job with their branding, web presence, and social media were more often than not working with a creative or agency partner in the Twin Cities. I want to keep rural design locals local, at least to some other rural community, when possible.

ROI of branding is undervalued

I’ve witnessed the rise in rural destinations largely due to their brand presence, from cool distilleries to cozy cafes to stunning remote retreats. I want rural businesses and entrepreneurs interested in growing their reach to have a local partner.

Research & Business Model

Market scan of other rural-serving design organizations, as well as other dispersed network models.

Brand: Visual identity, platform, Proofs of concept

Develop a logo, color palette, select typefaces, draft key messages, and mockup merch, collateral, and social media assets to show the brand coming to life.

Website

Working first in Figma, design a site prototype. Refine after user feedback, and then translate the prototype into a WordPress site.

Rural

Technically, counties without an urban core of 50,000 or more (U.S. Office of Management and Budget “non-metro”). Unofficially, you can get by with an IOU at the hardware store.

Design

To use Paola Antonelli’s (MoMA) definition, design is the “coming together of goals and means.” Initially, RDS will focus on graphic and web design and branding. This could expand to community needs assessments, spatial planning, event design, and more.

Studio

RDS is “local” in that its network of creatives live in and understand rural places. Its seed, and now epicenter, is Northfield, Minnesota.

Homeboat

Homeboat was a collective of artists, designers, architects, and neighbors that collaborated on a series of projects in rural communities from 2013–2019.

Focus: Community engagement and consulting to create resources and design solutions, from booklets to spaces to events. Worked with nonprofits and small cities.

Model: A collaboration of graphic designers, community development consultants, and organizers.

Citizens Institute for Rural Design

The Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design (CIRD) is a leadership initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Housing Assistance Council. CIRD’s goal is to enhance the quality of life and economic vitality of rural America through planning, design, and creative placemaking.

Focus: Design of public infrastructure, such as main 
streets, public spaces, transportation, and housing.

Model: A collaboration of three entities—NEA, NHC, and TBD—with specialties in planning, architecture, and policy.

Women Who Draw

Founded in 2017, Women Who Draw was an open directory of female, trans and gender non-conforming professional illustrators, artists and cartoonists. It was created by artists and friends, Wendy MacNaughton and Julia Rothman, to increase the visibility of femme-identifying illustrators, emphasizing illustrators of color, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized groups of commercial artists.

Focus: Provide a directory of underrepresented illustrators.

Model: Online directory that illustrators could apply to join. Fairly simple interface with an international reach.

Inquiry & Goals

Clients reach out with their design needs, estimated budget, and timeline.

Kick-off & Creative Brief

In a kick-off meeting, we’ll discuss the problem they’re trying to solve, mandatory elements, audience, and how they’d define success. From there, we’ll provide a scope of work and quote based on the agreed brief.

Design & Deliverables

Working from the creative brief and scope of work, we’ll assemble a creative team from our network. We’ll provide two design rounds and deliver a final set of assets.

Moodboard

Hand-painted signs, geometric patchwork quilts, weathered and loved textures, diner menus, and bold yet natural colors helped inspire the brand visuals.

Color Palette

Drawing from natural materials, worn-in fabrics, and nostalgic neutrals, this subdued, complementary palette could be toned up or toned down based on the use case.

logo exploration

From geometric to wordmark versions, I landed on a hybrid approach.

Vibe Check

• “Professional. Artistic but not weird. Very contemporary but reverent to the past (which is important to rural folks). Fun but not cute.”
• “Warm, grounded, humble, inviting. The typeface is bold but friendly. ‘Maker’ feels.”
• “Warm, grounded, humble, inviting. The typeface is bold but friendly. ‘Maker’ feels.

Questions

• What does the about page and directory page look like?
• How do you demonstrate the work RDS does?
• What does it look like to be a creative collaborator?

To create the bespoke, vernacular, and bold aesthetic I wanted, I used the hand-drawn typeface Flapjack, by Taylor Penton, a font that “looks like it stepped out of a 1920s billboard. We hand-drew each letter, inspired by old shop signs and billboards.” 

The logo mark is meant to have an infinite number of combinations, always using “RDS,” the patchworking of triangles, and brand colors.