We started with meetings and audits to understand what had been done in the past and any performance information.

We researched similar trolley and public transportation services and identified what our audience did and didn’t like with other public transportation branding and graphics.

We started exploring rough concepts, looking at hand-drawn illustrations, vector graphics, and photo-based designs.

We also started exploring fonts and color palettes that could compliment the existing city branding and took into account other signage that would be nearby.

After initial review meetings, and feedback from the city’s team, we agreed on the photography approach and moved forward into full design.

It was important to us to place the trolley solidly within the city of Laguna Beach. We worked with the city’s team to get photos in front of key landmarks that could be used in materials and allow for variation.

We further refined the color palette and fonts, and created variations for different materials. For signage, we tested size, placement on the street, and location of dynamic QR codes for visitors to get more information and download the trolley app.

We then moved into designing maps with the new fonts and color palette, including larger maps for the transit center and variations for hand-held materials and folded maps. We used those branded assets to create additional promotional materials.