In 2016, I was approached by Adobe to participate in Cincinnati Adobe Creative Jam.
I was selected to be lead designer of 1 of 8 two-person teams. Design teams were given the theme, "Throwback to the Future," and were then given 3 hours to create a design. Below you will see our original submitted design as well as my remixed version.
The concept // We wanted to pay homage to the rich German history and heritage in Cincinnati as well as tapping into the new energy oozing out of Over the Rhine. The event was held at Rhinegeist Brewery in the Over the Rhine district of downtown Cincinnati. Over the Rhine's "distinctive name comes from its builders and early residents, German immigrants of the mid-19th century. Many walked to work across bridges over the Miami and Erie Canal, which separated the area from downtown Cincinnati. The canal was nicknamed 'the Rhine' in reference to the river Rhine in Germany, and the newly settled area north of the canal as Over the Rhine' via Wikipedia.
Above is our original submitted version for Cincinnati Adobe Creative Jam. You can see an old Cincinnati Riverboat overlayed with an aged aerial view of Cincinnati. Hand-drawn type which reads "Throwback to the Future" in German flows across the composition. The gritty nature of the photos represent the hard-working immigrants who established Over the Rhine. The modern colored, geometric shapes coming from the old smokestack are a nod to the newly energized murals (see below) in downtown Cincinnati.
Cincinnati ArtWorks murals
The remixed version above rings more true to our original design idea but with an hour left in the competition we changed design directions. The beer stein pays tribute to Oktoberfest, the German festival held annually in Cincinnati. The modern design is reminiscent of German graphic design with bold, clean shapes and stoic type. The theme, "Throwback to the Future" reads in German. The monochromatic beer stein is open indicating a release of the past and progression into the bright, energetic future of Cincinnati. Playful hand-drawn patterns are utilized in the background of the composition to balance the clean-lined geometry of the piece. These lines help to release the tension representing the new youthful future meeting the historic legacy of Over the Rhine.
