Gone to Texas

Services: Logo Design
Illustration & Design: Aaron Johnson
Creative Direction: Joel Anderson

The Project

“Gone To Texas” is a rich tradition that continues each August, as a new generation of students converge upon The University of Texas at Austin. We were hired to create an illustration that would help celebrate and promote the annual event welcoming students to their new home.

The Challenge

The University needed a fun logo image that would include the school colors, imagery of Austin, Texas, and icons of the campus, but simple enough to be used on apparel, websites, postcards, banners, and more.

The Solution

We created a whimsical, six-color design built around the hand-lettered word TEXAS. Staff artist Aaron Johnson drew cartoon depictions of city and campus landmarks and icons bursting forth from the phrase “Back to Texas.” The artwork was clean, cheerful, and simple—basically, it felt like a party in progress!

Concept Sketches

We experimented with different compositions that emphasized different aspects of the theme. Eventually, we settled on a free-form shape with lots of white space to call attention to a dozen little illustrated icons that seemed to radiate out from the word TEXAS.

Color Rendering

We started with the official orange from the school’s color palette and added other complimentary colors from there. Knowing that the art would be used on t-shirts, stickers and other merchandise, we stuck to a limited color palette.