The New Look for 2026
Almost exactly a year after Grand Rapids celebrated their 175th anniversary, USA was celebrating their 250th. The newly appointed executive director, Tyler Loftis, wanted to capitalize (capitol-ize-?) on this for the look of the festival for 2026. That gave me a color scheme to work with, and my previous pieces involving the City of Grand Rapids gave me some additional assets to brainstorm from!
Poster Reveal
The initial concept was to have the logo weaving through the middle of the skyline. As attached as I was to this concept, it ended up getting changed a couple weeks before the initial poster reveal (it would live on as a stamp later in the festival).
For the actual poster—and therefore setting the brand in motion—we looked again at what some of the USA 250 concepts used. I also did a deeper dive on The Bicentennial, when Grand Rapids native Gerald Ford was President of the United States, and campaigning for re-election.
What I found was a lot of shapes made from ribbons, which you can see very clearly in both 1976 and 2026 brands.
Ribbons became a very important part of the brand after that. A four-color, thick 3D ribbon recreated the established ArtPrize logo, and two-color, thin 3D ribbons became decorative assets on many other things. These smaller ribbons also became the basis for the iconography that went with the themed weekend branding.
Four Themed Weekends
Along with the preview week, there was also a desire for a concept for four different forms of art. Each weekend of ArtPrize had its own themed icon to summarize the event, while staying tied into the brand elements of everything already established.
Dance
September 12
Celebrate the art of dance during Preview Week, with performances at Rosa Parks Circle curated by the Grand Rapids Ballet, including various dance forms from additional organizations.
Music
September 18-19
ArtPrize’s official kickoff begins with a parade from Rosa Parks Circle, ending on the Pearl Street Bridge for a performance by the world’s longest stringed instrument, Earth Harp presented by T-Fiber.
Visual Arts
September 26
Young minds explore tactile creativity at Doodle Street, an immersive creative experience for children and families at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market. Inter active hands-on activations will engage kids’ imagination, and inspire young artists-to-be.
Fashion
October 3
The ArtPrize competition will conclude with its largest Awards Celebration ever at the Acrisure Amphitheater. Awards will be presented to winning artists before RC Caylan Atelier couture looks walk the runway, along with by live performances by Grand Rapids Symphony, Opera Grand Rapids, and professional dancers from throughout the city.
Editorial & Print
You can’t have an art festival for around 1,000,000 visitors with just cool posters and fancy icons.
We also needed to make sure visitors and locals alike would be able to find all of the information and directions necessary to get the full experience. We ended up with a 50-page event guide due to the sheer amount of venues, artists, and events happening around the city!
We also wanted to make sure children could enjoy the weeks-long experience as well, so there was a magazine designed for schools to take half- and full-day field trips
Signs, Signs, Everywhere A Sign
Billboards, banners, easels, a-frames, jumbotrons, nametags, and just about everything in-between.
The city tends to get covered in wayfinding and decorative signage during the festival. This year was no exception.
We had countdowns running on billboards around the city, as well as soft launching the idea of the themed weekends. Each venue (I think 159?) had a sign labeling them, and each artist (over 1000) had a custom label. The awards show had a large amount of slides, Rosa Parks Circle had a temporary LED screen, and of course, the massive banner behind The Earth Harp had to be created on-brand as well.
French Paper Stamp Rally
A real incredible moment for me after the initial poster launch was getting a DM from French Paper on Instagram. They were curious of ways we could get some crossover between ArtPrize and French, and I’d had the idea of a stamp rally brewing in my head for a couple years by that point. We discussed a few ideas, and set a date to have a free stamp-your-own-postcard event at Rebel Nell—right in the heart of the foot traffic.
It went so nice, we did it twice!
After the initial event, it was suggested that we provide this same activity for the VIP area of the awards ceremony at Acrisure Amphitheater. That one went just as well as the first run, so this may be something that starts popping up more often in Grand Rapids…
Bryan Cranston
The star of Breaking Bad & Malcom In The Middle was in town promoting his new tequila line, Dos Hombres. Since they were also a sponsor of the festival, he also presented an award.
It’s cool seeing your stuff around the city you live in; when Hollywood stars start appearing next to it, it’s a whole new level of cool!
In The News
ArtPrize gets a lot of coverage every year, but this year exploded to a whole new level. Articles and photos ranged from local outlets to People Magazine & UK Entrepreneur!
