I recently got to interview some of the folks behind the Orange County Library System’s new program Local Wanderer which allows cardholders to go to local museums, sporting events, and other attractions for free.
Mike Donohue, project lead and community outreach & administrative coordinator at OCLS, was quick to point out that they are certainly not the first library to roll out a program like this. But they are the first to tap the incredible and spooky brains behind Secret Society Goods for the branding.
Those brains and other body parts necessary to create the look for Local Wanderer belong to friend of the show Sean Walsh. I asked him a few follow-up questions about the designs, and you can read his answers right here!
What was your initial thought when presented with the idea for the Local Wanderer program?
I think I was blinded by my excitement of getting the chance to work with OCLS on a project. The program could have been literally almost anything and I would have been pumped.
That being said – when the team at OCLS began explaining it to me, I thought, “Oh yeah – this is going to be good.” There’s so much more to our city than theme parks and tourists, and there are plenty of residents who would like to get and experience what else we have to offer.
With Local Wanderer, I think OCLS is about to give them the push they need to make it happen. The library has been quietly powering up for several years now and is about to assume its ultimate form.
The visuals and colors are very striking. Where did you pull your inspiration from?
With the exception of the purple that I used, those are all OCLS brand standard colors. I just sort of remixed them in a way that would get people’s attention. I think we were all surprised by how well they all went together.
As for inspiration, we decided to go with a style that’s familiar to me that involves a lot of geometric shapes and line work for easy translation to *cough* possible merchandise down the road. There’s also a little bit of Keith Haring and vintage Nickelodeon cartoons thrown in there.
Eventually, do you want to create an icon for every interesting place in Central Florida?
Total domination – that’s been my plan all along.I’d love to keep making these for as long as Local Wanderer keeps adding organizations to their already impressive roster! I’d love to see Bok Tower Gardens show up on there. Maybe Gatorland?
It’s too bad Xanadu: Home of the Future has been demolished because that would have been a fun one. Maybe they’ll get a Museum of Osteology, that’ll be right up my alley.
Are there any Easter eggs hidden in the banner or individual images you hope people find?
There are little eyeballs and eye iconography hidden throughout a number of the icons. Look closely!
Do you have a favorite participating organization (or top three) out of the current list? What about a favorite icon?
This is going to sound like a cop-out, but honestly I think any organization that’s participating is really cool because they’re willing to work with an organization that’s been a cornerstone in our community for so long and they’re willing to try something new and take what it means to be an OCLS cardholder to the next level.
As for a favorite icon? I gotta go with the eyeballs peering through the giant fern. Or the smiling orange that’s meant to be a bit of a nod to the OCLS mascot, Squirt.
They let me get away with a lot while creating these. I hope people enjoy them as the program continues to roll out!
