Small town Schmall town

City of Spokane

Brand Identity

Capital of the Intermountain NW

Spokane is a vibrant metropolitan center serving as the cultural, economic, educational and social hub of the Intermountain Northwest. Visit Spokane enlisted Turnstyle (and brand strategy partner Stoke) to create a new brand identity for the city to help differentiate them from competitor destinations.

Client

City of Spokane

Disciplines

Strategy,

Identity,

Print

Visit Spokane's updated logo in white on a purple background

Background

The city of Spokane, WA enjoys a lovely natural setting with a mild four-season climate. It features an urban river gorge winding through downtown, a vibrant shopping and dining scene, lively college campuses, and great urban amenities—without the traffic, density and logistical hassles that often compromise city living.

However, Spokane was perceived as “the same” as it’s competitors—and not particularly recognized as a “destination.” So when the city’s tourism board, Visit Spokane, began an effort to attract more conventions and tourists, it realized the need to clearly differentiate Spokane from other similarly-sized destinations—and give visitors a reason to choose Spokane.

Visiting Spokane understood that tourism is essentially the front door to economic development in the entire region, so it was vital to the mission that the new brand be embraced by the whole city.

Strategy

Over 1,200 interviews were conducted with visitors and residents. Additionally, a Brand Ambassador Council was set up—composed of 16+ major organizations in Spokane including corporations, universities, small businesses, non-profit organizations, civic partners and other key stakeholders to advise and consult during the brand process.

The research revealed some key drivers that differentiate the city, including a diverse food and restaurant scene that showcases local cuisine; a hassle-free airport; year-round festival programming; outdoor escapes; and easy access to urban amenities. People enjoy the city for it’s lively food culture, civic engagement, and relaxing, friendly atmosphere.

Based on this research, a brand position was developed that highlights Spokane’s unique natural geography combined with its creative, enterprising spirit—a vibrant metropolitan center serving as a cultural, economic, educational and social hub of the Intermountain Northwest.

Brand mood board for Visit Spokane, featuring the "Spok♥ne" wordmark, taglines like "the bldgs." and "the city," and a grid of brand applications in purple, teal, and warm neutrals alongside lifestyle photography of food, people, and the city skyline.

Logos

Pine trees are often associated with the Intermountain Northwest. In addition, they represent nature, growth, might and resilience. The simple, geometric pine tree mark embedded in the logotype represents Spokane’s natural setting. The mark can be used independent of the logotype as shorthand, especially in scenarios with size or format restrictions, such as on social media.

Graphically speaking, nothing represents love more iconically than a heart. By flipping the pine tree mark upside-down, we created a secondary, double-heart icon that can pair with words highlighting the innumerable features and characteristics of the Spokane region that people love.

Diagram showing the evolution of the Visit Spokane logo mark: a white pine tree icon transforms into a heart shape, combining Spokane's natural identity with a symbol of civic love.
Multiple Visit Spokane heart logo marks featuring text such as "the valley", "the parks", "the mtns.", etc.

Patterns

A set of nine patterns—bridges, rivers, mountains, circles, dots, dashes, verticals, horizontals, and diagonals—represent both iconic physical features of the Spokane region as well more abstract ideas such as momentum and optimism. These patterns—derived from the heart icon—provide a unified set of supporting graphics that celebrate the region and add richness to the look and feel of the visual identity system

A library of ten brand patterns for Visit Spokane, each named after a local landmark or geographic feature: Bridges, Rivers, Mountains, Circles, Dots, Verticals, Horizontals, Diagonals (left), Diagonals (right), and Dashes—rendered in purple and teal.

Color

The primary purple brand color palette is inspired by the iconic Spokane lilacs. Secondary shades of aqua are inspired by the Spokane River and tertiary shades of gray are inspired by the bridges spanning the river gorge.

Thumbnails of the brand guidelines for the City of Spokane campaign.
Cover of the Visit Spokane Fall 2018 Visitors Guide, featuring the "Spokane: Creative by Nature" wordmark over a styled food photograph of a charcuterie spread with figs, grapes, eggs, and almonds, with a callout highlighting "the chefs."
Four seasonal covers of the Visit Spokane Visitors Guide, each featuring the "Spokane: Creative by Nature" wordmark alongside a different local highlight—the city's river and clock tower, a chef's food spread, a cyclist on a trail, and a person drinking water outdoors—representing the city, the chefs, the trails, and the h2o.
Interior spread from the Visit Spokane Visitors Guide featuring the "Urban Stroll" article, with large typographic "US" letterforms filled with a nighttime downtown street scene, paired with a photo of people exploring Spokane's vibrant urban districts.
Interior spread from the Visit Spokane Visitors Guide covering Historic Downtown, Eat/Drink/Shop, and Riverfront Park sections, with photos of Spokane's skyline, downtown shopping districts, and the Spokane Falls Skyride gondolas over the river gorge.
The Visit Spokane website displayed on a tablet, showing the "Creative by Nature" homepage hero with lifestyle photography, a local weather widget, and content modules highlighting food, sports, and things to do in the Spokane region.
A purple billboard against a blue sky displaying the Visit Spokane wordmark and "Creative by Nature" tagline, with brand patterns accenting the right side.
A freestanding airport display featuring the Visit Spokane logo and "Creative by Nature" tagline over a dusk photo of the Spokane River gorge and bridge, with the Rivers brand pattern overlaid in purple and teal.
Three Visit Spokane street banners hung outdoors, highlighting "the parks," "Creative by Nature," and "the river" in purple and teal, each incorporating the brand logo mark and patterned backgrounds.
Two side-by-side outdoor advertisements for Visit Spokane: one purple panel highlighting "the arts" with the brand logo mark, and one white panel with the "Spokane: Creative by Nature" wordmark alongside an abstract purple and teal ink-in-water photograph.
A purple t-shirt featuring the Visit Spokane logo mark in white.
A white tote bag featuring the Visit Spokane logo mark in purple and the text "the shops".
A skateboard deck featuring the Visit Spokane brand patterns in teal and purple stripes, with matching purple wheels.

Implementation and Co-branding

Turnstyle provided thorough brand guidelines to assist Visit Spokane’s team as they develop branded materials across multiple touch points. In addition, the guidelines were shared with other regional organizations, such as Greater Spokane Incorporated or Downtown Spokane Patnership, in an effort to build visual equity across parallel endeavors.

A collection of branded materials for Greater Spokane Incorporated using the shared "the inw" (Intermountain Northwest) identity system, including posters, reports, and digital ads featuring Spokane lifestyle photography, the clock tower, and city skyline—demonstrating how the brand extends across regional economic development partners.

Next Project

A New Icon in the pnw