01/23/2026
2 years ago, I was asked to design the identity and promotional materials for the Clifton Home & Garden Tour. This would be the first time that the long-running home tour would include gardens [and Clifton has some amazing gardens, so the addition made sense].
I started developing the identity before the sites had been finalized by Ioanna Paraskevopoulos - Real Estate Agent and Aaron Weiner and, faced with tremendous architectural variety in the neighborhood, my mark loosely references circa 1900 typography that also loosely fits our current moment.
Clifton is an old Cincinnati neighborhood that has never stagnated, so I didn’t know if the tour would include Queen Anne, Art Moderne, Arts & Crafts, Victorian Gothic, or contemporary homes, or maybe even all of the above.
The identity had to account for any possibilities while rooting itself in the community’s overall history.
In my sketches, you can see that I was looking at vernacular typography, of the sort seen in advertising or storefront signage circa 1900. I also experimented with various dingbats and ornaments because, if there’s an opportunity to inject archaic typography, you should always try to seize it. 😉
The colors visually reference the garden aspect of the event. They look like May in Cincinnati! They look like an event to which you’d want to bring your mother on Mother’s Day, and I know that a lot of people did. In fact, almost 900 people attended, and over $30k was raised for the post-pandemic return of Clifton Fest, a beloved community event.
In all, I designed the logo, posters, yard signs, banners, program, social assets, and assorted graphic doodads. Tiny, huge, b/w, color, all of it, which is always fun. I also shot photos of neighborhood homes for the exclusive use of Ioanna Paraskevopoulos - Real Estate Agent in promoting the 2024 event.
Please head to the Clifton Cultural Arts Center for information about the next tour, coming up on Sun 10 May!
