The Full Story

Wayne County sits in northern Ohio, where rolling hills, red barns, and farmland meet the vibrancy of a small city — and where proximity to one of the largest Amish populations in the US gives it a genuinely unique blend of rural and urban character. Above all, the county's greatest strength is its passionate, welcoming community, which became the heart of the identity. That translated into a visual language built around handmade furniture: simple but effective custom typography set into a badge system reminiscent of the stamps furniture makers have used throughout history. It speaks to the community's welcoming, artistic spirit, to their Amish neighbors, and literally functions as a stamp of pride to place on the county.

The process started with an on-site visit and a deep discovery phase — competitive and regional analysis, and defining the personality, attributes, and moodboard for the visual identity. From there I built a full logo suite: a main logo grounded in the county's personality and attributes, plus regional logos celebrating the smaller communities within it. The identity then carried into a responsive website, which I designed around key performance indicators — visitor guide requests, blog content, and pointing both visitors and residents toward the events calendar.

Wayne County had an unusual challenge: it isn't the only Wayne County in the US. So alongside the regional competitive analysis, I ran a second one against other counties sharing the name. A few insights shaped the direction — most competitors' logos felt bogged down by complexity and needed room to breathe, few used distinctive typography (leaning instead on generic sans serifs), most leaned on a call-to-action baked into the name itself (Explore, Visit, and the like), and blue was the default primary color almost everywhere, which made avoiding it an easy way to stand apart.

That research shaped a destination personality that's cultured, authentic, family-friendly, natural, creative, welcoming, industrious, unassuming, and community-oriented — paired with attributes like slower-paced, vibrant, idyllic, both modern and traditional, agritourism-driven, micropolitan, and peaceful.

Both the brand and the website were approved with no revisions. The client's words: it was the "perfect logo."