In 2014, the University of Redlands hatched the idea to beautify the city’s new Orangeblossom Trail with artwork that would celebrate the spirit of volunteering and service. Each 4x4 foot art piece showcases a local volunteer organization that partners with or is made up of university students.
Nearly a decade later, the original student who had begun the mural designs had long since graduated. I volunteered to create new designs and quickly recognized there was a need to establish a unified design approach. Sections of the wall felt disjointed, unfinished or messy. So I set to work researching mural design processes and creating a style guide so that long past my graduation the project would continue to grow and improve.
I began by designing two new squares for the mural to familiarize myself with the process.
This involved reaching out to and working with local organizations to determine how we could best represent them.
Above: two of the squares I designed. All designs had to be simple enough to be traced and painted by our student volunteers, using a “paint by numbers” style system.
I then painted these squares myself, learning as much of the mural painting process as possible so that I could pass on the best tips in my guide.
Above: photos of the artwork mid-process.
The next phase was creating the project guide. This guide contains history on the project, a style guide, and tips for designing and painting murals. The idea was to set future volunteer muralists up for success by passing down a succinct mural-making resource.
Above: excerpts from the 16-page document I created to give tips and art direction for the Orangeblossom Trail mural project.
The culmination of this project was a volunteer group paint day, where we brought Redlands students together to finish up the mural squares that were in progress and started some new ones as well. We implemented the procedures, supply lists and organizational techniques from the newly-minted creative guide.
I also created several mural designs that will be painted in the future. These designs exemplify the key colors and unifying elements of the project’s creative direction.
This 4x6’ mural will serve as the mission statement for the project, providing community members context for the long wall of artwork that they will see as they walk the trail.
The above designs will be used to decorate “QR code niches”— narrow, inset sections of the wall that are situated at regular intervals. These niches will help tie together the sections of the wall for a cohesive look, while also serving as engagement points for trail-goers. We will attach a QR code that takes users to a University-hosted website, where they can read all about the Orangeblossom Trail project and the various organizations celebrated in the mural.