Coal River Services
An RV park and lodge located at the junction of the Coal and Liard Rivers in British Columbia, Canada.
It was originally built in 1949, but burned down and was rebuilt in the mid '70s. The President of the Open Road Guide purchased Coal River Services in 2022 and wanted to revamp the branding of the lodge to include the infamous wood bison that commonly roam the area.
Note: All design work featured in this case study is done through Alaska Highway Services and Open Road Publishing.
Project Specs
Roles:
Graphic Designer, Production Artist
Timeline:
January 2025 - February 2025
Tools:
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign
Tasks:
Redesigning logo; designing business cards, magazine advertisement and restaurant menu
The Problem
Inconsistent Branding
A few years after purchasing Coal River Services, the new owner wanted to switch up the logo to look similarly to a wood bison design that’s on a t-shirt. Unfortunately, with a new logo, this led to me having to update the magazine advertisement based on the new logo’s color palette. What’s worse was that the Art Director had already sent the old advertisement over to the editors…after I sent in the updated advertisement design. So, the editors had no idea on what’s the correct branding for Coal River Services.
But Wait, There’s More!
The Coal River owner then requested more marketing collateral to be made for the business. The pieces include: 3 double-sided business cards and a double-sided restaurant menu. These pieces had to be done within two weeks. Unfortunately, the Art Director had to prioritize a larger project, so I was riding solo for the Coal River Services marketing project.
The Solution
Using My Magazine Advertisement Design as the Style Guide
I then communicated with the editors, Production Manager, Art Director and one other Graphic Designer that my advertisement has the new logo and updated design. Luckily, there was only the magazine ad that had inconsistent design issues.
And so, I started whipping up the business cards and restaurant menu pages. I made sure to apply similar typographic and coloring styles from the magazine advertisement to these pieces to ensure consistent visual standardization.
The Result? Consistent Visual Standardization
With the business cards and restaurant menu pages following the same styling as the magazine advertisement, the owner was satisfied with the pieces having a consistent look. Because I didn’t create an actual formal branding guide, I managed to finish all of the marketing pieces sooner than expected: a week and a half!
