The Challenge:

A longstanding Oakland store was moving to a new location, and the company wanted to dedicate a portion of a wall to community pride.

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My Solution:

This project called for a number of elements to be put into play.  The first was for me to provide a tagline to tie in our connection to the city. That slogan, "Oakland: It's where we hang our leash," would also later be incorporated into t-shirts worn by all Oakland employees. 

 

For the right side of the mural, which featured a sketch of downtown Oakland, I spent an afternoon taking photos around town. (In a moment of perfect timing, just as I was putting away the camera at the end of the day, a woman crossed the street with her dog, and I snapped a final photo, which would become the sketch in the big "O" of Oakland.) 

 

The photos of downtown, as well as an Oakland street map, were both meticulously sketched out in Illustrator, and served as the backdrop for the die-cut corrugated cardboard graphic treatment. The twenty-five foot mural greets customers as they enter the Rockridge location of Pet Food Express, and also serves a double purpose of highlighting the sites of dog parks, pet hospitals, and adoption centers in the city.