Gearing up for the 52nd annual Festival of Whales, which will take place in Dana Point this coming March, the event’s Foundation Board selected Rancho Santa Margarita resident Suzanne Maynard as this year’s logo artist.
The Festival of Whales Foundation previously held an annual logo design contest, accepting public submissions for that prior year’s logo. Before that, the foundation selected student designs for the logo.
The board chose this year’s designer from among its favorites of past entries. Maynard had submitted a logo to the design contest in 2017.
“It felt good, because at the time I was like, ‘I think this is a really good logo,’ and then I kind of forgot about it,” Maynard said. “It feels good to have the recognition that people like it.”
Maynard moved to California 10 years ago, after studying advertising at the Pratt Institute of Art and Design.
“I was in New York my whole life and just wanted a little change of pace,” Maynard said.
Maynard now lives in Rancho Santa Margarita and is a creative director at PRECISIONeffect.
When she first moved to South Orange County, Maynard especially enjoyed walking around the Dana Point Harbor. She even had her baby shower in the harbor.
Submitting the Festival of Whales logo design was a fun side gig, Maynard said. When drawing up the logo design, Maynard merged the warm, colorful aesthetic of the ’70s with beachy, coastal California vibes.
“I’m not a California native, and whenever I thought of California, I thought of this very vintagey, beachy vibe,” Maynard said. “It felt very nostalgic. I knew I wanted to create something with that kind of ’70s feel to it, that texture, the color.”
Maynard recalled logo artists were required to include a depiction of a whale in their submissions, so she thought, “I’ll try to get that in there, but have it be like a representation with a tail and a little hump in the front.
“So that’s kind of how it came to life.”
The 52nd annual Festival of Whales is scheduled for March 3-5. More information about the upcoming event can be found at festivalofwhales.com.
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