Mead 85

Celebrating 85 Years of Legacy: A Living Identity for Mead Botanical Garden
Brand Identity, Event Collateral, Environmental Design

Mead Botanical Garden, a historic 47-acre urban sanctuary nestled in Winter Park, Florida, has long served as a vital green space for the community. As the garden approached its 85th anniversary, Executive Director Cynthia Hasenau envisioned a commemorative event that would not only honor its rich history but reassert its relevance and vitality in the modern era.

To bring this vision to life, we were asked to explore, iterate, and ultimately implement a comprehensive visual identity for the anniversary celebration—an event that would serve as both milestone and message, reminding the community of the garden’s enduring value amid Winter Park’s rapid development.

Challenge

Our brief was to design an identity system that could carry the weight of legacy while celebrating the present and signaling a future of growth. It had to feel timeless yet fresh, cohesive yet expansive—resonating with both long-time patrons and new visitors. The challenge was heightened by the competitive landscape of public gardens and local cultural institutions in the Central Florida region, where attention is split between urban expansion, new civic initiatives, and established nonprofit programming.

Solution

The design response drew inspiration directly from the garden’s founding spirit and physical beauty. At the center of the identity was the 85th anniversary logo—an emblem that captures the intertwined resilience of the community and the land. The numerals 8 and 5 are rendered as sinuous, interlocking forms, echoing the organic patterns found in vines, orchids, and garden pathways. This motif is a visual metaphor for the strength found in interconnectedness, an apt reflection of a garden born of civic vision and maintained by collective stewardship.

We anchored the visual system in a palette drawn from the garden’s archival materials: the signature blue linen, inspired by the textured paper used in Theodore L. Mead’s prized orchid illustrations, became a grounding color used throughout banners, stage signage, and printed ephemera. Typography was led by Trade Gothic, a typeface with American modernist roots—its crisp geometry and understated character lending historical weight while maintaining contemporary clarity. Originally released in 1948, Trade Gothic became widely used in editorial and institutional work throughout the 20th century, making it a fitting nod to Mead’s era and the ongoing civic story of the garden.

Archival postcard imagery—digitally restored and upscaled for legibility—was integrated throughout the print and environmental applications, providing historical resonance and visual texture. The line "Celebrating 85 Years" served as a succinct byline across materials, conveying the event’s significance in a single, declarative statement.

Deliverables included:

• A refreshed visual identity and anniversary logo lockup
• On-site signage: stage backdrop, welcome banners, directional flag signs, and donor acknowledgment boards
• Typography system and visual guidelines for year-round brand use
• Print collateral inspired by historic garden postcards

Results

The 85th anniversary celebration was a resounding success, marked by a joyful, multi-sensory experience that honored both place and people. Over 80 guests gathered beneath the spring canopy—including the mayor of Winter Park, who formally declared March 29th as “Mead Garden Day.” Vintage automobiles from the garden’s founding decade flanked the welcome area, while surprise performers ignited the crowd with spontaneous dance and song—a symbolic burst of vitality as Cynthia Hasenau prepared to retire after years of transformative leadership.

More than a commemorative moment, the event served as a springboard for the garden’s next chapter. The newly revealed master plan for the future of Mead was unveiled at the event, anchored visually by the new identity system and collateral. The community’s response was immediate and enthusiastic, reaffirming Mead Botanical Garden’s role as an essential cultural and ecological touchstone in the heart of Winter Park.

This case exemplifies how thoughtful identity design can serve as more than aesthetic—it becomes a connective tissue between legacy and future, people and place.

Client
Mead Garden Inc.

Sector
Nonprofit

Discipline
Brand Strategy
Identity Design
Print Design
Event Graphics
Naming

Office
Winter Park, FL

Project Team
Cynthia Hasenau
Valerie Fetterolf
Emily Smith
Michael Diaz

Agency
Culminator