Competitive Solicitation: No. 20422 – Communications & Marketing Services
Category 5: Graphic Design
3.0 Electronic Portfolio | November 2023
Sheepscot Creative
Portland Bureau of Transportation/Metro
Safe Routes to School
Description
In 2020, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), through a grant from Metro, called on Sheepscot Creative to develop a traffic safety campaign aimed at people driving near schools and school routes. Instead of shaming drivers for bad behavior, PBOT and Metro wanted to connect audiences around their shared values and common desire for community health.
The campaign we developed is friendly and approachable. Photo “stickers” overlaid on abstract backgrounds used unexpected color combinations to catch the attention of audiences in social news feeds. We also produced a full set of prepared captions to give schools, cities, counties and community organizations the building blocks to easily reach target audiences, with plenty of room to customize with geographic or timely details.
Goals
DEI Principles
Awards/
Recognition
Reach drivers in and around school zones, including parents and guardians dropping off and picking up students, in addition to drivers under 30 years old.
Unlike traditional Safe Routes to School communications, our campaign was meant to target speeding and distracted drivers rather than students and parents.
Rather than shaming drivers for bad behavior, PBOT wanted to connect audiences around their shared values and common desire for community health.
The campaign and its call-to-action had to be easy to understand, regardless of the cultural background that viewers brought to it.
Sheepscot produced Drive Like It campaign materials in six languages, but language was only one consideration in the attempt to make an impact with a wide variety of audiences around the state.
Shortly after the project’s kickoff, Sheepscot facilitated a discussion with stakeholders around the region from public, private and nonprofit organizations to ensure that the materials and messaging we produced would resonate with all target audiences. Foremost, that meant creating a suite of graphics that would resonate with urban and rural communities, alike—note that in the campaign materials, the characters, roads and buildings stand alone, without surrounding landscapes to “locate” them in a particular environment. Additionally, the character set is intentionally representative of the diverse communities served by the campaign.
To ensure that the Safe Routes messaging reached underserved communities, our media buy focused on bus benches in areas where diverse populations coincided with high-incident traffic zones. Benches carried campaign messaging in the language appropriate for surrounding populations. Likewise, lawn signs were produced in six languages; each displayed English on one side and the user’s language of choice on the other.
Campaign assets, available for free download in six languages via the Oregon Safe Routes to School website, have been published and shared online by districts and safety advocates across Oregon and as far away as California and Connecticut.
“Working with Sheepscot to create our Drive Like It safety campaign helped us reach our intended audiences with fun, direct messaging. They were collaborative and offered sound suggestions that added to the quality of our media campaign. We like it so much that we continue to use the graphics even after the initial campaign.”
— Janis McDonald, Portland Bureau of Transportation
The campaign features a bright, colorful palette and an engaging, kid-forward “sticker” design.
Deliverables
Social media templates and the #DriveLikeIt hashtag allow community members and stakeholders to share campaign collateral with their online networks in any of six languages.
Eye-catching bus backs broadcast the campaign through high-traffic urban areas.
Lawn signs with the campaign slogan and branding are posted on busy streets and near school crossings. Signs are available with English on both sides, or with English on one side and a choice of five other languages on the other.
A colorful animated campaign video has been shared widely by major stakeholders, including Oregon Metro.
Tualatin Valley Water District
Service Line Inventory Communication Strategy and Materials
Description
In 2022, Sheepscot partnered with Brown and Caldwell, the largest engineering consulting firm in America focused exclusively on the environmental sector, to develop a communication plan, graphic design styles, and accompanying toolkit for the Tualatin Valley Water District (TVWD).
To meet the federal government’s new Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), TVWD would be excavating and testing nearly a thousand randomly selected service lines (the pipes that connect water mains to homes and businesses) in the coming year. Sheepscot designed and developed a campaign and a host of informational materials to help the drinking water utility communicate with ratepayers and local businesses about the project.
Goals
Convey information about the upcoming testing in easy-to-understand terms that reassure ratepayers from a variety of backgrounds about the safety and ease of the process.
Introduce the federally mandated testing program in a manner that did not raise alarm among residents and local businesses. This would be tricky because we knew that Districts around the country, particularly in the Midwest, would be reporting significant lead in their systems as TVWD’s messaging was going out. In all likelihood, news headlines would be reporting lead in America’s pipes while TVWD was trying to reassure locals that the odds of finding lead here was extremely low.
Build trust among residents, ratepayers, and partners in TVWD’s expertise.
Increase awareness of the many tasks that TVWD routinely performs to ensure the delivery of safe, clean water.
Deliverables
A microsite, keepingwatersafe.org, informs residents about ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of their water supply.
A clearly worded, graphically appealing brochure provides information to ratepayers about the Service Line Inventory.
Original graphics and diagrams explain the context and the elements of drinking water delivery to homeowners.
Sheepscot designed a branded door hanger so that inventory results can easily be reported to homeowners.
TVWD employees can utilize these custom social media templates to bring brand cohesiveness to their communications.
Sheepscot produced two short videos to support TVWD’s communication outreach. Putting a face to the water supply, the “Welcome” video introducesTVWD and its many hardworking employees. “Service Line Inventory: What to Expect” follows TVWD crews to a resident’s home and documents the entire inspection process from start to finish. Bilingual captions ensure that both English- and Spanish-speaking property owners understand the process and its purpose.
Sheepscot accompanied TVWD employees to many different job sites and water testing facilities, photographing them as they worked. The resulting photos can be used for social media and other communications for years to come.
Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development
Senate Bill 100 50th Anniversary
Description
Since 1973, the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) has helped to manage urban growth; protect farm and forest lands, coastal areas and natural resources; and provide for safe, livable communities across Oregon.
Sheepscot Creative produced a year-long campaign for the Salem-based agency to mark the 50th anniversary of Senate Bill 100 (SB100). The campaign’s central elements were a special 50th Anniversary adaptation of the agency’s logo and a set of eight illustrations celebrating notable Oregon landscapes and industries that have thrived thanks to SB100.
The anniversary logo and illustrations appear on DLCD’s website; on posters, fact sheets, flyers, virtual meeting backgrounds, and apparel; and in an animated anniversary campaign video. They continue to be shared across social media platforms.
Goals
Deliverables
Convey the vital role that land use planning has played in preserving and protecting critical Oregon landscapes, industries and ecosystems.
Distill the complexity of land use planning efforts in graphics and language that resonate with audiences unfamiliar with the topic; help them connect these efforts to the elements of life in Oregon that they cherish most.
Make it easy for DLCD’s staff and stakeholders to share the story of land use planning in Oregon.
Design campaign assets in a format and framework compatible with the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development’s web property at oregon.gov
DLCD’s Sheepscot-designed 50th anniversary logo adds a celebratory twist to their existing mark.
A series of WPA-style illustrations depict familiar Oregon landscapes that have benefitted from the state’s land use planning laws.
Our campaign illustrations, captions and interviews come together in a 2-minute animated video showcasing examples of Senate Bill 100’s impact today around the state.
Branded collateral and signage provide a cohesive event identity and clear wayfinding on the day of the 50th anniversary celebration.
A story map organizes the illustrations and captions geographically. Along with those elements, audio excerpts from our interviews offer personal perspectives on the impact of Senate Bill 100.