Shade is essential
Heat-related deaths outpace those from floods, fires, and earthquakes combined. In L.A., the threat isn’t just rising temperatures—it’s how unevenly that heat is felt. Neighborhoods with little shade are often the same ones long burdened by redlining, pollution, and years of neglect. ShadeLA unites climate scientists, city planners, artists, and everyday Angelenos to take on extreme heat.
1 — The Challenge
Turning an Invisible Need into a Visible Movement
Los Angeles faces a growing shade equity gap (neighborhoods that lack equal access to cooling shade infrastructure), where the neighborhoods that need cooling the most often have the least protection from extreme heat. The challenge is to make shade—a basic but overlooked form of urban infrastructure—feel urgent, tangible, and actionable to residents, partners, funders, and policymakers alike. We need to unite a wide range of stakeholders around a single vision, cut through technical jargon with clear, motivating language, and design a brand bold enough to stand out on the streets and online.
2 — The Brand
Branding built to beat the heat
ShadeLA’s brand identity transforms an urgent civic challenge into a dynamic, people-powered, LA-is-awesome movement. We designed a bold, adaptable visual system built on a vivid blue-and-chartreuse palette, athletic typography, and high-impact messaging that positions shade as both essential and something everyone can help create. Inspired by the “All-In Coach” persona—a nod to the 2026 World Cup, 2027 Super Bowl, and 2028 Olympics—the brand speaks in a voice that’s plainspoken, punchy, and motivating, engaging residents, partners, funders, and city leaders alike.
Branding Elements — A snapshot of ShadeLA’s core brand elements including color, typography, and graphic style.
The Logo — The alternate ShadeLA logo offers stacked and color-variant options that keep the brand flexible and legible.
Variable Typography — Nickel Gothic variable gives us ultimate flexibility in both width and slant.
Composition — Blending ShadeLA’s branding elements with subtle nods to Olympic-era graphics creates a retro-future aesthetic that feels rooted in 1984 while looking to 2028 and beyond.
The ShadeLA branding rallies communities, builds trust, and keeps the mission unmistakable whether on a bus shelter, a business storefront, or a citywide campaign.
Our team built out a brand guide that’s a complete playbook for keeping the campaign’s look, feel, and voice consistent across every touchpoint. It distills the purpose, audience strategies, visual identity, and tone into clear, actionable rules—ensuring consistency, no matter who’s telling the story.
3 — Illustration
Shade is where LA comes together
These custom isometric illustrations distill the ShadeLA mission into clear, relatable scenes that show how shade transforms everyday life in Los Angeles. By depicting familiar streetscapes—bus stops, sidewalks, and gathering spots—with and without shade, they make the temperature difference and comfort benefits instantly visible. This visual storytelling reinforces the brand’s message that shade isn’t a luxury—it’s essential infrastructure that brings people together and makes city life more livable.
Illustration — Shade turns everyday city spaces into cooler, more inviting places to connect—lowering “feels-like” temperatures by as much as 35–70 °F
Illustration — Everyone knows the value of staying cool, especially our four-legged neighbors.
4 — The Website
Built for action. Designed for joy.
We created shade-la.com as the campaign hub—equal parts explainer and launchpad. Visitors can explore the science of heat equity, find neighborhood data, and act in just a few clicks. Built with accessibility and mobile-first design in mind, it pairs high-impact visuals and plainspoken messaging with intuitive navigation, ensuring Angelenos of all backgrounds can see why shade matters and how they can help build it.
The Website — The website’s signature gradient mirrors the transition from harsh sunlight to cool shade, visually reinforcing the campaign’s promise of comfort and relief across every scroll.
5 — The Impact
The kickoff to a cooler future
ShadeLA is just getting started, and the movement is already growing. With the brand and website now live, this launch marks the first step in a citywide push to bring more shade—and more comfort—to every neighborhood in Los Angeles. In the months ahead, the site will expand with event announcements, design competitions, practical resources, and stories from the community, creating an evolving hub for action. This is the beginning of a long-term effort, and the best is still to come.