Orlando Shirts
Building a brand and creating community through storytelling, design, and UX research.
While pursuing a degree in Environmental Science, I visited Portland to study urban planning. I saw people wearing Portland Timber scarves, jogging in Portland shirts, and Portland murals all around the city. I couldn’t help but notice that people were enthusiastic about the place they lived. When I returned to my home in Orlando, I dreamt of fostering the same sense of local pride and seeing people wearing Orlando shirts.
CHALLENGE: Orlando is known mostly for its theme parks and beaches. Because of Florida Man, people associate Orlando with wild headlines.
SOLUTION: Build a brand on the things that make Orlando special and create community.
Building a Brand
RESEARCH
It started with research. I looked to cities in bigger markets and studied iconic designs like “I <3 New York.” The research included conversation mining where I asked friends, neighbors, and family members what they associated with Orlando. I did competitor analysis to see if businesses selling local merchandise existed and if so, what their products were. I studied the demographics of Orlando and Central Florida’s population.
UNDERSTANDING THE TARGET CUSTOMER
Using research, I developed a user persona that represents Orlando Shirt’s target demographic.
Meet Lauren: a 24-year-old living in Central Florida who wants to express her unique style and stay cool.
During my research, I conducted conversation mining and browsed through social media and search engines to identify top keywords associated with Orlando.
I also combed through conversation notes and identified words that came up when people described Orlando and the type of clothing they would want to wear.
IDENTIFYING KEYWORDS
NEIGHBORHOODS
Orlando is made up of neighborhoods: College Park, Colonialtown, Winter Park, Mills50, Audubon Park, Winter Garden, and more. Each neighborhood has its character and charm, some were older and established like Winter Park while others were up and coming such as Mills50.
I decided to create neighborhood-specific designs that reference local landmarks. Through researching historical sites and referencing design trends, I created sketches and worked with a graphic designer to bring the vision to life.
Photo to the left is of a stone pineapple seen in the Colonialtown neighborhood. To the right is a design we created referencing it.
The word map above visually represents the keywords. These would become useful when creating the brand voice, identity, and products.
FLORA AND FAUNA
We found Floridians identified with local agriculture and animals through behavior research and keywords. The orange blossom, the state flower since 1909, resonates strongly with Orlando residents. Meanwhile, the subtle sea cow, the Florida manatee, was another local character people connected with. Despite its endangered status, people can’t help but root for the gentle creature and crowd the springs to see them. We paid homage to the Orange Blossom and Manatee; they became our most successful and best-selling designs.
BRAND PARTNERSHIPS
We created strategic brand partnerships to connect and engage with our audience. Through social media research, I Identified local artists and designers with substantial followings and great style. I reached out to the artists and pitched a collaboration with profit sharing. Once we finalized a partnership agreement, I delivered a creative brief based on what we’d identified as our brand voice: neighborhoods, hyper-local, and Florida flora and fauna.
Below are examples of artists we collaborated with. Local painter, muralist, and illustrator Boy Kong and graphic designer Ashley Heafy as well as clandestine patch and pin company: Secret Society Goods. Just Okay Things, Dan Mightier Than.
The photo to the left is of a 1950s Publix sign, still operating in College Park. We paid homage to the iconic sign in the College Park design.
HYPER-LOCALISM
Part of what makes Orlando truly special is the hyper-local things that only Orlandoans would know about. That Tako spot that’s open all night, the dive that serves the stiffest and cheapest drinks in town, those late nights on your favorite street, the endless sea of pass holder stickers on cars, navigating the most dangerous and congested highway in the country (I-4). We decided to dive head-first into our niche, Orlando, by being hyper-specific and hyper-local. I decided to make the kinds of shirts you won’t find at the airport gift shop.
