OverviewIn 2024, I designed the storefront sign for the Swamp Shop, the California Academy of Sciences' gift shop next to its living swamp exhibit. The sign needed a modern refresh that stayed true to the Academy's updated brand while honoring the history of the space.
The gift shop storefront sign before the renovation.
When the California Academy of Sciences reopened in 2008 after the 1989 earthquake, it preserved pieces of the original building as a tribute to its legacy, including the mosaic artworks of artist Guillermo Wagner Granizo that were originally built directly within the swamp environment. I used those mosaics as the storefront design's starting point.
I reinterpreted Granizo's work as a confetti-like scale pattern, referencing both the mosaics and the scaly creatures of the swamp ecosystem. I laid out 22 alternating blocks for each letter to reference the colors of the swamp itself, and gave the letterforms subtle stripe details as a subtle nod to barcodes and the visual language of retail.
Valentin Nguyen [val-en-teen noo-win] is a Californian designer and illustrator with a love for visual storytelling. She is interested in, but not limited to, branding and marketing design. Her work is always driven by strategy, intention, curiosity, and fun. Also, she loves baking, board games, yoga, matcha, charcuterie boards, mid-century modern furniture, math, San Francisco, New York Times puzzles, cozy video games, solving Rubik’s cubes, collecting Smiskis, flossing, thinking, dreaming, helping others, and tossing things into her junk drawer.
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Select ClientsWalt Disney Imagineering Children’s Hospital Los Angeles California Academy of Sciences AG1 University of California, Los Angeles Pages for PediatricsFluenciesBrand Identity Brand Strategy
Campaign Creative
Presentation Design
Illustration
Digital
Print