Oliver Hazard Day
The band Oliver Hazard holds a music festival every summer in a small town in northwest Ohio called Waterville. They shut down main street, bring in bands from around the nation and put on a great show while supporting great local causes. I have worked with the band since 2022 to set the branding for the event, as well as create the official poster, digital collateral, an official festival shirt, and maybe most excitingly, an Oliver Hazard Day-branded beer can.
Each year has expanded upon itself, using the town of Waterville, its history, landmarks, nature, and more, as a guiding light. The system has evolved year-over-year, allowing us to make each year feel new and exciting, while keeping similar styles for important brand recognition for each installment.
Oliver Hazard Day 2026
2026’s Oliver Hazard Day was inspired by boy scout and camping patches, having them piled onto each other to give pertinent information. This is the second year we’ve used the patches concept, as it so perfectly matches this small town music festival. Patches include OHD branding such as the pennant, the tagline “A Midwestern Music Festival,” as well as a mention of Waterville, mixed in with little Easter eggs and a lot of small town outdoors and camping type iconography.
Oliver Hazard Day 2025
This was the first year of the patches concept, but a little more rough around the edges. As you scroll, you’ll see that the initial work I did in the first few years of OHD was a lot more unpolished, leading up to the 2025 and 2026 which feel more buttoned up. I think that comes from a few things like my evolving skillset and style, plus the growth and rise of the band and the festival itself. This year introduced a lot of the badges you saw in 2026 but in a more earthy color scheme and rougher illustrations and textures.
Oliver Hazard Day 2024
We knew we wanted to focus a lot on the outdoors each year, and 2024 featured a nod towards a place called “The Spot,” in Toledo, Ohio’s Oak Openings Preserve Metropark. The Spot is a four-acre plot located in the woods of a bunch of red pine trees that make a very unique place for outdoors people and photographers alike, that feels somewhat out of place among the rest of the northwest Ohio park. The frame, which was introduced the previous year, is a pattern made from the Interurban Bridge crossing the Maumee River into Waterville.
Oliver Hazard Day 2023
Year two introduced that bridge pattern frame, but instead of focusing the on the land part of the outdoors, we dropped ourselves underwater in the Maumee River. All the fish are natives of the Maumee River and what you would expect to catch if you cast a line. Walleye, white bass, carp, and more float through the scene. This was also the first year we introduced a festival-only beer, with a special label design as well.
Oliver Hazard Day 2022
The fourth annual Oliver Hazard Day and my first time leading the design. I was living in Arizona at the time, and though I grew up a town over from Waterville, I didn’t know a ton about it, so I was constantly searching through town history and dropping myself onto streets on Google Maps to get some inspo. The main piece of this first year was a stylized illustration of downtown Waterville mixed with the Interurban Bridge that crosses the Maumee River. The UFO was just a fun little icon we decided to throw into the air and it became a staple of (pretty much) every piece of OHD creative since.
