By Breeana Greenberg
The 2022 Festival Foundation Board has appointed Matt Rinehart, a San Clemente resident, as the logo artist for the 51st Annual Whale Festival, which will take place in Dana Point next March.
The board picked this year’s designer among their favorites from past entries. Rinehart was a finalist in the 2021 Whale Festival logo design competition.
“Matt’s logo was a favorite that has lived in our minds for the past year or so, and we couldn’t be happier to announce that his design will be the official logo of the 51st Annual Dana Point Whale Festival,” said writes event coordinator Andrea Swayne. an email.
Rinehart explained to Dana Point schedule that he has lived by the ocean all his life and had a desire to do something for his community which, in turn, inspired his decision to submit the logo design for the annual festival of South Orange County.
“I have always admired the event art of local artists in San Clemente and Dana Point and knew that someday I would love to do something too,” Rinehart wrote in an email.
Ever since graduating from Cal State Fullerton in graphic design, Rinehart, a graphic designer at Starfish Signs and Graphics in San Clemente, had hoped to produce an event-worthy design.
“I’m super excited to have finally made this a reality,” Rinehart wrote.
Rinehart digitally sketched the logo design using Procreate on her iPad and finalized it in Adobe Illustrator.
“Before I start drawing anything, I like to write down a list of possible images to include in the logo,” Rinehart wrote. “It helps me start looking for reference images and planning the locations of each design element in the sketch phase. “
Rinehart started by drawing the whale and the “Festival of Whales” lettering. He used a cool to warm color gradient to represent the ocean floor and the transition to the sky at sunset.
With the color gradient in mind, Rinehart said she composed “the ocean landscape towards the bottom of the logo” and placed “elements of the sky such as birds and the sun towards the top of the design.”
“Once I figured out how I wanted these two pieces to fit together, everything else was designed to support them, not overpower them,” he said in the email. “When all the images I wanted were visually balanced, I felt the design was done. “
Rinehart said he was delighted to attend the Whale Festival for the first time.
“I have seen whales at Dana Point many times in my life, but never attended the annual whale festival,” Rinehart wrote in the email. “This next festival will be my first participation and I look forward to participating this year.”
The 51st annual whale festival is scheduled for March 4-6, 2022.
Breeana Greenberg is the town reporter for the Dana Point Times. She graduated from Chapman University with a Bachelor of Arts in English. Before joining Picket Fence Media, she worked as a freelance journalist for the Laguna Beach Independent. Breeana can be reached by email at [email protected]
