Santa Barbara Sea Glass & Ocean Arts Festival

The Santa Barbara Sea Glass & Ocean Arts Festival is an annual celebration of sea glass and ocean-inspired art, bringing together artists and collectors from across the country. Originally launched as the Carpinteria Sea Glass Festival, the event’s growth prompted a move to a larger Santa Barbara venue—and with it, a new name and complete rebrand.

I developed a new logo and visual identity designed to reflect the creative spirit of the festival and its connection to the California coast. The final mark uses colorful pieces of sea glass to form an ocean wave, with the curve subtly creating a C as a nod to the festival’s Carpinteria roots.

From there, I created a cohesive event branding system that extended across the website, signage, promotional postcards, social media graphics, apparel, and other marketing materials. The visual language helped give the growing festival a more polished, recognizable presence—and many elements of the identity continue to be used today.

Phase 1: Design Exploration

Design concepts explored illustrating colorful sea glass and arranging them to create ocean themed art for the symbol. The wave design unanimously won over the committee. The final logo is more detailed and uses the range of sea glass colors. The direction of the wave forms the letter C – a subtle nod to the original festival in Carpinteria.