LAND40 Celebration Branding

LAND40 welcomed students, faculty, alumni and friends to campus for a keynote lecture and panel discussion, an exhibition of student work, an alumni reception and a tour of the Alabama Meadows Project at the Mary Olive Thomas Demonstration Forest to celebrate four decades of graduates from Auburn's Landscape Architecture (LAND) programs and anticipate the graduation of the first class of the re-launched BLA program. Auburn’s Landscape Architecture program is rooted in place, driven by purpose, and grounded in practice. It prepares students to engage complex environmental and social systems with creativity, clarity, and care, balancing ecological responsibility with the built form and human experience. The goal of LAND40's branding was to honor the LAND program's emphasis on ecology and human-made systems as well as recognizing the pupils and history of the program. The identity was created as a familiar system that emphasized the natural environment. Stencil typography was selected through research into Landscape Architecture program — where similar lettering can be seen in archives through student and faculty work, often engraved in wood or stenciled on. The deliverables were created on natural, textured paper, emphasizing the grounded, tactile sensibility. Student work is highlighted throughout the deliverables with scanned and edited sketches integrated throughout the system, creating a stamp-like effect, a treatment that was given to speaker images as well. Across each deliverable, the branding created an intimate, community-centered, and eco-focused visual system. The final identity system successfully unified the event across all touchpoints, creating a cohesive visual language that felt authentic to the Landscape Architecture program. The tactile materials, stencil typography, and integration of student work reinforced a strong sense of place and discipline, resonating with both students and faculty. The branding felt familiar yet intentional—rooted in the program’s history while presenting it through a refined lens. By centering student work within the design system, the deliverables fostered a sense of community. The environment-focused, grounded aesthetic strengthened the program’s values of environmental stewardship and collaboration, resulting in an approachable, intimate experience that aligned seamlessly with the culture of Auburn's LAND program.