By Breeana Greenberg
The 2022 Festival Foundation Board named San Clemente resident Matt Rinehart as the logo artist for the 51st annual Festival of Whales, which will take place in Dana Point this coming March.
The board chose this year’s designer from among its favorites of past entries. Rinehart was runner-up in the 2021 Festival of Whales logo design contest.
“Matt’s logo was a favorite that lived on in our minds over the past year, and we couldn’t be happier to announce his design will be the official logo for the 51st annual Dana Point Festival of Whales,” Event Coordinator Andrea Swayne wrote in an email.
Rinehart explained to Dana Point Times that he’s lived by the ocean his entire life and had the desire to do something for his community, which, in turn, inspired his decision to submit the logo design for the yearly South Orange County festival.
“I always admired the event art from local artists in San Clemente and Dana Point and knew one day I would like to make something as well,” Rinehart wrote in an email.
Since graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in graphic design, Rinehart, a graphic designer at Starfish Signs and Graphics in San Clemente, hoped to produce a design worthy of an event.
“I am super excited to have finally made that a reality,” Rinehart wrote.
Rinehart digitally drew the logo design using Procreate on his iPad and finalized it in Adobe Illustrator.
“Before I start to draw anything, I like to write down a list of possible images to include in the logo,” Rinehart wrote. “This helps me start searching for reference images and planning the placements of each design element in the sketching phase.”
Rinehart began by sketching the whale and the “Festival of Whales” lettering. He used a cool-to-warm color gradient to represent the ocean floor and transition into the sky at sunset.
With the color gradient in mind, Rinehart said he composed “the oceanic scenery towards the bottom of the logo” and placed “sky elements such as the birds and sun toward the top of the design.”
“Once I figured out how I wanted those two elements to fit together, everything else was designed to support and not overpower them,” he said in the email. “When all the desired images were visually balanced, I felt the design was complete.”
Rinehart said he is excited to attend the Festival of Whales for the first time.
“I have been whale watching in Dana Point several times in my life, but I have never experienced the annual Festival of Whales,” Rinehart wrote in the email. “This upcoming Festival will be my first time attending, and I look forward to participating this year.”
The 51st annual Festival of Whales is scheduled for March 4-6, 2022.
Breeana Greenberg is the city reporter for the Dana Point Times. She graduated from Chapman University with a bachelor of arts degree in English. Before joining Picket Fence Media, she worked as a freelance reporter with the Laguna Beach Independent. Breeana can be reached by email at bgreenberg@picketfencemedia.com
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