Watershed Press Logo

Client: Watershed Press, founded by members of Cascadia Poetics LAB, Seattle, WA/Vancouver, BC

Scope: Logo design (core mark)

Role: Brand identity and logo designer

Platform: Print and digital applications

Timeline: July-August 2022

Context: Watershed Press is a small literary publisher rooted in the Cascadian bioregion, with a mission centered on ecology, place, and the interdependence of human and natural systems. The press was founded by members of Cascadia Poetics LAB as a distinct but philosophically aligned initiative. The press was initiated in conjunction with the launch of its first publication, Cascadian Zen, Volume 1, making it especially important that the identity establish clarity, credibility, and a sense of purpose from the outset.

From the outset, the identity needed to express bioregional values—not as abstraction, but as lived ecological relationship.

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The Challenge: The challenge was to translate a complex ecosystem of ideas into a single, legible mark:

• The concept of the watershed as both geography and metaphor

• The interdependence of land, water, wildlife, and human culture

• A visual language appropriate for a literary press—symbolic, but not ornamental

Early conceptual prompts included multiple symbolic elements (mountains, bear, water, lightening), requiring careful distillation rather than accumulation.

The Solution: The final logo centers on the watershed itself as a living system, using layered symbolism rather than literal depiction.

Through iterative sketching and refinement, the mark evolved into a unified composition in which:

• Snowmelt descends from the mountains into the watershed

• Water flows and spirals to give life within the ecosystem

• A bear, sustained by the watershed, consumes a salmon—reinforcing cyclical interdependence

• The base of the mountain doubles as both waveform and rippling water

The decision was made to exclude lightening, allowing the central relationship between mountain, water, bear, and salmon to remain visually and conceptually clear.

Key design decisions included

• Ecosystem-Based Symbolism

  Designing the logo as an interconnected system rather than a single emblematic icon.

• Layered Meaning with Visual Restraint

  Embedding multiple ideas—water flow, nourishment, sustainability—into a compact, readable form.

• Print-Forward Simplicity

  Ensuring the mark would reproduce clearly across book covers, interior pages, and small-format print applications.

The Result: The final logo provides Watershed Press with a distinctive and meaningful visual identity that reflects its commitment to place-based publishing. The mark is symbolic without being illustrative, and expressive without sacrificing clarity.

It continues to function as a durable identifier across print and digital contexts, aligning closely with the press’s editorial mission.

What This Project Demonstrates:

• Translating ecological and philosophical concepts into visual form

• Using symbolism to convey meaning without visual excess

• Distilling complex narratives into a single, coherent mark

• Designing logos that privilege longevity and conceptual depth over trend