MINI com­mu­ni­ty work

For more than a decade, I’ve been part of the MINI enthu­si­ast com­mu­ni­ty — a net­work of region­al clubs and annu­al gath­er­ings cen­tered on dri­ving twisty roads togeth­er. What start­ed as occa­sion­al con­tri­bu­tions grew into sus­tained design work across events and clubs, each root­ed in its own place and cul­ture. The work ranges from offi­cial event iden­ti­ties to club marks to per­son­al arti­facts, all shaped by par­tic­i­pa­tion in some­thing I care about.

MIN­Is in the Mountains

MIN­Is in the Moun­tains is a long-run­ning gath­er­ing for MINI Coop­er enthu­si­asts in Col­orado — a com­mu­ni­ty event cen­tered on dri­ving wind­ing moun­tain roads togeth­er. Each year brings a dif­fer­ent town and land­scape, but the expe­ri­ence remains con­stant: shared routes, high-alti­tude pass­es, and the par­tic­u­lar rhythm of group dri­ves through the Rockies.

I first con­tributed through an open call, and was invit­ed back to cre­ate marks for sub­se­quent gath­er­ings. Rather than repeat­ing a tem­plate, each year’s emblem respond­ed to its loca­tion — some­times abstract, some­times illus­tra­tive, always root­ed in place. The marks appeared across badges, appar­el, vehi­cle emblems, and event materials.

The con­ti­nu­ity came less from visu­al uni­for­mi­ty than from tone and author­ship — a shared lan­guage shaped by the com­mu­ni­ty and land­scape. When the offi­cial event paused in 2021, a local infor­mal gath­er­ing revived it using the same approach, extend­ing the lin­eage with­out for­mal structure.

Club & Event Marks

I’ve also con­tributed iden­ti­ty work to region­al clubs tied to spe­cif­ic places.

MIN­Is in the Ozarks takes place every Octo­ber in Eure­ka Springs, Arkansas — a quirky, art­sy south­ern town sur­round­ed by small­er moun­tains, twisty roads, and fall col­or. I’ve designed the annu­al iden­ti­ty since 2019, cre­at­ing marks and appar­el that respond to the char­ac­ter of the Ozarks and the time of year. The work began through a friend­ship with the orga­niz­er and con­tin­ued even as lead­er­ship changed.

Not every MINI com­mu­ni­ty has twisty roads. For the Chica­go MINI Motor­ing Club — my own club — I’ve cre­at­ed appar­el reflect­ing the city rather than nat­ur­al ter­rain: the Chica­go sky­line and flag, and Wrigley Field­’s icon­ic sign. 

Per­son­al Work

I’ve also made marks for my own car and the trips I’ve tak­en. My license plate — RBL JCW — ref­er­ences Rebel Green, a lim­it­ed-edi­tion col­or on the John Coop­er Works model.

I’ve designed stick­ers to com­mem­o­rate road trips and events: MIN­Is in the Moun­tains, MIN­Is in the Ozarks, MINI on the Mack, MIN­Is on the Drag­on, MINI Takes the States, and solo dri­ves I want­ed to remem­ber. They live on my roof rack as a per­son­al archive. Most are just for me, though I’ve shared some with friends who were there.

Selected Work