About us
This project was started by a Canadian family with European ancestry that now resides in Edmonton.
We're a family of creatives, researchers, teachers and students.
We co-create images of the local wildlife and river valley, and organize the Face of Edmonton.
We've also lived in Toronto, Manhattan, Denver, Vancouver, Paris and England.
We love the river valley, where you'll find us hiking, biking, skating, skiing or canoeing most days.
We've put what we like about this city into our designs.
The "e" traces the North Saskatchewan River and the Anthony Henday highway that surrounds our city.
When superimposed on our city it represents the world's largest "e".
The "e" design doubles as a map that can guide people to destinations.
This is intended to help residents, immigrants and visitors find Edmonton's attractions and festivals.
Our images are custom designed and screen printed onto T-shirts, hoodies, mugs and stickers.
Our products were featured by Make Something Edmonton and Edmonton Made
after responding to the call to "make something beautiful,... something new, make something big, make something global"
We've been working on this collaborative project for over a decade in response to the Edmonton City Council
request for "grassroots, citizen-driven creation of a new image for Alberta's Capital".
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This effort was motivated by criticisms including:
"I've never seen gaps so enormous between the reality of a place and what outsiders know about it" (Bill Siegel, CEO, Longwoods International),
"Edmonton's ambiguous brand is the biggest barrier for ... attracting talent and capital" (Mayor Don Iveson),
"There’s really not much to admire here" (Hunter Tura, CEO, Bruce Mau Design on Edmonton's logo), and
the author Mordecai Richler called Edmonton the “boiler room” of Canada with “nothing to delight the eye”.
We seek to counter these and thank people including Min Dhariwal, CBC Radioactive Co-Host for their help.
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To build a more authentic and responsive visual identity we co-create images about Edmonton each year.
Local printers use these images to produce merchandise, which is then made available in local shops.
This supports the local economy, attracts visitors and investment, and provides ways to tell stories.
The proceeds are used to support Cure Cancer, DiscoveryLab, Orange Shirt Society, and efforts towards reconciliation.
Contact us
We appreciate any comments or offers to explore ways to work together.
Send us your thoughts or let us know if you'd like to meet up.
Team
This collaborative project is led by Michael Overduin and his family who live in pihêsiwin ᐱᐦᐁᓯᐏᐣ.