Ground Hound Expo is a conceptual exhibition for amateur and professional geologists, paleontologists, and collectors. The kind of people who get genuinely excited about minerals, fossils, and the stories locked inside them.
The visual direction sits between natural history museum and collectors' fair, grounded enough to carry scientific credibility, warm enough to feel welcoming to enthusiasts at every level.
The palette of deep charcoal and earthy sand was drawn from the grit and ground of fieldwork, and the worn quality of vintage exploration books. The ammonite fossil became the central mark, a shape with its own inherent geometry, endlessly repeating and immediately iconic.
The brief was technically demanding, full CMYK print production across multiple deliverables, each requiring professional prepress standards.
A single event pass designed front and back to professional print specifications, CMYK, 300ppi, with accurate trim, bleed, and a custom dieline. The lanyard carries the ammonite pattern; the pass front leads with the logo and illustration. On the back, a UV security print layer is embedded into the design, invisible under normal light but revealed under ultraviolet as a glowing pattern of ammonite spirals. The concept came from researching real event security systems and choosing the option that felt most native to the brand, something hidden beneath the surface, waiting to be discovered.
The website landing page concept is minimal by design, the ammonite does the visual heavy lifting, and the copy does the rest: "For the collector, for the artist, for the scientist, for the curious." A rolling animated ammonite was designed as the hero element, reinforcing the brand's core visual motif in motion. Everything else steps back.
The identity extended across a full merchandise range including drawstring bag, tote bag, cap, button badge, t-shirt, notebook, and phone case. The ammonite works at every scale: as a standalone mark on the cap and badge, as a repeating pattern across the t-shirt and phone case, as a large centrepiece illustration on the tote. A consistent identity that adapts to any application.
