Overview
When Route 66 geared up for its 100th year, Visit Springfield brought Camp Ape in to help shape a centennial look that could honor the road without getting stuck in the past. With an existing logo system already on the table, the job was to build out a visual direction that felt celebratory, flexible, and rooted in nostalgia. We expanded the brand with a system built for the long haul — one that could live across merchandise, promotions, and city-facing moments while still carrying the grit and glow of the Mother Road.
Visit Springfield
tourism
Branding
2 Months
The Challenge
How do you brand a road that brands itself? Route 66 already carries a ton of baggage—classic cars, diners, motels, the whole road-trip playlist. Add in an existing logo system and the project becomes a balancing act: respect the heritage, keep the recognition, but add enough kick to feel like the official centennial mark. It couldn’t look like a government patch job. It had to look like a party you didn’t want to miss.
The Solution
We leaned into the grit and glow. The centennial branding extended the primary and secondary logos into a full system—color palettes echoing faded postcards, typography that nods to roadside signage, and graphic patterns that feel right at home on a bumper sticker or a beer koozie. The result is a brand that feels 100 years old and 100% alive. It honors the icon while throwing fuel on the fire for the next hundred. Some roads get you from point A to point B. Route 66 got itself a brand worthy of the ride.
