Skills on Wheels
Visual Identity and Environmental Design
THE PROJECT:
The Mobile Skills Labs were developed through L.I.N.C.S.’s $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Delta Regional Authority. (See my work on this project here, and learn more about the project announcement here.)
The Mobile Skills Labs provide a flexible, innovative solution to expanding workforce development in rural Alabama. These self-contained units adapt to the needs of different employers and deliver cutting-edge training through virtual reality, workplace simulations, and hands-on learning. Their purpose is clear: to equip students with new skills and connect them directly to job opportunities.
I was commissioned to develop the complete visual identity for these mobile classrooms, including both exterior and interior design. Because the labs will travel across Alabama for two years, the branding needed to reflect the program’s evolving scope and the many communities it will serve.
At the outset of the project, I asked stakeholders to describe the labs in a few words, and instead received a long list of ideas. The team found it impossible to narrow it down because these units symbolized so much for the state: opportunity, innovation, skills, access, and more.
Rather than reducing this list, I chose to embrace it. The diversity of ideas became the foundation of the visual identity, capturing the Labs’ broad mission and transformative potential.
THE FINAL RESULT:
