Design Portfolio
60 Years of Friendship: Okayama & San Jose
BANNER DESIGN
Rasteroids was again commissioned to produce the banners to celebrate the Sister City Friendship between Okayama, Japan, and San Jose – this time for the 60th Anniversary. Rasteroids combined the City Seals of both San Jose and Okayama, and drew on the Japanese art of mizuhiki (traditional wire wrapping) for inspiration. The strands were colored in the palette of electrical wires to symbolize Silicon Valley's technology, so as to combine a traditional art with new tech.
125 Years of Japantown
BANNER DESIGN
To commemorate the 125 Years of San Jose's Japantown, Rasteroids designed these banners with Japantown's historic diversity in mind. The persimmons signify good luck in Japanese culture, sampaguita blossoms represent the Filipino-American presence, and the Chinese dragon in the background for Japantown's original designation as one of San Jose's first Chinatowns (also known as 'Heinlenville') in the 1800s.
Japantown San Jose
BANNER DESIGN
Banners designed for San Jose's Japantown welcome neighbors and visitors alike. San Jose's Japantown remains one of the last three Japantowns in the United States, and is a recognized historic district.
50 Years of Friendship: Okayama & San Jose
BANNER DESIGN
These banners commemorated the 50th Anniversary of the Sister City friendship between Okayama, Japan and San Jose. Rasteroids drew on the similarities that caused these two cities to be paired, such as the historical significance of agriculture in these two cities. Also featured is the City of San Jose's official city seal and Japan's national bird, the tancho crane.
West San Carlos Business District
BANNER DESIGN
West San Carlos Street, a major thoroughfare in San Jose, is home to an eclectic mix of family businesses, antique shops and car dealerships. Rather than attempt to bridge their current similarities, Rasteroids looked to the street's past in these banners. Rasteroids featured neighborhood gems: Shasta daisies (the neighborhood is named for the flower's creator, famed horticulturist Luther Burbank), the Del Monte water tower (the fruit packing company was established in the neighborhood decades earlier), and decorative tiles from the now-defunct Burbank Theater.