Underneath that boat lie stories much bigger. We wanted to weave the narrative of Cayamo through all the bits and pieces that make up the experience. A compendium of poems, thoughts, stories, experiences.

Cayamo is one of the many cruise experiences put on by our friends Sixthman. It's focused on an older, mellower audience than say, The Rock Boat. The artists are largely singer-songwriters, and as such the environment is more intimate, quiet, about taking in the music. The concept is centered around storytelling and craftsmanship. It's finding the intersection of classy and lighthearted — black tie Americana might be a good way to put it.

First was the logo. As an annual event that's in its fourth year now, it was time to anchor the brand with its own identity. Something that served as the primary brand signature that could stand on its own as well as complement the artwork and styles that shifted year after year. The result was a custom typographic solution that was inspired by vintage lettering of a timeless America. We wanted something that was elegant, classic but not static. A mark that represented music (you'll see the flourish details are actually f-holes) and a sense of craft and spoke to the sophisticated tastes of cruisers.

Next: this year's key art. Underneath that boat lie stories much bigger. We wanted to weave the narrative of Cayamo through all the bits and pieces that make up the experience. A compendium of poems, thoughts, stories, experiences. A collage of these things coming together reveals what lies underneath the surface and creates a visual of storytelling, music, whimsy.

Another challenge was rethinking the direction of all Sixthman websites. Previously, art and look and feel was key. But we needed a big shift to content. For an event as big, complex, and community-driven as a music cruise, the site needs to reflect a sense of activity and excitement as much as delivering the basic facts.

So we came up with a system that accomplished three important things: showcase the artwork, allowed for a layout that was malleable and content driven, and provide flexibility to work for all the different cruises. We ended up with a web solution that was both artful and useful, as well as helping to reduce resources and efforts required by Sixthman to update content from year to year and cruise to cruise. Check it out.

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