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Logo Design Brief

Mish Holdings Logo
Creative Brief
Prepared by Stacey Grant, Creative Director
Stakeholder: Larry Little, CMO
The Ask
Design a logo for Mish Holdings, the parent company behind the Mishawaka Amphitheatre, Riverside Colorado, Black Bear Events and Mish Media. It should feel like the grown-up in the room: more refined and confident than the brands below it, but still beautiful, still warm, and unmistakably part of the family.
Think of it as the family crest. The kids each have their own personality. The crest is what they all have in common.
Who Mish Holdings Is
Everything started with the Mish. The Mishawaka has been hosting music in the Poudre Canyon since 1916, and every brand in the portfolio grew out of it:
Mishawaka Amphitheatre: the historic outdoor concert venue on the Poudre River. The origin story and the heart of the family.
Riverside Colorado: an upscale canyon retreat with tiny homes and glamping tents, minutes from the Mish, with guest transportation to shows.
Black Bear Events: a full-service event company for weddings, corporate events and retreats across Colorado, at the family venues and beyond.
Mish Media: the in-house marketing agency, born from the Mishawaka, serving outdoor, lifestyle, hospitality and entertainment brands.
Mish Holdings is not a consumer brand. Nobody is buying a ticket from it. It is the name on the letterhead, the operating agreement, the investor deck and the bank paperwork.
Audience
Partners, investors and lenders
Finance and legal (CFO, accountants, attorneys)
Vendors, municipal and land-use partners
Future acquisitions or new brands joining the portfolio
Internal leadership and staff across all four companies
These people should look at the mark and think: established, well run, rooted in Colorado, here for the long haul.
What "Grown Up" Means Here
Do more of:
Restraint. Fewer elements, more breathing room.
Heritage. 1916 is a real asset. A quiet nod to it reads as legacy, not nostalgia.
Craft. Clean line work, considered spacing, a wordmark that holds up on a business card and an engraved plaque.
Calm confidence. It does not need to shout. The portfolio brands do the shouting.
Do less of:
Concert-poster grit and distressed textures (that is Mishawaka's lane)
Playful or trendy agency styling
Busy illustrated scenes
Anything that reads like a bank, a law firm or a private equity shell. Grown up, not cold.
What "Still Pretty" Means Here
Organic, flowing lines drawn from the river and canyon
Warm metallic and earth tones rather than flat corporate blue or gray
A mark someone would actually want on a hat, a gate sign or a gift
The Family DNA
Larry wants this to feel derivative of the existing logos. Here is what they share and what each brings to the table.
Mishawaka Amphitheatre
Mountain silhouette with a moon/sun element and the "Mishawaka Amphitheatre" wordmark, with "Since 1916"
Mish Orange #DD732D (PMS 173C) with black
Vintage, rustic, hand-lettered feel (Pirates Gold, Matiz, Lobster)
Riverside Colorado
Circular emblem holding mountains, tents, trees and river waves
Canyon Gold #C5A059, a warm bronze that signals premium
Season for titles, Quicksand for copy
Black Bear Events
Outline bear silhouette with orange feet (outline version is primary)
Bear Orange #E67E30, Deep Black #121212, Natural White #F5F1E8
Cinzel / Trajan headlines, which already lean classic and elevated
Mish Media
Black circle with orange mountains beneath it
Primary Blue #0F4D8F, Warm Orange #E74E24
The common threads to pull from:
The circle. Riverside's emblem, Mish Media's circle and Mishawaka's moon/sun all live in a round shape. This is the strongest shared form in the family.
The mountain line. Every brand references the canyon ridgeline in some way.
The river. The Poudre runs through Mishawaka's and Riverside's stories literally and figuratively.
Orange plus black. Three of the four brands use a warm orange against black.
Gold. Riverside's Canyon Gold is the most "grown up" color in the family and a natural lead for the parent.
Color Direction
Start from Canyon Gold #C5A059 and Deep Black #121212, with Natural White #F5F1E8 as the light ground. Use orange as a small accent, if at all, so the parent nods to the Mish without competing with it. Show us at least one option that works in a single color (gold foil, blind emboss, one-color engraving), because a lot of this mark's life will be on paper, signage and documents.
Type Direction
Explore a refined serif or elegant small-caps wordmark in the neighborhood of Cinzel / Trajan, since Black Bear already proves that lane works in the family. Also show one clean, well-spaced sans option for contrast. Avoid the novelty display faces used on Mishawaka. Spell it out as "Mish Holdings"; we are open to exploring an "MH" monogram as a secondary mark.
Concepts We Would Love to See
Starting points, not mandates:
The Crest. A simplified circle with a single ridgeline and a river line, built as the quiet parent of the Riverside and Mish Media marks.
The Monogram. An elegant "M" or "MH" where the letterform itself becomes the mountain and the river.
The Heritage Seal. A refined seal with "Est. 1916" or "Poudre Canyon, Colorado," designed for embossing and plaques.
Designer's Choice. Surprise us.
Must Haves
Clearly related to the existing four logos without copying any one of them
Works sitting above all four sub-brand logos on a single "family" page
Holds up small (favicon, email signature, document footer) and large (signage)
Works in full color, one color, black and white, and reversed
No bear. That belongs to Black Bear.
Where It Will Live
Letterhead, business cards and email signatures
Investor and partner decks, reports and financial documents
Website or landing page for the holding company
Property signage and plaques
Endorsement lockups ("A Mish Holdings Company") on sub-brand materials
Deliverables
Round 1: 3 to 4 distinct concepts, each shown in black and white first, then in color, plus a mock showing the mark above the four sub-brand logos.
Round 2: Refinement of 1 to 2 chosen directions.
Final: Primary logo, secondary mark/monogram, endorsement lockup, color specs (HEX, RGB, CMYK, PMS), and files in AI, EPS, SVG, PDF and PNG (transparent), plus a one-page usage sheet.
Reference Files to Attach
Current logo files for Mishawaka, Riverside, Black Bear Events and Mish Media
Brand style guides for each (Mishawaka, Riverside, Black Bear, Mish Media)
Font files (Mishawaka font folder on Drive)

Target Market(s)

Mish Holdings is not a consumer brand. Nobody is buying a ticket from it. It is the name on the letterhead, the operating agreement, the investor deck and the bank paperwork.

Industry/Entity Type

Everything started with the Mish. The Mishawaka has been hosting music in the Poudre Canyon since 1916, and every brand in the portfolio grew out of it: Mishawaka Amphitheatre: the historic outdoor concert venue on the Poudre River. The origin story and the heart of the family. Riverside Colorado: an upscale canyon retreat with tiny homes and glamping tents, minutes from the Mish, with guest transportation to shows. Black Bear Events: a full-service event company for weddings, corporate events and retreats across Colorado, at the family venues and beyond. Mish Media: the in-house marketing agency, born from the Mishawaka, serving outdoor, lifestyle, hospitality and entertainment brands. Mish Holdings is not a consumer brand. Nobody is buying a ticket from it. It is the name on the letterhead, the operating agreement, the investor deck and the bank paperwork.

Logo Text

Mish Holdings , or MH, or M

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Logo styles of interest

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Font styles to use

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Colors

Colors selected by the customer to be used in the logo design:

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Look and feel

Each slider illustrates characteristics of the customer's brand and the style your logo design should communicate.

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Requirements

Must have

• Do more of: Restraint. Fewer elements, more breathing room. Heritage. 1916 is a real asset. A quiet nod to it reads as legacy, not nostalgia. Craft. Clean line work, considered spacing, a wordmark that holds up on a business card and an engraved plaque. Calm confidence. It does not need to shout. The portfolio brands do the shouting.

Nice to have

• What "Still Pretty" Means Here Organic, flowing lines drawn from the river and canyon Warm metallic and earth tones rather than flat corporate blue or gray A mark someone would actually want on a hat, a gate sign or a gift

Should not have

• Do less of: Concert-poster grit and distressed textures (that is Mishawaka's lane) Playful or trendy agency styling Busy illustrated scenes Anything that reads like a bank, a law firm or a private equity shell. Grown up, not cold.

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Files

Download all files - 0.3 MB