Services: Brand Strategy, Environmental Design, Logo & Identity, Messaging, Signage & Wayfinding
Olympic Mills
Historic Roots, Modern Spirit
Originally built in 1920 as the Olympic Cereal Mill, this landmark building in Portland’s Central Eastside once housed massive grain silos and milling operations under Portland Flouring Mills. In its rebirth as a creative office and retail hub, the building’s industrial grit offered a powerful foundation for a refreshed identity — one that honors its heritage while serving a new generation of creative tenants.
Selected Writings
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Role: Senior Strategist and Copywriter
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challenge
The building’s common areas had a patchwork of DIY signage and art and lacked clear wayfinding — especially in lower levels like the basement. Tenants and visitors found navigation confusing, and some basement areas felt unwelcoming, and even intimidating, rather than inviting for tenant use
We needed to design a system that could:
Celebrate the building’s industrial heritage, reinforcing a sense of place
Guide foot traffic intuitively throughout the building
Replace the ad hoc signage with a clean, cohesive package of room id's, directories and breadcrumb signage
Elevate the basement into a more inviting and usable space
Navigating with Style
We developed a building-wide signage and graphics program, introducing clarity and craft at every turn. The signage package features materials and typography drawn from the building's industrial roots, while large-scale environmental graphics double as art installations — abstracted patterns and grain-inspired motifs reinforce the building's legacy with intentional, site-specific storytelling. Wayfinding now guides tenants seamlessly from street to suite and the basement has been transformed from a disorienting labyrinth into an inviting tenant amenity.
result
A unified visual system that reinforces Olympic Mills’ history while modernizing its use for a new generation of industry — making the building easier to navigate and more inspiring for the creative community who call it home.
Collaborators
Brand Architect: Danielle Breck
Creative Director: Jennifer Bryan
All work produced under the direction of Think Joule.