Gardens & outdoors

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum: a garden identity in miniature

From the September 2026 concept archive · Story published November 9, 2026

Design proposal

Original concept artwork from our proposal archive. The production-and-use story below is an imagined next chapter; a completed order is not claimed for these items.

An evergreen face, botanical border, and five lower-arc lights frame the institutional identity without scattering points through the lettering.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum — blinkee concept — Light-up pin concept: proposed glow and component placement are illustrative.

The inspiration behind the design

Website research and public logo reference

The Arboretum's garden setting supplied the botanical theme. A saved public reference of the green circular identity, white University of Minnesota block M, and institution name guided the branding. The coin's garden imagery is an original botanical interpretation, not a claim to reproduce a particular photographed garden.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum original design reference — Visual identity reference retained from the original research. This reference is separate from the proposed product rendering.

The idea behind the object

The initial garden concepts led to a separate Northern Lights design journey; this original pin should not be confused with the later ordered design.

Thought experiment: taking the proposal further

A production proof brings the printed artwork, cut outline, LED locations, battery, switch, and attachment together. The lights need room inside the edge, and the name needs to remain readable at the selected size. A rendering can show the intended mood; a sample establishes the actual brightness, sequence, weight, and fit.

In that imagined next chapter, the approved proof would lead to a sample review, then a confirmed production run and a plan for presenting the pieces. Those are possible next steps, not events we claim happened for this proposal.

Explore the related coin and keepsake design story.