We get excited about billboards around Mailchimp HQ. And if you’ve spotted any of them, you may have noticed that our tastes tend to run toward the nontraditional: shrimp photography, rice mosaics, dripping paint, and simple blue backgrounds (AKA: “taking back the sky”).
A billboard can be just an ad, but it can also be a giant canvas for a public art project. While we certainly don’t mind if people associate Mailchimp’s billboards with our product, that’s not our primary goal. Instead, we like to think of these spaces as a design challenge. How might a billboard enhance—rather than detract from—the environment around it? Can a billboard help build community? What would people do if we gave them a big, billboard-sized canvas to share their unique point of view?
Over the last several years, we’ve done just that, and the results have made us really happy. Here in our hometown of Atlanta, we use billboards to celebrate the artists who make our city a vibrant hub for street art. My personal favorite is our Krog Street billboard, which we keep fresh with a new design from a local artist every month.
Take a peek at the artists behind a few of our recent designs.
Yoyo Ferro
You might already recognize the work of Brazilian-turned-ATLien artist Yoyo Ferro by his vivid colors, bold lines, and playful imagery. Lately, he’s painted quite a few lively murals around our beloved city, entertained a handful of Atlantans drawing blind contour portraits, and captured our hearts through his illustrations of the ATL skyline.