Each year the Transit Authority of River City puts on a student art contest, called Design-a-Bus. Students in the Greater Louisville region are allowed to submit art on a pre-determined theme, and the winners have their art placed on a TARC bus for a full year.

In 2023 we partnered with the Louisville Free Public Library for “Every Journey a Story.” Each student was to draw a piece of art inspired by a journey in their life.

Additionally, LFPL helped connect us with the family of Richard Scarry. We decided to use characters and imagery of Scarry books on the bus design.

I looked through many of Scarry’s beloved characters and illustrations. Transportation is a key theme in many of his pieces. In particular, I liked the pencil vehicle as the colors match the library’s brand colors. I brought this element to the final design, matching the specific color palette to that of LFPL’s brand guidelines.

You can also see characters on public transportation in Scarry’s illustrations. In correspondence with Richard Scarry’s son Huck, I placed a few of the family’s favorite characters in the windows of the TARC bus, in a similar style to that of the book drawings.

The bus started service TARC’s fixed-route service in May 2023, and should be on the streets until the end of April 2024.