The Challenge
Nice Ride Minnesota was launching as Minneapolis–St. Paul’s first city-wide bike share program — part of the Bixi family of public bike systems. The program needed a complete visual identity and launch campaign: logo, station kiosk signage, docking hardware decals, bus shelter advertising, poster campaign, and print collateral including a station map. Every touchpoint had to work — from a bus ad seen at 35 mph to a handlebar decal read while unlocking a bike in the rain.
Logo
The mark combines the letters N and R into a continuous line that forms a bicycle. The two wheels double as the counters of the letters, so the logo reads as both a monogram and a pictogram simultaneously. The green colorway tied to the program’s identity as a sustainable transit option, with a dark variant for applications on light backgrounds.
The design had to work within the Bixi system’s branding framework while giving Nice Ride its own regional identity. The result is a mark that’s playful enough to feel approachable for first-time riders and clean enough to function as civic infrastructure signage.
Kiosk & Signage
Beyond the logo, I designed the physical touchpoint system — the pieces riders actually interact with when they walk up to a station for the first time. The kiosk panel walks users through a six-step rental process, designed for quick comprehension by someone standing outdoors, possibly in a hurry, possibly a tourist who’s never used a bike share before.
The information hierarchy was critical: the numbered steps needed to dominate, with secondary details (pricing, subscription options, edge cases like “No Empty Bike Docks?”) accessible but not competing for attention. The dark background with green and white typography maintained contrast in direct sunlight.
The docking station and handlebar decals handled a different UX problem — what to do when something goes wrong. “Bike not working? Press red repair button.” These needed to be readable at arm’s length, in all weather, on a surface that gets rained on, snowed on, and baked in the sun.
Advertising Campaign
I designed the launch advertising campaign across outdoor and print formats. The bus shelter ad featured an illustrated Minneapolis landscape — lakes, parks, the downtown skyline — with a rider moving through it, tying the program to the city’s identity. The tagline “Minnesota Nice, with gears and a basket” positioned bike share as a natural extension of the culture.
The poster campaign paired photography of real Minneapolis riders against local murals and street art, grounding the brand in the city’s visual culture. Each ad used a different playful tagline — “Be your own food delivery guy” — keeping the tone approachable and fun while the logo and green colorway maintained brand consistency.
Print Collateral
The launch brochure and pocket map served as the primary takeaway for events and kiosk displays. The front featured founding subscriber information and sponsor recognition, while the interior included a full Phase 1 station map showing every kiosk location, bike trails, and points of interest across Minneapolis. The map background used a stylized transit line pattern in the brand’s dark palette, reinforcing the idea that bike share is part of the city’s transit infrastructure, not just recreation.
Results
Nice Ride Minnesota launched in June 2010 with 65 stations and 700 bikes across Minneapolis, eventually expanding to St. Paul. The brand identity, advertising campaign, and signage system I designed was the public face of the program at every scale — from bus shelters on Hennepin Avenue to handlebar decals on 700 bikes. The logo became a recognizable part of the Twin Cities’ streetscape for over a decade of operation, and the launch campaign helped drive founding subscriber enrollment ahead of the June kickoff.