Cultural Hotspot is a City of Toronto initiative that shines a spotlight on the arts, culture, and community in neighbourhoods beyond the downtown core. For the 2019 campaign, the focus was on York and North Etobicoke, two areas rich in identity but often underrepresented in the city’s cultural narrative.
The City commissioned me to create campaign graphics that would celebrate these neighbourhoods in a way that felt authentic, local, and deeply rooted in place.
To capture the character of each area, I created a series of hand-lettered street names each rendered in a unique style to reflect the diverse voices, architecture, and energy of the community. These weren’t generic type treatments. Each piece was drawn by hand, echoing the lived-in texture of the neighbourhoods themselves.
The lettering was used across:
• Limited-edition merch – t-shirts and tote bags available only at Cultural Hotspot events and workshops
• Large-scale public graphics – including a fleet of TTC buses wrapped with the campaign art
For the buses, I designed a layout that integrated seamlessly with the TTC’s brand livery. A key concept was to mark “The Spot” as a fictional stop along the route map giving the Cultural Hotspot a sense of destination and importance within the city grid.
The campaign design helped anchor the 2019 Cultural Hotspot in a strong visual identity that felt locally grounded and creatively distinctive. The TTC bus wraps brought high visibility to the program, literally moving the message through the very communities it aimed to uplift.
The hand-lettered artwork resonated with residents, artists, and city staff alike bringing a personal, human touch to a city-wide campaign celebrating Toronto’s cultural depth.
“Working with Mike was a pleasure from beginning to end. He researched and determined exactly what we need and then put his skill, knowledge and creativity to work resulting in a final product that everyone on the City of Toronto, Arts Services team was happy with. In addition, he was incredibly organized and is a proficient communicator, making our working together one of the easiest and most pleasant experiences we’ve had.” ~City of Toronto, Arts Services
