Branding Sand

Using a unique method to create a message for social media

By Mike Hebrard
Photos: dot dot dash

I’ve done hundreds of logos in the past 40 years of working on athletic fields for games, playoffs, special events, and corporate functions. I’ve used both permanent and removable paint, aerosol and liquid, some chalk, and colored calcine clays; however, none of the projects were as simple or as difficult as etching 25-foot-high letters in the sand at Huntington Beach.

The Challenge 

One of my former employees, Kyle Banuelos, started a marketing company called Dot Dot Dash, and had expressed an interest in me helping create a logo. After a couple of ideas fell through, I was called in. But, before I was even able to begin, the text was changed, the height was changed, the font was changed, the direction was changed, and the venue was changed! Once all of that was finalized, Banuelos sent me to Huntington Beach in California to inscribe the desired text in the sand. The intent was to use the message for a social-media commercial. 

Banuelos had seen a machine in Spain that was 10 feet wide on rubber tracks that etched letters much like a laser printer, but since the machine was in another country and the letters needed to be larger, it was up to me to figure how to duplicate the appearance. I had no one to consult for advice, so I began trying out a couple of methods and tools to create words in the sand. A good friend loaned me one of his company’s pickup trucks to gather materials. Because I needed wet sand, a water source was my main concern. I found a restroom facility some 400 feet away that I could access. However, there were no available garden hoses, so I went to a local hardware store and bought 450 feet of hose and a variety of nozzles to ensure I had the best application for the water. Next, I had to find a way to smooth and pack the sand down to prep for lettering, so I borrowed a 6-foot monster broom from a local baseball field; it worked great.  

Get Moving 

Once the location was secured, (many people were using the beach that day), I marked the size of the area with irrigation flags. I used string to mark the top and bottom of the letters and inserted flags for each letter from a previous measured drawing to spell the words, “HOW DO YOU FLEX?” The letters were fairly simple with some smaller text below. Next, I had to figure how to make a paintbrush. I used a 2-inch by 2-inch, 4-foot-long board, drilled in 3-inch-long deck screws every 2 inches, and screwed in an 8-foot-long handle. I figured the heads of the deck screws would puff up the sand.  Once each letter was wet down, I dragged the homemade etching tool to create each letter with a 4-foot stroke and scribed a screwdriver for the circle or arcs for the rounded letters. One of the associates for Dot Dot Dash had a great idea using a shovel and outlining the letters with dry sand, which really made everything pop. 

After nearly 7 hours laying out the area, wetting the sand, and etching the letters, I finished just in time for a drone pilot to record a video near sunset for the best images.

Every night, from midnight to 10 a.m., maintenance workers from the city clean the beach with machines to gather up all sorts of artifacts left behind. They saved this chore for another day!

Mike Hebrard is the owner of Athletic Field Design, a consulting firm that specializes in designing, building, and maintaining athletic fields in Clackamas, Ore. Reach him at hebrard@athleticfield.com.