Happy 1st Birthday to Read Appalachia!

One year ago, I posted this logo that I made at 3am after another fruitless night searching for Appalachian book accounts on Instagram. I had just learned I would be moving completely out of the region for the first time and already knew I’d need a way to stay connected to my region’s culture and heritage.

I work in books, so to me, Read Appalachia just made the most sense. Why not share Appalachian books and encourage folks to read them? Today I thought I’d share the design process behind the logo.

Originally, I thought of “Read Appalachian” as a name, but by the end, I thought “Read Appalachia” was a better fit. I went through fonts, colors, sizes of text, and different backgrounds until I came to choosing the logo that I use today. One day, I’ll have a professional designer give it a facelift, but for now it’s a lovely reminder of how this Instagram page came to be.

Many thanks to all of you who have supported this passion project over the last year. Here’s to many celebrating Appalachian Literature and writing!