Category : Event Materials
Delivery of the event’s branding elements in static or dynamic formats. Examples should demonstrate a minimum of 3 media which can include: Invitations, Posters, Microsites, Social media, etc.
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The Challenge: Create an array of materials for the pickiest of all audiences.
The Brief: The GDC is a member-based organization of design professionals, educators, administrators, students and associates in communications, marketing, media and design-related fields. Every two years, the Elevators award local design that shows creative excellence, educates the public and promotes discussion about the role of designers in Saskatchewan. In partnership with the Elevators committee, we needed to plan and coordinate every part of the 2012 event – from the theme to the giveaways.
The DELIVERY: We chose to focus on the responsibility and work of designers in the overall design process. The “Heavy Lifting” event theme we developed has several meanings, but most importantly it’s about the need for extra effort at some point in the process of creating design and advertising. We asked the judges/speakers to incorporate this theme into their speeches to make the experience even more cohesive and memorable. We wanted the event to be fun, so we developed a quirky “mascot” (AKA - Mucho Macho) and visual element that would resonate with our audience. Every element of the design was hand drawn to focus on craft and simplicity. The poster was printed in a limited run silkscreen, on recycled kraft paper. The program was designed so the information could exist on one side of the paper while other side unfolded into an event poster. It was also used as a promotional/advertising piece.
The result was a cleverly crafted identity and atmosphere that dispelled some of the misconceptions metropolitan Canadians have about the prairies — Saskatchewan is an interesting, growing, professional province.
The Council debuted a new logo in 2013 and I used the new colours as a jumping off point for the colour scheme of the event. The Design Week logo and DW13 mark were developed with geometric shapes to reference the shapes within the new DSC logo. One of the most exciting things about working on Design Week was the chance to design a custom award for the Premier’s Awards of Excellence. It was created out of solid aluminium water jet cut and machined out by Fabricating Arts.