Bloom Event Branding
Branding / Art Direction / Project Management
As leader of the branding team, I worked with a group of five collaborators to create a visual identity system for our graduation portfolio show. We created brand guidelines and implemented them in print, web, and social layouts.
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Collaborators: Eleanor Howe, Shinyu Lee, Timneet Mamu, Emily Taylor, David White
Timeline: 12 weeks
Tools: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, Large Format Printing
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The concept for the show, Bloom, was chosen by our class of 35 students. Our job as the branding team was to figure out how we could visually express the concept of Blooming as a metaphor for our time at design school while avoiding common visual tropes associated with flowers.
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Our design system uses the organic shapes of flowers as containers for an inorganic bitmap texture. Sinuous lines evoke the softness of flower petals and are meaningfully derived from blind contour drawings of and by our classmates. Our bright color palette of neon yellow and green with pink accents is both natural and artificial, reflecting our natural growth as designers and photographers in a digital world.
Our team used Figjam to ideate & define the core elements of our brand
We started with a brainstorm and free association on the word bloom
Each team member made a mood board based on what we brainstormed
We made notes on what stood out from each
Teammates starred things that stood out
Three core design elements emerged: gradient, organic line, and shape-based illustration
With our core elements identified, we refined our concept and created brand guidelines
We combined what was working into a new mood board
We experimented with how to create the pixelated texture we were drawn to
We created a first draft of our concept board
And refined it with more dynamic colors
We realized we were missing organic line, so we asked our classmates to make blind contour drawings of each other and turned them into SVGs
We pivoted to a punchier, pink neon and green pallete set against black
And created this final concept board
We sent our brand guidelines to the other teams who helped create wayfinding, social media, a website, and interactive exhibits
