My role as the sole full-time designer at the BGSU Center for Regional Development provides me with great opportunities. One of those is to assume the role of creative director for the annual State of the Region Conference. When I came on, there was no set design standard for this event, and there was no unity with the University.
I took the liberty in creating a unifying identity for the event through many media: print, web, wayfinding, and infographics. I enlisted the help of my intern, Maia Wilms, to bounce ideas off of each other. Her brilliant and innovative print program design invited accolades from the President of the University, highlighting the excellence of the BGSU Graphic Design program.
We wanted to use this event as another marketing tool for our skills and capabilities, so we set up a table with marketing materials and stationery near the entrance for easy access to attendees and for extra visibility. On this table sat promotional items, bound versions of projects I had created, handouts communicating our services, and more, all in an effort to garner more support and business to the Center. This worked wonders given we had much interest in the role my designs played in the final products of our work. People love to see easy communicable products, especially for data-heavy work.
The wayfinding aspect allowed for a subtle way to bring every bigger touchpoint together as one group. There was trial and error involved in figuring out the placements and what our audience responded to best.
