Me (Left) and Ellen Curtis, Associate Executive Director, Marketing and Communications (Right)
Project: Cal Poly Partners Rebranding
Overview: This project was to rebrand from Cal Poly Corporation to Cal Poly Partners to better align with their mission of serving students at the university. Through this rebranding, my task was to create a new graphic system using the logo created by University Communications and Marketing. The most challenging part was creating a new vibrant graphic system within the preexisting Cal Poly brand guidelines.
Skills Used: Graphic Systems, Brand Identity, Brand guidelines, Graphic Design, Strategy, Collaboration, Printer and Vendor Coordination, Printing File Prep
Software Used: InDesign, Illustrator
Color Block System
The main graphic element present in all materials is the accent of color blocks. These have a set of variable colors based on the preexisting Cal Poly secondary and tertiary colors. One main challenge was adhering to the Cal Poly brand guidelines, while coming up with a fresh and distinctive design style for Cal Poly Partners.
WOW that's a big graphic! I was holding my breath as the printing company installed it (always nerve wracking when you design something so impactful), and was so happy with how it turned out.
Social Media
One highlight for me (pun intended) was making the instagram page seem like a landing page, including the use of highlights to communicate the brand identity in an easy user-friendly way. I believe that most people these days go to social media to figure out what a company is about and who they are, before even going to their website. View the Cal Poly Partners instagram profile.
Video Title Slides
Another extension of the brand design was in the video title slides. Although I did not create the motion part of the graphics, it was cool to see our videographer bring these graphics I created to life. View the March Fourth with Cal Poly Partners video to see the compositions paired with video.
Office Posters
To encourage a positive brand experience within the Cal Poly Partners office, I worked closely with our creative director to make this series of posters. I believe that after putting these up, I should claim "poster hanging" and "using many command strips" a skill on my resume.
Employee Swag and Launch Event
This brand launch was nothing short of a big event and lots of fun swag. As a designer, it's always difficult weighing the impact of designing cool print projects and with the desire to be environmentally conscious. The tension between the two is not uncommon, I'm sure. Nevertheless, I got to make some memorable swag for old and new employees at Cal Poly Partners so they have a positive touch point to the brand.
Large temporary timeline graphic for the VIP brand launch event, where the president of Cal Poly and many others attended
"Enter to Win" post for the event! The purpose of this was to drive engagement for our new Instagram account and spread awareness. I'm proud to say that I came up with some of the mechanics for this giveaway (tag two friends, follow this post, extra entry for tagging us in a photo). Overall it was a success!
After long hours of looking at different vendors, the combo we landed on was a notepad, pen and mug to give all employees to welcome them to a new brand. I ordered everything (big spender!) and got to design the final look.