Brand Identity, Event Series, Campaign System
CASE STUDY
Founders Row Event Series Brand Identity and Campaign System
Role: Creative Lead & Brand Designer
Partnership: Founders Row × DC Fray
Creative Direction: Claire Smalley
Project Overview
Founders Row is a premium residential and lifestyle destination in Falls Church, VA, hosting year-round community events. For their 2023 event series, I was brought in to establish the visual identity and build a scalable design system. I delivered an initial asset suite and comprehensive templates, empowering their internal team to seamlessly produce cohesive materials for new events throughout the year.
Strategic Solution & System Design
The objective was to create a flexible brand framework that felt premium yet energetic, bridging the identities of Founders Row and DC Fray while accommodating diverse event categories.
Typography: Paired Gopher and Swear Display to strike a balance between modern geometric structure and editorial sophistication.
Color Strategy: Developed a vibrant, 6-color palette tailored to the Founders Row aesthetic, allowing for distinct seasonal or event-specific variations.
Visual Anchors: Designed an eye-catching geometric pattern and incorporated outlined typography. This echoed the line work of both partner logos, creating a unified visual thread across all touchpoints.
Iconography: Built a library of six custom event-category icons engineered for high adaptability—functioning beautifully across digital and in-person collateral like event wristbands, tickets, and signage. The system seamlessly scaled to promotional merchandise, including stickers, pins, and a feature tote bag graphic.
The final toolkit successfully unified a massive year-long calendar into a single, recognizable brand experience while giving the internal execution team total creative autonomy.
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