Phoenix Design Week 2016
PROJECT DURATION
9-month volunteer position
ORGANIZATION TYPE
Small Non-profit
PROJECT TYPES
Creative Direction
Brand Strategy Design
Website Design
Marketing Collateral Design
Signage Design
COLLABORATORS
Web Development: Factor1 Studios
Copywriting: Jessie Gould,
Kathy Morgan, & Shaina Rozen
Design Support: Tara Anderson,
Allison Perlis, & Steffan Stewart
Motion Design: Kitchen Sink Studios
Poster Design: Scott Biersack,
Kelsey Dake, & Brock Lefferts
Product Photography: Amy Lamp
Printing: O’Neil Printing
Phoenix Design Week is an annual, week-long series of events to bring together the Phoenix Design Community.
THE SITUATION
Having served as PHXDW Design Chair in 2015, I was excited to step into the Creative Director role for 2016—this time responsible not just for executing a vision, but for originating one. The theme was FLUX: constant change, and the challenge of creating order from chaos. The scope was significant: brand identity, website, social media, direct mail, event collateral, a 50+ page conference program, signage, swag, and commissioned poster work. All this work needed to be developed and delivered over the course of several months with a team of collaborators.
With change as the subject matter and the method, the brand needed to embody flux without becoming incoherent—so instead of a traditional logo, the identity system was built around a flexible "anti-logo" treatment: mixed-up type and color that could be reinvented across every touchpoint while remaining unmistakably itself. Order from chaos, made visible.
The campaign was recognized with a Silver Addy Award the following year—an exciting step up from the Bronze earned in 2015. The scope of the work, from brand origin through every physical and digital touchpoint, mirrors what a full fractional engagement looks like in practice: sustained creative leadership over months, held together by a consistent through-line.
