Highlighting our class studio’s unique & collective identity 

At the end of every fall semester, the senior design class at Carnegie Mellon is in charge of arranging a showcase of their work. A few of my classmates and I volunteered to plan, organize and carry out arrangements for our studio. The tasks in my role included creating the visual brand for the event to be applied on posters, signage, postcards, wayfinding materials, and a social media campaign.

Problem 

The challenge  faced when designing the show was how to effectively communicate the tone of the curated work and Class of 2014, while also honoring the identity of the individual pieces and designers. As a result, we focused our approach on identity — of the individual and of the 'image' of the group of classmates and work made up of many pieces under one direction.

Process 

The idea was to have a simplified design system that could embody different designers, programs, and projects. I loved the idea of a highlighter on a page to bring focus to a word or sentence without fully overshadowing the rest of the words, and started working with variations of the color scheme and a bold typeface. Continuing with the approach of the collective identity of the class, incorporating photographs of the designers became an important theme throughout the printed material and created little moments of reflection on the designers throughout the event space.

Solution 

By the end of the semester, the team started marketing the showcase using posters and custom letters while the site itself had a map to guide visitors and highlighted specific designers throughout the curated space.The final event was hosted at the Brew House Association in the South Side of Pittsburgh, PA.