When it comes to designing sustained event branding, I am most proud of the opportunity to be involved with the annual Fort Collins Book Festival. I’ve had the privilege of promoting six festivals, from graphic design of the original logo concept, through building out robust collateral suites for five additional themes, across in-person, digital, and hybrid formats.
The Fort Collins Book Festival launched in 2016 as a collaboration between libraries and literary groups, including the Poudre River Public Library District, Front Range Community College/Harmony Library, and CSU's Morgan Library, plus local bookseller Old Firehouse Books, the City of Fort Collins, and other partners in Northern Colorado. Festival organizers shared a vision to build a recurring annual literary festival drawing attendees from across the region. The original logo design was a tribute to the setting, Old Town Fort Collins. The logo incorporates specific building architecture and the shape of a book sporting a playful bookmark. The branded color scheme was a combination of colors coordinating with the Poudre Libraries logo, including brown and orange, but with additional shades of maroon, green and blue. The bookmark shape was echoed in the ribbon type treatment.
The original format of the Festival was to hold sessions in various locations in Old Town, within walking distance from the Old Town Library branch. The central building image used in the logo was based on the three-story structure at 201 Linden Street. This property has distinctive bay windows and a charming tower, which were reflected in the logo to resemble a book spine. Fort Collins' Old Town architecture has long been credited as the inspiration for Walt Disney's Main Street USA because Disney colleague, Harper Goff grew up in Fort Collins and drew on this setting in the park's design. (https://history.fcgov.com/legends/disney). Capturing the charm of this area was one of the goals of festival founders.
2016: First Annual
"Brewin Up Books" was selected for the first festival theme. The focus was influenced by local Fort Collins culture, where New Belgium Brewery creates its famous Fat Tire brew. The author lineup included experts on beer, coffee, and tea, and featured an appearance from former Colorado Governor and current Senator, John Hickenlooper, who was also a brewer. Designed assets, in addition to the festival logo, included a map of the walkable festival area and a schedule of readings, book signings, tastings, and other events.
2017: Second Annual
The second festival brought in a music theme, "Writings and Riffs." The keynote speaker, Kim Gordon, vocalist of Sonic Youth, has written a memoir titled Girl in a Band. Other subject experts in music and culture rounded out the presenters. Graphics for the 2017 festival took on an urban vibe, as the color palette was applied to a textural brickwork pattern. Key artwork, designed in the shape of a record, vignettes books, a microphone, and a guitar. Promotional bookmarks were designed horizontally to resemble a CD jacket insert.
2018: Third Annual
The 2018 festival featured Andy Weir - a science fiction writer whose book, The Martian, became a movie starting Matt Damon. For this event the invited authors had a tie to science - both real and fantasy. Artwork used a honeycomb pattern, and the key art loosely resembled a brain - particularly relevant for the theme, "The Big Think." Due to the popularity of the keynote speaker, CSU's Lory Student Center Grand Ballrooms were the site of the headline session, making it the largest geographic footprint among the festivals.
2019: Fourth Annual
Returning again to tastes, the 2019 festival was themed, "Food for Thought." Headliners and featured authors included James Beard-award winning chef, Sean Sherman (The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen); acclaimed writer Rick Bass (A Traveling Feast: On the Road and at Table with My Heroes). The key artwork was inspired by a meat-themed cookbook I discovered in the Library's collection and the layout used a bento-box style layout featuring simple icons, a cast-iron skillet and a rustic wood texture. Chef Sherman is known for his rustic cooking style featuring locally grown, native food sources, so the graphics reflected this simple, organic approach to food.
2020: Fifth Annual (first virtual Festival!)
Planning a festival in 2020 required the committee to adjust to a new reality and new digital tools. This milestone event, which marked the fifth annual festival, took on both a retro and also cutting edge approach. The key graphics featured a montage of previous key art spliced together in a "5" shape which referenced a computer glitch. The sessions were delivered entirely virtually, as in-person events were limited by the impact of the coronavirus. Collateral was more streamlined, as maps and wayfinding signage were not needed. Instead, this format required digital assets such as lower-third graphics to incorporate with video streaming feeds.
2021: Sixth Annual (first hybrid format Festival)
"Up, Up, and Out" was selected as the 2021 Festival theme. This reflected both an optimism that the pandemic was waning, and a gritty reality of the struggle of the previous years. A mix of bright yellow and grey tones were used. This coordinated well with cover artwork from Sabrina & Corina, written by keynote Kali Fajardo-Anstine. The selection of a woman of color as the keynote also reflected the times, as society became more aware of the impact of women, particularly minoritized women. With a hybrid format, both video and in-person sessions were offered. Much of the collateral remained digital, with limited need for maps and extensive signage. Social media promotion was a major component of this campaign with graphics announcing specific participants and activities.
This was a rewarding campaign for me because of all the local venues and participants. Keeping the concept fresh while applying new themes and elements was a rewarding challenge to me as a designer. Working on so many components, from print advertising to maps, brochures, and signs, to website assets and screen branding allowed me to flex my production muscles and oversee key details from top to bottom. I hope that in the future I will be involved with events at this scale again.
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