ROLE
Head of Product, Experience, & GTM
TEAM
Board of Directors
Executive Director
TIMELINE
Annually, for 5 years
The Dynamic MidWay Music Festival Brand
An Audience-Responsive Brand Evolution
Brand Strategy + Design
Market + User Research
Digital Strategy + Design
Goal-Oriented Design
Customer Perception
Customer Acquisition
Trend Analysis
Creative Direction
Each year, I evolved MidWay Music Festival's brand to reflect a changing world and shifting industry trends. Every refresh was grounded in competitive benchmarking, consumer research, audience analysis, and our existing umbrella brand constraints, so the brand grew alongside the people it was built for. Brand strategy was an integral part of our annual festival GTM; each new identity announcement kicked off that years 6-month festival launch. I led GTM, including brand strategy and design; below you'll find brand packs from 2 different years.
When beginning conceptualization of each year's festival branding, I focused on a few key elements as inspiration:
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Market, trends, competitors
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Cultural events in the world
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Images from the previous year's event
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MidWay Music Speaks's brand guidelines/constraints
One of the additional benefits of these posters: you can actively see my growth - in both design skills and passion - over the years. As the designs got better, so did the brand's engagement and perception. Briefly explore the thought processes for my two favorite years below.
Related Projects
Year 5: The space between us
This year's festival (2021) was heavily influenced by COVID-19 and the affects of the pandemic on audience-members.
KEY ELEMENTS
1. Space
This is representative of social distancing orders and the space between all of us. Cheese-ily, I was inspired by being apart "but looking at the same stars."
2. Dark mode and Surreal, Neon colors
Reflective of design trends of 2021 and the surreal world created by COVID-19. This brand was meant as an escape from the harsh realities we lived in 2020 and 2021.
3. Playful font
This font pulled away from the typical typeface used within the MWMS brand to broaden audience reach, elevate the brand quality, and continue the nonprofit's efforts to strengthen their ties with IU college students.
4. Hand-drawn.
Limited MidWay merchandise featured designs by local artist Hadley Gephart.
Year 4: An escape from reality
Due to COVID-19, the 2020 festival was 100% virtual. The brand was heavily influenced by COVID-19 and bringing familiarity and community to attendees in uncertain times.
KEY ELEMENTS
1. Highlighting Bloomington, IN landmarks.
This inclusion of Bloomington, IN landmarks (where the festival typically took place) was meant to communicate community and familiarity to viewers.
2. Surreal colors
The use of surreal colors was meant to be reflective of the surreal world created by COVID-19.
3. Sunset shades
The colors used for the brand were pulled from a sunset and meant to create feelings of peace.
4. Design Trends
Gradients, Motion Graphics, Ultra Bold Colors
5. Differentiating the Summit
The Summit brand was an extension of the festival. While it held similar patterns, we placed more emphasis on professionalism and order.